Ballerina Sketching Practice

These sequential images of a ballerina dancing come from an article in the Daily Mail.  Try sketching each of these images while focusing on Lines of Action and Movement.  First, simplify the gesture into a bare minimum of line, then determine in what direction momentum is moving.  This should help you draw gestures that have a sense of liveliness to them.

Once you completed the first sequence, draw a second that focuses on exaggerated movement.  Scale the size of the limbs and use foreshortening to throw limbs closer the the "camera" and others further away.

After you've completed the second sequence of drawings start another that uses the gestures of the ballerina but the body type of a different character.  Use your knowledge of proportion, body shapes, gender, and age to help you change the ballerina into an old man or a little kid.

Photographs of the Figure, Muscles, and Movement

The Schatz-Ornstein Studio website has a gallery with amazing photos of the human body. These pictures would make great sketchbook practice.  You could copy a photo and then label the muscles you see, or you could pick a pose and then draw what you think the skeleton is doing based on your knowledge of the muscles and proportions.

Additionally the action gallery has many photos you could use to practice drawing the figure with an effective Line of Action. The poses themselves are very dynamic, what body parts could you move or exaggerate to "sell" the motion in those pictures?

Regardless of what photos you choose to study, remember to give credit to the photographer-this is their original work.

Tensed Muscles

As shown in the picture, muscles when tensed form harder shapes under the skin versus relaxed muscles.

One way to emphasize an action in your drawings is to play up the contrast between tensed and relaxed muscles.  I recommend you act out a pose before drawing it to help you figure out which muscle groups are being used.  Sometimes your own body can be a better reference than the model posing in front of you.

from Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger

Ear Reference and Practice

Click to enlarge.

from Face Parts by Simon Jennings

Anatomy Reference for Artists

 Anatomy Reference for Artists

This is a great link with a plethora of photo reference.  Check it out!  Its a great sketching resource. :)

Body Parts

The book Body Parts has 43 pages dedicated to photos of the model in a wide variety of poses.  I'm posting two of the images, I recommend picking up a copy of the book or checking it out at the library to see the rest.

from Body Parts by Simon Jennings

Figure Drawing Training Tool

Pixelovely has a really great online tool for figure drawing practice.  It allows you to toggle time of the poses, if the model wears clothing, and the gender of the figure.  This is a great way to draw at home.

Pixelovely's Figure Drawing Training Tool

I also want to point out that images have links to the sites they originated from.  Each of those sites has additional pictures you can sketch from.  Here's some of the better ones:

Character Designs
Ickylust @ DeviantArt
Danger99Stock @ DeviantArt
SeaPeny @ DeviantArt
Seraphiim @ DeviantArt
Justmeina @ DeviantArt

Gender Differences

When looking at male and female skeletons side-by-side, one will notice several general differences.  Men tend to have "studier" looking bones, a squarer-shaped head, longer limbs, a smaller pelvis in comparison to the rib cage, and their femurs exit the pelvis at a straighter angle.  Women tend to have a "delicate" frame,  more of a rounded skull, shorter limbs, a large pelvis in comparison to the rib cage, and their femurs exit the pelvis at more of an angle.

The image on the left really shows the differences in body shape between the two genders.  Men are at their widest across the shoulders, women are at the hips.

from The Beginner's Guide to Human Anatomy by James Horton