The Problem: Must I know anatomy to sculpt characters in blender?

I get asked this question a lot but...

I'm going to ask you another question instead,

What exactly do you think of when you hear anatomy?

Are you trying to remember terms like the sternocleidomastoid or the latissimus dorsi or my personal favourite the gluteus maximus, don't judge bro!

There's nothing wrong in knowing the names of the muscles.

That's actually a plus.

But more important than knowing the names is understanding the forms of the anatomy.

That is, knowing how the muscles interact with each other to makeup a character.

Once you can identify these forms and structures.

That's were the magic happens!

So to answer your first question...

Yes you need to know anatomy but...

Treat it like an Artist not a Doctor!

Knowing muscle names shouldn't be your focus for now.

Understanding forms is what truly matters.

So what should you do about this?

The One Step Solution: Observe the sh*t out of your references.

Action Steps: First - Find good references.

You can find references everywhere on pinterest, but try to avoid the AI ones though.

Use human references too, even if you are sculpting stylized characters.

Ask yourself what those muscles/forms would look like in 3D.

Then transfer what you have observed to your sculpts.

That’s it. Yes, That's all you have to do.

Observe your reference and translate that to your sculpt.

It will definitely require practice to get good, but this is where you should start from!

Final Words: Remember, characters aren’t just muscle.

They have skin, fat, and softness too.

Don’t sculpt like your character’s like they are just made up of pure muscle structure.

Chat soon ya lovely bunch xxx
Kenny | KennysArts

PS - do me a favour and move this email to primary inbox if you found it in the promotions tab or something like that, thanks!

Sculpting Faces Is Actually NOT Hard

"Well that was easy!"

Face Sulpting Workshop Is Live!

Face Sculpting Workshop!!

Learn how to sculpt faces in blender!

See all posts from KennysArts