Male Anatomy help

[system]

So I am trying to make a really buff male body, but I am having trouble with the back and other key areas. Since thise is the place for anatomy gurus I thought I would ask for some help. please?

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[explodingseashells]

Well I’m not one of the anatomy gurus but when I sculpt humans, especially buff ones, I have an anatomy book out open on my desk and some reference pictures on the second monitor. It will really help you if you have some reference images close by.

Also when I do it I over-define the muscle and then smooth it back. then i do that again but with a different sized brush. and slowly build up ‘levels’ of muscle deffinition.

that doesnt really help much, but just get an anatomy book or some references from google, it makes the world of difference! good luck!

[AdamBolton]

these should help to tell whats going on under there
[](javascript:zb_insimg(‘72152’,‘ogm1imageplaneflat840xd2.jpg’,1,0))

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[cannedmushrooms]

Another thing that really helps is the head. Since all measements stem from the head. Example your lower leg muscles from hip to Knee are two short. I can see this because your shoulder to elbow is about the same size as your hip to knee. The hip to knee should be twice the distance from shoulder to elbow. Or an easyier way is 2 heads;)

You are making the same mistake I made 2 yrs ago. You are making everything so exact and Plastic like. The best thing to over come this is to use the layer brush on a very low intensty and sketch in you muscle as it would look if you skinned him alive. Many layers of tendons and ligaments. Then take the flatten brush to tone it down to make it look like skin over the top.

Heres an example (the hands are big for a reason) which you will see later when I post the final. But the upper chest has the technique I’m taking about with layers.

[troy1617]

if you really want to get to know anatomy i cant stress enough studying from this dvd it goes through everything you need to know about the human body i noticed a major difference in my sculpts after knowing the anatomy of my subject same goes for animal anatomy heres that link cant beat the price. http://the-structure-of-man.blogspot.com/
some anatomy books i recommend investing in are this one for animal anatomy http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195142144/qid=1126472227/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-1368963-2659906?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
and recommend this one for human anatomy http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195052064/qid=1126472227/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1368963-2659906?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
they are both great for integrating realistic anatomy.

[system]

AdamB and troy : Thank you.

CannedMushroom: Here is the base model I will be working with. The reason the other model excludes the skull is because my computer isn’t up to snuff to add all the detail I will like without breaking the model into pieces.

[cannedmushrooms]

Your base is starting out really thick which will give you a very hard time.
Having a nice uniform base is a really good key to sculpting. If anything just to learn you should maybe start with this practice base from gnomonology

http://gnomonology.com/tutorial/105

I also have a pretty easy one that has a guide included with ticks marked off for joint locations

http://www.houseoftutorials.com/veohfiles/lesson4_ZbrushC.zip

and that link troy posted for the structure of man will help you alot.

He breaks down every part. Just know, that knowing every muscle is one thing but knowing the rythym as one muscle flows into the next is another. Theres a thin line between perfect and style.

[Johannes]

Hi!,

Wanted to compliment you on a nice beginning with your piece. The pelvic region, in particular has some good stuff happening - especially the "dimple" that forms on the male body at the Gluteus Maximus and the "flow" that helps create it and travels into the muscles of the upper leg. This may seem an odd thing to comment on but the pelvis is an extremely complex area and getting the shapes right and the topology to cooperate isn't easy. All the suggestions being made by everyone have very real merit and the idea of starting with a skinny digital "armature" and then building up is a very good way to work, especially if you first focus on building the skeleton since this is the place all the muscles are connected to. Cannedmushrooms' suggestion of using the layer brush is extremely effective, although I personally find I get a slightly rougher shape that I prefer by using the "Clay Tubes" brush (it's still there, you just need to load it from the Zdata folder) and then, much as he suggests, using the smooth brush to blend the strokes you have applied, much in the same way you might use solvents to smooth out an actual clay sculpt. The really fun part with this is that, if your bony masses sculpt is correct, you can literally just start drawing the musculature onto the sculpt, and then smooth it down as you like. I'm probably not making much sense with the explanation so I'll post an image of the workflow if you like. Let me know,

Johannes

[system]

These posts have helped a lot. I went out and found my self an artists anatomy reference book, which is nice. I also have an update of the body… but I still don’t think I have right. So please mark up these images or tell me what I am doing wrong in the highlighted area… I haven’t even started on the masked areas yet

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