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LESSON NOTES
How to Draw Neck Muscles – Form
Now that you know the anatomical basics of the neck, it's time to look at students' assignments and learn from their mistakes. Watch these critiques to find out how you can improve drawing the neck!
View the lessons on the neck muscles below if you need a refresher or want to do the assignment.
How to Draw Neck Muscles – Anatomy and MotionHow to Draw Neck Muscles – Form
For the full hour long critique video, check out the Premium Anatomy Course!
DOWNLOADS
Anatomy Critiques -The Neck Muscles-Transcript.txt
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Anatomy Critiques -The Neck Muscles-1080p.mp4
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ASSIGNMENTS
Neck muscles is really too complicated for me. My eyes having a hard time seeing anything other than the sterno. Any feedbacks are welcome
These are my neck muscle studies, along with the references. Sometimes I didn't literally see some of the muscles I drew, but imagined where they were under the surface. This was tricky, particularly knowing when and where to put in muscles like the capitis, levator scapulae, and the scalene.
That looks like the other head of the sternocleido-mastoid muscle. In this model it's very prominent, but it should connect about 1/3 of the way from the center of the sternum along the clavicle. When the model's neck is stretched out like that, it creates that deep depression you don't normally see. When relaxed, it makes a more flat triangular shape that is typically indicated in drawings or sculpture.
These are my neck studies so far. I’m still not used to the 1710 pencil, but when I use graphite I’m not content either - love playing with the iPad, so here is a mixed post.
There's an inherent irony in the way at about 32:10, Stan gets done telling someone that effective studying for short periods of time, are much more important than longer studies that don't focus on what's going on beneath it, then flipping to a single submitted high detail render.
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4yr
Hi @Jason Winter, these drawings look really nice! Very good edge work!
I'll do my best to help you further:
- I mentioned in a previous critique that I like to do "x-ray" drawings, where I clearly indicate muscles and bones, making sure that I understand what's beneath. I think you would get much more out of your studies if you did the same. Track everything with light lines, make sure that you understand everything. Then you can add the beatiful shading on top. I think Stan makes a good role model; He draws though, clearly tracking the muscles, yet adds some beatiful core shadows
- I would familiarize myself more with the structure of the throat. In the second drawing for example, I would draw the core shadow differently to better show the form of the thyroid cartilage
- In the first study In think you misinterpreted the thyroid gland for being the sternohyoideus. Refer to Stan's example. One clue that makes certain it's not the sternohyoideus is the direction. It should attatch to the sternum, note how you have them going to the clavicles. It would also be nice if you indicated the thickness of the jaw
I hope this was helpful :) Keep up the good work!
Hello, this is my assignment for the neck muscles. I did a skinless study to understand how the neck muscles look as I find it to be very confusing particularly when the neck is extending. Do the muscles like the semispinalis capitis, splenius capitis and trapezius just contract and shorten when the neck is extended or do they also bend and fold? Or are all of the folds visible on an extended neck just the skin? The last one I did (bottom right) has the model extending his neck and I am not sure if the folds are just the skin or the muscles as well. Thanks!
Answering your questions:
There won't be folds in the muscles. The folds will always happen in the skin in response to the contraction of the muscles. But the muscles themselves don't really fold. It's like when you wear a long sleeve shirt. When you bend your arm, its volume remains the same but as you bring the parts together the fabric will compress resulting in folds in the bending side.
With that being said let's analyse the neck. When you extend the neck the semispinalis capitis, splenius capitis and trapezius will contract and bring your head back. Normally the result more plausible would be a straight line. But, in reality as the trapezius is attached to the spine through the nuchal ligament, so it will inherit its curvature. Since it's the muscle more close to the surface, it will force the other ones to its path and the result will be two fuller cylinders that follow more or less the curvature of the cervical portion of the spine.
Depending on your body fat percentage, you can try poking the back of your neck when you look up. It's possible to feel the hard form of the muscles under the soft skin folds. That, hopefully will give you a better understanding o what happens. But remember that in reality you'll probably see the forms of the muscles blending the folds or in some cases it will be covered by long hair. But if you understand the theory you can design accordingly.
Best regards
