Naked Women in Art

http://webartacademy.com/naked-women-in-art/

by Natalie Richy (Web Art Academy Tutor)

Zack Petroc

Gnomonology.com have just released Part One of Zack Petroc's 'The Form Of Anatomy Series'.

The One Hour lecture discusses issues of anatomical structure, demonstrated on Zacks own multi-part maquette of skeleton and muscle groups. Zack starts by covering landmarks on the skeleton and the rhythms of it's gesture, then group by group he introduces the muscles, their origins and insertions.

The whole lecture is fascinating and nods towards an excellent series. The lecture is demonstrated with ZBrush but strictly sticks to anatomical discussion so is approachable from any artist interested in Mastering the Human Form.

This first Chapter covers:

• Skeleton Landmarks
• Muscle Origins and Insertions
• Muscle Group Gestures
• Rhythms of the Muscle Groups
• Weight and Balance
• Reading Form through Silhouette

Can't wait for the next chapter, Zack has mastered the anatomy and it fantastic listening to his lectures. The model used in this series is also available for download at Zack's website here://www.zackpetroc.com/

I first learned of Zack when Gnomon released Digital Sculpting - Human Anatomy - a lecture which covers the 'outer' Human Form working in Maya then moving on to surface details in ZBrush.  There are several other available videos from Zack here://gnomonology.com/inst/17 including the 'Making of Ramboillet' and 'Female Anatomy' Tutorials.

 

Also there is an interesting tutorial written by Zack over at://www.computerarts.co.uk/

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Traditional Sculpting Techniques

I thought I should dedicate some blog space to traditional sculpting techniques and demonstrate my workflow from concept to finished model. The tutorial will focus on small scaled models using modelling wax and cover sculpting, mould making, casting and painting.

I have split the Tutorial over Five Chapters:

1] Preparation

2] Modelling

3] Mould Making

4] Casting & Fettling

5] Painting

   

<<I will update this lead-in with links to the chapters as I progress through them>>

Skull Sculpt

I have began a sculpt, in wax of a human skull which I’ll document through the sculpting, moulding and casting process.

The first duty was gathering reference. I scanned the below image from ‘Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist’ by Stephen Rogers Peck. An excellent book which I highly recommend as one of THE anatomy books worth buying.

I arranged the scans in Photoshop and printed out, in correct scale, as a template for my sculpt.

Using my Verniers (below) I can take measurements direct from the drawing to check against the sculpt. This helps keep to scale and check accuracy faster than using the eye.

The sculpt was begun by applying ‘wet’ wax to a component which broke from an old camera tripod. The handle sticking from the base of the skull can be unscrewed from the broken part which is buried inside the sculpt. Handy for holding up the skull during sculpting and removable for photographing and when it comes to casting.

The lower jawbone (mandible) is a separate component which I’ll make so that it can be hinged onto the cast and swung open/closed.

One annoyance I now have, having worked digitally is the fact I have to work on both sides of the model! In ZBrush you work with symmetry switched on so you can happily work away on one side of the head, for instance, and the other side is automatically replicated as you work. No such joy with wax. It takes twice as long and you have to match the symmetry of the work as you go. Huh.

I find I progress one side more rapidly than the other and replicate the work across when I’m happy with what I’ve done.

to be continued…

The Right of Spring

While on the Dinosaur topic, I found The Right of Spring chapters from Disney's Fantasia on YouTube so I thought I would post them here...

GENESIS

EVOLUTION

EXTINCTION

Gnomonology

FREE:

Male human head basemesh with organized topology. UVs are unwrapped. Ready to be imported into Zbrush or reorganized to match another design.

Can be downloaded Free from the great folks at Gmomon: http://gnomonology.com/tutorial/197

Takara Microman

I bought a few of these Micromen from ebay about a year ago, (two sizes of Male body and one Female.) . The 100mm articulated figures have good form and are easily manipulated to mimic 'natural' human attitudes. Great for quickly posing and sketching from or visually checking proportions, balance and flow. -

Much better than those wooden pieces of crap you get from art shops or Ikea.

Freedom of Teach

I have just purchased this anatomical model from freedom-of-teach.com. I plan on doing some serious study of the anatomy and I'm looking for a decent Life Drawing class in my area.

Anatomical Resin Figure.

Cast polyurethane male figure with ecorche muscle and partly revealed skeleton.

Highest quality sculpt, hand-painted and cast.

Dimensions: 24" x 5" x 10".

By sculptor & VFX artist: Andrew Cawrse

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My plan is to develop a few 'basic' maquettes to be used for the basis of anatomically precise characters and creatures.
My first move was to grab a basic skeleton from Poser (standing in symmetrical pose) which I will export into 3Ds Max and build upon with 'correct' topology of body mass and form. This will then be taken into ZBrush or Mudbox (I'm gonna try both applications) for detailing, and exported (hopefully) as a workable model.