Urbanrockwell's Blog

Drawing the leg bones and muscles revisited

urbanrockwell — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:53:34 +0000

This anatomy installment will break down the leg bones and muscles. I tormented myself again by working very small on a 8.5″x11″ sketch book; which made it challenging to draw a lot of small detail and tendons that attach to the bones. The first stage is finding general proportions based on a 8 head figure. I used Riven Phoenix system on proportions, but studied actual anatomy from Rubins figure drawing book. One last note; I will try to remember to adjust the foot proportions before I post the last section.

Drawing The Hand Revisited (Riven Phoenix-

urbanrockwell — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:31:09 +0000

I’m back with another mini anatomy study featuring the hand on a 8.5″x11″ sketch book. I merged what I learned with Riven Phoenix on drawing the hand proportions; from their I used Rubins book on anatomy for reference to add in the muscle, bone, and tendon details.

Marshall Vandruff – Human Anatomy at The Art Department

urbanrockwell — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:41:29 +0000

The course’s focus is an introduction to observe & invent the human figure; it includes over 200 slides of great art with commentary and comparisons between anatomy plates and finished works. The course showcases the work and teaching of George Bridgman, and his influence on illustrators such as Frank Frazetta.

Also, what makes this anatomy workshop unique is, the way Vandruff teaches you to really observe anatomy by showing the contrast of two completely different approaches to studying anatomy. One approach is the form and simple shapes; second more completed and finely detailed renderings from another artist. Lastly, he shows a way to quickly remember the names of the bones and muscles as well as where they’re located.

http://theartdepartment.org/streaming-classes/anatomy-for-artists

Drawing The Arm Re-Visited

urbanrockwell — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:15:03 +0000

Here is the third anatomy installment of the re-visited series. the arm is complex and has so many layers of overlapping muscles. I decided to do a 8.5×11 inch page filled with various angles of the arm, including the muscles. Again, I plan to do larger more detailed studies of the anatomical parts of the body after this series. Take a look at where the bones curve at the halfway mark(if you divide the arm in half).

Drawing the Torso-Revisited

urbanrockwell — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:00:12 +0000

Anatomy of the torso revisited. This is the second installment to my small 8.5″x11″ sketch sheets. I used the similar approach with Riven Phoenix using a general proportions scale. From there I used actual reference from anatomy and figure drawing books. For reference book list, please see previous post on the skull.

I will also do a larger scale of the torso to get clearer details of the muscles.

Drawing The Skull and Muscles Re-Visited

urbanrockwell — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:40:44 +0000

Its been a year or so since I worked along with the Riven Phoenix Figure Invention series. I decided to re-visit anatomy and study from several anatomy and figure drawing books. I feel this time around I’m more familiar and experienced with studying and understanding the head. My goal is to be very fluid and consistent with my anatomy studies; and enough understanding and mastery to teach it, and excel in my concept drawings and illustrations.

Moving forward, I decided to do a study of the skull from several views. The muscle drawings were not as detailed as I would have liked to illustrate, considering all the studies were on a small 8.5×11 sketch sheet. I plan to do a large, and clearer detailed studies of the muscles and skulls soon. One last note, I also improved on the form and extruding the skull(especially the side view) as the earlier studies of the skull were a bit to narrow and short for the back half of the skull.

Book Resources:The Human Figure-an Anatomy For Artists by David K Rubins, Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing:Design and Invention by Michael Hampton.

To see the earlier studies follow this link.

http://urbanrockwell.wordpress.com/category/figure-drawing-info-reviews/page/3/

Anatomy Lecture Skeleton and Body Muscles

urbanrockwell — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:59:27 +0000

I checked out this website from the Artist Zack Petroc. Zack is a gifted individual in the art and entertainment field; working with Disney and Paramount to name a couple. He has some excellent resources on the human anatomy, that he created in Z Brush. He gives an hour lecture on the human skeleton and muscles as well as 3D models of the skeleton and muscles to study inside the Z Brush 3D modeling program.

To find out more about Zack and his Anatomy Tools check out his website link below.

http://www.zackpetroc.com/

Billboard Art Project Chicago

urbanrockwell — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:30:24 +0000

Click to view slideshow.

I had a chance to visit the billboard site and document some images of other artist’s works as well as my own contributions. It was a great feeling seeing my images on a digital billboard. Not to many people can say they saw something they created on display of that size, scale, magnitude, and location. By the way the billboard was right off I90 expressway; just a few miles from Ohare Airport.

Check out the images I took from the site. Also, someone else also captured a different angle of my billboard and I truly appreciate that.

For more information about the Art Billboard Projects, please check out the website below.

http://www.billboardartproject.com/index.html

The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium

urbanrockwell — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:27:18 +0000

Instructor and author Phil Metzger

The art of perspective gives a very generous amount of step by step instructions and examples on drawing and painting in perspective. I’ve read and used many books on perspective but they lacked steps and not enough examples on various subjects in perspective. The art of perspective is clear, keeps your interest, and uses so many useful approaches for landscape, houses, buildings, technical, floors, still life, 3 dimensional assignments, etc. the list goes on. I feel this is the essentials of perspective that’s great for beginners, intermediate, and even somewhat skillful artists; as he also has a great section on painting, as well as running into perspective problems that need to bend the rules.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Perspective-Ultimate-Artists-Medium/dp/1581808550/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319140083&sr=1-1#_

Michael Burton Participates in Billboard Art Project – Chicago

urbanrockwell — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:36:57 +0000

This is a past Billbord Project in Richmond, VA

This is Urban Rockwell

Myself along with over 50 artists will be displaying our work on a digital Billboard in Chicago.

I will be displaying in the 3rd week of the exhibit.Check details below.

Billboard Art Project – Chicago

Monday, September 26 2011 at 12 a.m. through Sunday, October 23 at 11:59 p.m.

The billboard is located at East Bound Interstate 90 just after the highway crosses over Oakton Street.

For more information go to the billboardartproject.com or look for us on Facebook