"Where do comic artists learn anatomy?"

I often check my stats for ideas on where to take my blog.  I particularly enjoy seeing how people find me through Google, and this post's title came straight from there.  While I hope my little anatomy overview was helpful, its only a start.

There are a variety of ways you can learn anatomy.  You can attend figure drawing/anatomy classes, the first of which will teach you how to draw the figure in front of you, the second will teach you how to break down the figure and draw it from memory.  You can teach yourself from books and online tutorials, following and adapting someone else's method and creating your own, and you can attend live drawing sessions.  Live drawing sessions don't really teach you HOW to draw a figure, they're merely an opportunity to draw the figures in front of you.

The majority of my anatomy/constuction knowledge has come from books.  My BA at the prestigious (/sarcasm) University of New Orleans probably isn't worth the paper it's printed on, if you're looking at quality of education.  The budgets were cut so severely that they had to cut the figure drawing class entirely, and most students had little desire to pursue figure study.  I spent my time pouring over Andrew Loomis's Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, and Glen Vilppu's Vilppu Drawing Method, which I highly recommend.  Another valuable resource is the FAC's pamphet on anatomy.  Since attending SCAD, I've taken a constuctive anatomy class, which has been extremely helpful in reinforcing muscle placement in my figures, and have had the opportunity to attend free figure drawing sessions on Friday mornings.

Your education is only as good as you make it, and I urge you to pursue it outside of school and work.

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