Piccillo taps his ruler on the desk for attention. "The time is now...well, 12:20 - so let's begin the class>" :)
You say, "Now today's lesson is going to focus on understanding the torso. Please look at the picture for a moment."
You say, "The standard torso, as you can see, can be 'built up' from a few simple shapes. Take a look at the lower right-hand picture I've sketched in. I have built it from what is basicly two heart shapes."
You say, "The two lines that are near the wide ends of the hearts are where the shoulders will line up, and the circles are where I plan on putting the arms and legs."
You say, "Now that we've looked at the pictures a bit, and have them for reference, we shall begin discussing how and why a body should move and be drawn."
You say, "The first, and most important line to begin with, is the line along the back - the spine of your figure."
You say, "From the front, the spine is a straight line. Seen from the side however - as in the upper right picture, you'll notice it has a curve to the front along the bottYou say, "This is present in anything that moves about mainly on two legs. The spine develops this way as it must become a shock absorber of sorts, for all the weight resting on it from the shoulders and head - plus whatever you lift in your arms."
You say, "Now for a full animalistic model, the spine would be pretty much a straight line along the back. This is because, as you can guess, the spine doesn't have to support so much weight from above."
You say, "It does, however, make for an odd problem with animorphic drawing. The more 'animal' your picture is meant to be, the more straight the back should be. You should decide how straight it should be by how much you plan on your picture to be spending it's time on it's hind paws alone."
You say, "This is also why humans (well, humans who work out) have 'washboard stomachs' and animals don't. Part of the support for upright movement is the abdominal wall around your middle - a thick collection of muscles surrounding your guts. Animals don't have a wall developed around their midsection, as it's not needed."
You say, "If you hold a pet dog or cat upright, you'll notice his or her tummy tends to be jiggly. It's not because he's out of shape, it's because he has nothing to hold that part of himself steady."
Werel softly growls, "Would this include how t odraw stomach muscles? or just the general shape and perspective of the torso?"
Shalom barks, "Suffice to say as a general rule, herbivores will have big tummies and carnivores will generally look more sleek :P"
You say, "We'll just be going over the general shape and how to build it up - each student should experiment a bit to find out the way they feel is best to draw them."
Kate says quietly, "unless you're drawing a well fed wolf ;)"
Telegrand murmurs, "Herbivores need bigger stomachs due to the lower energy density of the food they eat."
You say, "Well, that is partly true yes. But all animals are built to take advantage of food when it is there. Given the opportunity, most carnivores will stuff themselves full at a meal (as they are never guaranteed of getting another one soon)."
Kate says quietly, "Thats very true Picc"
Piccillo nods to Telegrand. "True as well." he says.
Shalom nods "Yeah, I just mean because of intestinal space, any grazer has a big belly, regardless of how fit they are."
You say, "So, to get back to the point of the lesson : how you draw your torso is going to depend a lot on how animalistic you want your picture to be."
AlexRaccoon says, "Workout, swimming, dance, and "Artsy fasion" mags are great references"
You say, "We'll look over a nice common reference for everyone - the werewolf, and see how it could go depending on how 'animal' we make it."
You say, "We've seen many examples of Hollywood's take on the werewolf, so it's easy to put these images in mind."
You say, "The first example, the 'wolfman'. Basicly a human figure with some wolf features."
You say, "First, the body structure of the torso wouldn't change much. The chest might be a bit wider, but that is about it. Back, stomach, ect would still be along the lines of a human."
You say, "The second one would be a mix along the two lines. This would be the most dramatic, and most open to interpritation. The creature might walk upright, but on more animalistic legs - and could even resort to running on all fours if needed."
You say, "In this case, we could draw it many different ways. If it didn't have a well-developed abdomen, it's belly would hang out a bit over it's waist, due to the fact that there isn't a muscle structure there devoted to holding it in. The back could be straighter and less flexible. Chest would be highly developed, but the waist would be narrower."
kodachi says, "i was thinking more like american werewolf in paris."
Piccillo nods to kodachi, "That could be a third way - an almost fully wolf-like morph, moving mainly on all fours."
Yasha-Myr replies softly, "wouldnt 'he' be terribly off balance?"
kodachi says, "that is what a tail is for right Piccillo?"
