Thursday, February 14, 2008

Chest and Shoulders

Hello and welcome back. We have reached the point in the semester where we move from construction to anatomy and I have included some quick notes for constructing the chest and adding shoulders. In the first example below, I suggest either using an egg shape or a box to build the torso. Note, that both have the shoulders come off away from the central form. Egg shape users should treat the ribcage as a place where the clavicals, scapula, pectorals, deltoids, and trapezius are lowered onto the egg like should pads on a football player. This will "push" the shoulders out so the arms don't look like they a just sprouting from the ribs. Those who opt for the box, should draw out the six sided shape and then add a slight rise to the top as shown in 'A' and 'B'. This will get the the clavicals lower than C7 (the insertion point of the neck to trunk) The shoulders should then be drawn slightly inserted to the corners of the top of the box as shown.

In either case, one should always consider being able to "see up" from the front of the ribcage as it is turned slightly upward due to the curvature of the spine.

The next set of drawings are examples of both types of construction in use. Note the flatness of the top of the shoulder when at the side and the roundness when raised. I hope this helps,
Thanks for stopping by.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey thanks Jeff! :D

--Chelsey

James O'Shea said...

Great stuff! check out John Watkiss if you haven't already:
http://johnwatkiss.blogspot.com/
http://www.johnwatkiss.com/new_works_by_john_watkiss.htm
your drawings remind me of his drawings especially from the 'Tarzan Chronicles' book.

Jeff Jackson said...

There is more to come of that sort of stuff I hope it helps in some little way. James_oshea3, erm, thanks for the compliment or at least I'll take it as one. Hope you had time to look through other posts, there's anatomy stuff and drawing help there too.