Why is human anatomy important to art?

Art and human anatomy have always been linked to each other. Human fascination with our bodies goes back to cave paintings of many human palms. And greatest minds like Michelangelo and Da Vinci have dedicated their life to mastering human anatomy for art.

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One of the key aspects of art is that it can be an expression of your vision, whether it’s realistic or not. You can come up with a stick figure that moves and looks cool, and a lot of people will like this. 

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However, if you’re planning to create characters in both a stylized and realistic approach or just aim for an immersive and expressive experience, it’s crucial that you know and understand how human anatomy works. It’s not only about the way they will look, but also about the way they will feel. Knowing it will allow you to create and capture the essence of your creation and express it vividly to those who are willing to interact with your art.

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If you understand how human anatomy works, you will produce artwork that works on emotional and technical levels. So let’s take a look and see why human anatomy is important for art.

1. It allows us to express things in a better fashion: Applying human anatomy for art will lead to it being immersive, believable and engaging for your audience. People will start caring about your creation, leading to an emotional impact and attachment. These characters will feel as if they’re getting up every day, taking a walk, breathing and feeling things, like real people do – all thanks to their look that feels humane and real.
2. It’s a great and accurate representation of your character: Is there a better feeling than drawing a character you have in your head, with all the personality traits and features and nailing it, seeing how it turned out? Human anatomy art knowledge allows you to put some technical and logical thinking into creative outbursts, leading to a satisfying result on a deeper level: it’s mine and it’s alive! Well, almost… 
3. Even non-human characters will look good if you understand human anatomy: It allows you to do a certain form of “reverse engineering” – how would a character from a different planet function from the perspective of their anatomy? What kind of bone structure would they have? 
4. Anatomy knowledge allows your characters to feel “weighty”: This will lead to your characters having a distinct physical aspect that’s hard to put into words. Imagine if you’re looking at the bug that looks lightweight, not bulky at all and then you take it and it’s actually pretty heavy. This is how it feels if you look at the character that’s supposed to be powerful and attractive, breaking walls and doing crazy stunts, but the character’s look doesn’t really allow you to express it.
5. Audiences like well-designed characters: Characters built in consideration with human anatomy art are imaginable – you want to be with them and get to know them more. This is where storytellers come to work, but artists should make them at least individual in terms of look and shape.

Human anatomy for art: Basics 

Let’s take a look at the basics that you have to grasp to produce art that’s going to resonate with your audience.

The muscular system

The muscular system defines the shape and texture of the body. When the body moves, muscles move, and each pose a character you’re drawing is going to take will be defined by their muscular system. Knowing how it works is essential if you’re aiming to create a recognizable silhouette in the animation you’re producing or if your drawing, both 2D or 3D, relies on a character taking a particular pose. 

The skeleton

The skeleton is a foundation for our body, affecting the height, movements and structure of your characters. It’s necessary to know the structure and functionality of bones, especially the ones that are visible under your skin, such as pelvis, ribcage, clavicle etc.

Gender differences 

Shapes and body size are influenced by sex, and keeping it in mind is important if you’re aiming for a realistic depiction of a particular gender. A particular aspect of a body is perceived by our brain as masculine or feminine. 

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How To Learn Human Anatomy For Art?: Very First Steps 

Human anatomy for art is undoubtedly complex, but with patience and perseverance, you will overcome its difficulties. Here are some tips to make it a bit easier.

1. Start with anatomy and muscles. Knowing anatomy well will help you understand how shapes and proportions work. Posing and rigging can be understood by studying the skeleton. And getting the muscular system will allow you to create believable motion. Combining both muscles and bones knowledge will let your character rotate body parts, flex and extend them. This will lead to your character feeling more real and believable rather than just being a stick figure.
2. Rely on references to sharpen your knowledge of previous steps. Humankind has put a lot of effort into studying how the human body works and looks. And thankfully, it’s here at your service. Books full of illustrations of various poses, bones and muscle breakdowns, descriptions of them, along with age, symmetry and so on. There are some specialized, academic references for sculptors that may be worthy of your time if you’re making 3D models. And do not forget about the educational videos and photos, along with your personal experience of looking at models, people in different places and so on! 
3. Learn both realistic and stylized approaches to human anatomy. As an artist, you will inevitably have to work with both of these techniques. The stylized technique tends to be very exaggerated, meaning you will have to put thoughts and creativity into a certain interpretation of anatomy. Luckily, once again, there are a lot of references that can help you to come up with the stylized character that feels just right and works on an anatomical level. And the realistic technique is, obviously, more grounded and will be rooted in human anatomy, meaning you will have to rely on a more classic approach. 
4. Educate yourself on skin texture. Technically, it’s a part of anatomy and understanding how your character’s skin, veins and fats are going to physically behave in different poses and actions. If you’re working with a realistic style, texturing the skin’s surface is a necessary skill to learn via different references.
5. Do not hesitate to ask for feedback. Artists are eager to share valuable information and provide consultations and feedback. You can always seek their assistance for double-checking, critique and additional help. 

Hopefully, these tips on how to learn human anatomy will allow you to grasp it better and dive deeper into it to become a better artist.

What To Do If It’s A Bit Too Complicated? 

If human anatomy for art seems a bit tricky, that’s because it is! It’s a technical aspect of a creative act, and such things tend to be difficult and complex obstacles on your way to becoming a professional artist. As we mentioned, you can always rely on those who walked this path before and learned more about it. 

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And if you’re making a game and expecting to deal with human anatomy art understanding, you may work closely with game art outsourcing studios. These companies have professional artists with all the required experience and expertise, not only in human anatomy but also in other complicated segments of art, such as color theory, lighting, texturing, space and perspective and so on. 

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RocketBrush Studio produces all kinds of art for all kinds of ambitions: two-dimensional or 3D, stylized and realistic, animated engaging characters and static gorgeous backgrounds and environments.

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In addition, we work with a great scope of styles: from casual, family-friendly solitare to rogue-lite pixelated fantasy and zombie post-apocalypse survival. Look at our portfolio here.

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Our workflow is tested and proven to be working for productive and successful final delivery: we start our collaboration by meeting and learning more about your ambitions. Then, regular meetings are held, for feedback and additional discussion. You will have a dedicated project manager, keeping you in the loop regarding the progress and results. All produced art will undergo an internal review by our experts before being shown to you.

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Since 2016, we have collaborated with prominent industry names such as Supercell, Applovin, Romero Games, Paradox Interactive and many others. You can read our testimonials here. 

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Bottom Line

Learning human anatomy for art is a complicated endeavor, but all determined artists will inevitably have to deal with it. Luckily, this particular topic has been haunting artists from the very beginning, meaning you have access to all the knowledge that mankind has gained. 

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Several skeletons in the closet should not stop you from learning more about it! Time to flex your muscles and get on with it!

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