Piccillo nods, "Yes Yasha, not to mention in a rather lot of pain - without support, the guts would move about a lot. While we are talking about a 'super-natural' creature, who'd probably have some way to compensate, it would go a long way to explaining his nasty disposition."
You say, "The tail would help kodachi, true. Some species use them to help keep their balance."
You say, "It might be more like a bear at that juncture too ... something that travels on all fours for speed, but rears up for fighting power with it's claws."
Rox . o O ( For movement on all four... I'd need a straighter back, and more agile joints, ow, ow ow... And... Non-human legs... And a stiffer neck, ow! )
Rox sits back down. "Ow."
Piccillo nods and chuckles at Rox. "True, the human body is not built for that sort of thing."
Telegrand murmurs, "I can do the all fours thing."
Rox can skip like a frog on all fours! Pretty fast, too!
Telegrand murmurs, "It was hard carrying the tools along, though."
You say, "Now, to begin the next topic of discussion with regards to torsos."
You say, "We'll take a few minutes to discuss something else that can effect their shape and build - fat."
You say, "First, we're going to go over what fat is, and why it's there."
Yasha-Myr looks and wonders if she hit the cheesecake too hard
You say, "Fat is stored energy from the food we eat. As animals, we store food-energy in our fat cells for lean times, to be called upon when we need it."
Rox's fat is there so he won't look so darn skinny... But other than that, he thinks it's used to store excessive energy.. like Picc just said.
You say, "These reserves are located all through our body, but there are places in it that tend to be able to store a lot more than others. They were convienent for when we moved on all fours, although it can be more of a hinderance now that we are on two feet."
You say, "These reserves are - chest, stomach, arms, legs, neck, and the abdominal flanks. Think about being hefty (although some, like I, need not imagine). It's umcomfortable to *You*, but how would it feel to someone who went on all fours?"
You say, "These areas developed as a comfortable way for a four-legged creature to carry body fat and still be hindered as little as possible. It's not nature's fault we developed into bipeds."
You say, "Now how does this discussion apply to drawing? Well, it tells you where you should start adding your 'extra cuddle-space' to your pictures. ;)"
You say, "Slightly overweight furs will have thicker necks, slight paunches, and wider waists. Their upper legs and arms (the haunches on an animal) will also begin to bulk out."
Kate says quietly, "And so will the calf muscles, to carry it all"
You say, "These fat resivoirs will build up and out as the weight increases, while fat cells all over the body will start to fill out, these areas will show the most addition the quickest."
You say, "True Kate, muscles will also develop to carry the extra weight."
You say, "The first areas to develop will also be the last ones to go away - the body will pull from other areas first, leaving these larger resivoirs untapped."
You say, "That is why, as an aside, it takes so long to lose those last few inches around your waist. ;) Your body just want's to keep that safety cushion intact."
Werel thinks that this would be all well and good for 3D modelling (like I used to *try* to do), but relativly simple drawings (to my knowledge) would only have, say, a few lines to make the appearence of fat.
Piccillo nods, "True Werel, but one has to understand why and how it builds up to get a complete understanding of how to draw it."
Rox nods. "Yup. Also good for different angles."
You say, "We could just draw a big belly, but that wouldn't look very realistic if other areas didn't increase as well."
You say, "I also, admittedly, give a lot more info in class than you may need to know to draw - but there are some here who might want to go further or in different ways than I can predict...so I tend to give all the info on a subject I can."
AlexRaccoon says, "Thats really cool of you actually."
Werel softly growls, "that would be a good policy."
Rox likes info like this. Knowledge is power, even if you never really get use of it. c.c
Shalom nods "There's nothing at all wrong with that Picci."
Yasha-Myr replies softly, "Im glad you did Picc.. if we wanna draw other species that arent model-esque"
You say, "As another aside, which may not affect your drawing at all but is a curiosity, females *do* tend to gain weight quicker than a male will. This is becuase their body is always looking to put something aside in case they have a child to support in the future."
You say, "Females also tend to gain more on the hips and legs, and less around the cavity the child will be carried in. "
kodachi says, "ecpecaly if they've already had one."
You say, "Now, that's probably more than you wanted to know. :) But are their any questions on that part?"
*end of lesson*
