Here's some past practice work of me workin on my torsos. I went back to it this morning, and added some extra stuff.

This is that basic anatomy anyone has to go off of. Once you have this, you can go do whatever you want, but I suggest you still study the rest of the body. Just remember that if you wanna learn anatomy fluently, simplicity is the key. You do not have to learn all the confusing parts of the anatomy in order to draw it, and there ARE tons of confusion that we have.

So the simplest method I can direct you to, is down at the bottom: THE SPERM PRINCIPLE. (Hey I couldn't come up with anything else, it is what it looks like.)

The Sperm Principle is simple. Draw your head, draw the spine. And THERE YOU HAVE IT! You now have you head and torso.

For those unfamiliar with the Ribcage, I know many How To Draw books really don't put emphasis on this section of the torso. Most books tell you to draw a "V-Shaped" or "Square-Shaped" section for the torso. Nuh-Uh. That will lead to early flaws with the collarbone and humerous area, areas that you need to expand off from the ribcage. The main thing you really have to focus on is the spinal cord. Spine spine SPINE! R.L. Spine! Spine Cone! Spineapple!! Okay, you get the drift, just wanna make you in-want-of-knowledge folks to remember.

After you have that, then you put a circle for the ribcage, a bit up higher than the middle of the line. And there you have your TORSO!!!!

Look at the various drawings I've done, and study 'em. As you see, when you start to connect the arms, you DO NOT connect it DIRECTLY to the RIBCAGE!!! THAT will not get you brownie points with folks, folks! ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS CONNECT THE COLLARBONE AND SCAPULA THEN CONNECT THE ARMS TO THAT!!!!

So ya wanna improve? Here's what you do.

Look up pictures of random figures. *mjranum's gallery is the best place to study figures (if you don't get caught up being mesmerized by them) and dont try to draw the figure, PICTURE THE BONES AND DRAW THE HEAD, SPINE, AND RIBCAGE. Then once you get that downpacked, add the collarbone! Do THAT almost a MILLION TIMES and I SWEAR YOU WILL BE MORE CONFIDENT WITH YOUR A'NAT!!!!!

Sketches ©