Details

Closed to new replies
Posted: July 24, 2012

Link

Statistics

Replies: 124

How Much should anatomy constrain art?

~UnsamRose Jul 24, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Hi everyone! A few days ago i was discussing this with a friend and was wondering what everyone's opinion was on how much anatomy should "constrain" or "control" art. I myself use noodle style so my characters look longer and taller, so i thought this would make an interesting forum question!

You can no longer comment on this thread as it was closed due to no activity for a month.

Devious Comments

~~love 0 0~~

joy 1 1

~~wow 0 0~~

~~mad 0 0~~

~~sad 0 0~~

~~fear 0 0~~

~~neutral 0 0~~

~DestructiveEntity Aug 23, 2012

It should control it as much as you want it to. If you want a piece of art to look like a photograph with everything perfectly in proportion then its going to control a lot. However if you're working freehand then work to what feels comfortable. Its your own style so go nuts

=Gokai-Chibi Aug 23, 2012 Professional Digital Artist

I don't think learning anatomy well can ever be constraining, because in the end when you learn it you learn how to skew the proportions so it'll look even better then before.

~plantiebee Aug 18, 2012 Professional Traditional Artist

a very wise teacher once told me, you have to first know the rules before you break them.
meaning, if youre trying to do a noodle style because you dont know how to draw human or animal anatomy to begin with, chances are its simply going to look messy and sub par.
If you know anatomy, and want to break the rules and make your own style it will have far more finesse and understanding behind it. youll know the difference when you see it.

~obitual Aug 16, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Well, if you look at artists like Picasso, who had an advanced understanding of form, anatomy, composition, colour theory, etc, then you begin to understand that the knowledge of fundamental principals (in this case, anatomy) does not 'constrain', but rather 'allow'. Style aside, if I would like to paint (or draw) the Alba Madonna, I had better damn well know proper human anatomy. An understanding of the human form will only constrain you if you allow it to-- you can still distort, stylize and manipulate it as you wish, but you will be able to do so with complete purpose, and not by clumsy coincidence.

~Lilith-the-Giraffe Aug 18, 2012

What you say is very well summed up and actually works for every type of art. You need to learn the fixed 'rules', the anatomy in this case, or compostion rules (like in photography too) so you can make the artistic choice of deviating from it. Otherwise, it's not really an artistic decision, just a mistake with the excuse of 'artistic freedom'. You imprison yourself by not knowing the right technique!

~UnsamRose Aug 17, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

wow! that makes a lot of sense! I really like the way you worded that! Makes a lot of sense! Thank you so much! Much appreciated!~ <3

~obitual Aug 17, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Glad I could be of some help

~UnsamRose Aug 22, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

^o^

~Silver-Mercy Aug 16, 2012

Lack of using anatomy is fine in a developed style. Lack of understanding anatomy and just calling it a style to cover up that fact is not good at all.

~M0NY11 Aug 22, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Some people understand anatomy by practising in years, but not in words. What do you think of that? (sorry a thrown off question..)

Details

Statistics

How Much should anatomy constrain art?

Devious Comments

The Journal Portal

Polls

What is your preferred drawing software?

deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART]

Keep in Touch!

Deviousness

Add Media

Style