Week11 - Musculature

This drawing was made while looking at about 7-8 reference photos of both live people and statues/sculptures. I used the statues references to get an idea of the volume and the 3D position of the parts of the body and the visible muscles and also for choosing the direction of the light. Life-photos came in handy because the shades of the muscles were ...real, so most of the shading around the belly, the neck and right under the neck were based on them.
I decided to have the arms pointing fairly upwards, bended in the elbows, so that the muscles there are more visible. Plus it slightly enhances the twisting of the muscles coming from under the shoulder and going through the bottom part of the arm, towards the inner side of the elbow.
Muscular torsion should also be apparent in the stomach muscles, coming from the top under the shoulders and going closer to the centre of the body downwards.
The drawing is based upon a female character because after doing a male one, I decided that in a female one, I can focus more on the flow of the muscles, and not their shape, like I tended to do on the male ones.
The initial plan was to make the shoulder line slightly rotated so that the left character shoulder is further away and so that the right arm comes closer. In general, I think I have achieved my desired effect, except for the right arm where more foreshortening may have been needed and the shade under the right shoulder.