cute-ellyna learns anatomy

a side project of love where I learn anatomy with the help of my fave Dragon Age babies

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#23 _Arms, bones

Can't believe there's people out there who enjoy drawing bones, BUT it's still super interesting to study them. Notes on the elbow and other bones visible on the surface incoming :)

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#22 _ Torso, Axes

Let's continue with this little series of tips about the torso structure and various ways to set up the body when drawing it.

The central axis will be an imaginary vertical line (the yellow one) starting at the top of the head and going through the whole body down to the pubic bone. When the body is straight this line is straight too, but as you can see it twists very sinuously when we are bending and/or rotating the torso. This could be a super useful initial mark to follow when setting up the body structure and the kind of movement we want it to have.

Along with the central axis, we can then draw two other horizontal lines (the blue ones): the shoulder axis and the pelvis axis. These follow any tilting or rotation of said parts of the body. The shoulder axes is located along the clavicles (or from shoulder-to-shoulder in the back view). The pelvis axis goes through the ASIS and PSIS landmarks of the hipbones. As you can see, according to the body movement, these axis move independently and in different directions. Playing with these (do not exaggerate though :D) can give a lot of dynamism to the drawing.

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#21 _ Torso, canons proportions

So, our torso can be divided into equal sections to help us find specific landmarks of the body. Not all bodies follow exactly these canon proportions of course, but it's a safe enough method to use when drawing a person. There are two official methods we can use!

With Davrin, we can see the division into four sections. The unit we use here is the head (from the top to the bottom of the chin), and the landmarks fall on nipples, navel and below his cock the pubic region.

With Rook we have a three sections division. This time we use as a unit the space that goes from the top of the head to the pit of neck; next landmarks are the waist and, again, bottom of pubic region.

I'll make a separate post with sidenotes since the sections touch important landmarks also on the side and back view, plus some other small tips related to proportions :)

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

Introducing my new models

It's time to hand over the anatomy project to someone new: my Ayanne "Rook" Aldwir and Davrin :D

My Lavellan is sure they will be fantastic <3 Cullen is more than happy to put a stop to the constant embarrassment (liar, he enjoyed it too). My Rook is just a little bit worried that she's 40 and her body is not exactly as it used to be twenty years ago (awww baby, don't be silly ç_ç). Meanwhile, Davrin...

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

Study(ish) / Male and female, upper body

Ok, academically-speaking I didn't have a naked ref for Davrin and it shows. But I had the scene sculpted in mind for too long and just went with it. Let's call it an anatomy test ;D

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

Study / Male front, torso

Helloooo Davrin! New models are always welcome in this blog ;)

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

I love your blog so much, i know you might not see this but i still come back all the time to use your studies for inspo and/or studying.

Thank you so much! It’s so good to know that someone out there find this useful! ❤️❤️❤️

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#20 _Torso, Latissimus dorsi (side notes)

The latissimum dorsi is that pretty large muscle that covers the lower half of your back. It starts low, on the pelvis, and goes up up up into the upper arm bone (humerus).

Since its central portion is not actual muscles and is super thin, from outside you can still see the muscle that lies behind: the sacrospinalis (which draws those two long columns alongside the vertebral column).

It’s shaped as a big triangle looking south, forming a very visible “V-shape” pointing towards the buttocks in very sexy men if well developed.

This muscle is also the one that forms the “back wall” of the armpits (while the front wall is formed by the pectoralis major). If you lift your arm up like Cullen in the above picture, you can easily feel it, even if you’re thin.

Its upper part covers the shoulder blades (also helping to keep them in place), and I just discovered that is why it’s so hard to see them in muscular figures. Another interesting distinction seen in fitted bodies: since this muscle attaches under the arm, when it’s thick enough it keeps the arms slightly away from the body.

The latissimum dorsi is mostly used to move the arm, especially to bring it back to the side of the body. It’s used in movements like pulling, climbing, rowing or swimming.

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#20 _Torso, Latissimus dorsi

What if.....  what if I start to work again on my anatomy project? *___*

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

This page helps so much!! Thank you for making it!

Thank you so much, also for taking the time to write this message ❤️❤️❤️

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

I hope to see you return here one day, your post here are so helpful!

Thank you very much, nonny <3I’m so sad I had to put this project on hiatus, but let’s never lose hope, we don’t know what might happen in the future ;)

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

Since tumblr is banning all nudity in a couple weeks, is there another platform you use? Love your art and anatomy notes so I don't want it to disappear completely 💖

I don’t really know... I hope things will work out here somehow, honestly. All the other platform I think of are not the same! I write too much for Twitter, Wordpress lacks a community, Reddit wouldn’t give me something that looks like a blog...

BUT! My artworks on this blog were all flagged until yesterday but today they’re not anymore (without any intervention on my side :O), so I’m kind of hopeful 🤞🏻

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

Study / Female, full body

Honored to have @stregatadallostregatto​‘s magnificent Demetra Trevelyan here as a guest in my anatomy blog :3

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#19 _Torso, Trapezius (side notes)

The trapezius is one, big muscle that covers the upper part of the back but also forms/draws the back of the neck and part of the shoulders (so it’s very important when drawing someone from the front, too!).

It used to be called cucullaris because latins were weird people who thought it looked like a hood (from the latin cullus -> hood), but it can also resemble a diamond, if you’re more into shining things :P

Surprise surprise, it’s divided into sub-sections (I actually thought the back was a mess of uncomprensible muscles those parts were formed by three separate muscles, but no, it’s just one). The upper portion starts from the back of the skull and goes downwards till the lateral portion of the clavicle (in the front!!!).

The middle portion is more horizontal, going from the spine towards the scapula. These two (upper and middle) portions draws most of the part of the shoulder region around the neck. The lower portion starts again from the spine, but a little bit above the waist-line and then goes upwards, attaching to the scapula.

Tha trapezius main function is to move the scapula bones, so each of its parts change form and position when moving the arms and/or shoulders. It also contributes in tilting the head backwards (even though the scapula is not involved in that case).

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

I can't wait to see you branch out into other body types & stuff :)

Oh, I want to!! Especially for studies, since bones/muscles drawings are already difficult enough applied only to my two main models ù_u

What I need is time are references (aka real life pics of real people) that I feel connected to some DA characters …OR… I’ve also always wanted to borrow some other quizzy (*cough* @stregatadallostregatto *cough*), if they fancy the idea to participate <3 

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

#19 _Torso, Trapezius

Trying to find some time to carry on this project that I love too much <3

[cuteellyna-learns-anatomy]

I just wanted to say how dearly I love this blog. Not only is it incredibly informative, but your visuals are gorgeous and I've always learned best with humor. Seriously well done on many levels. Thank you so much for sharing!

I'm a huge supporter of learning by practice and humor, and I try to apply this method whenever I can. Learning is a wonderful process, nobody said it should be a boring one ;)Thank you so much for writing me!