How to Draw Biceps – Anatomy for Artists
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Anatomy of the Human Body

Arms(101 Lessons)
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Biceps

How to Draw Biceps – Anatomy for Artists

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How to Draw Biceps – Anatomy for Artists

329K
Mark as Completed

Assignment: Draw the Biceps

our assignment is to do quicksketch drawings of the upper arm from the model photos I’ve provided below. Start with the gesture then focus on drawing the forms of the muscles. Since we already learned about the deltoid, you can have some fun with those too.

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michael gilbert
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Daniela Grippo
Any suggestions?
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Demetrio Cran
Hola Daniela! Creo que entre Argentinos podemos hablar en Argentino :-) Lo que dice Steve es muy acertado, creo yo. Es posible que te entusiasme mucho la anatomia y estés usando esa energía para sentarte a dibujar, pero veo que no te vendria mal reforzar algunos fundamentos. Por ejemplo, Steve menciona el gesto. Yo sumo la forma en que usas el "sombreado" para describir el volumen. Creo que podés usar de referencia a Steve, que con gran economía (solamente dos tonos) muestra mucho volumen y con gran claridad. Por supuesto que Steve es muy avanzado, pero lo que se puede sacar de la experiencia es que tal vez sea buena idea probar con un sombreado más simple. Bueno, es un gusto encontrame con dibujantes de argentina.
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Steve Lenze
Hi Daniela, There is a couple of things I see in your arm drawing that I think you could work on. To begin with, the arm has no gesture, it's very straight and stiff. Your anatomy and the way you are thinking about the flex and relaxed part of the muscles is what is contributing to the stiffness. It's easier to show then explain, so I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean. I hope this helps :)
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Phattara Groodpan
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Tsotne Shonia
I'm still experimenting with the shading, there's still a lot to do. I think I'm not varying my core shadows enough and need to be more willing to "erase" my lines, but I'm making slow progress 😊
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Benjamin Green
Most of these are really good. One tip I can lend you is that you don't typically need a core shadow for every muscle. Shading each muscle individually will generally look terrible. Bigger shadow shapes and maybe a pinch of reflective light here and there will look artistically better. Anatomy is about subtlety.
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Tsotne Shonia, nice studies! Your tracings of the anatomy look pretty accurate💪 - I think I would give you the same advice I gave you on the foot bones assignment: to practice drawing from imagination. Drawing from imagination reveals what you don't know and helps you get to know the anatomy even better. In some of these I'm lacking a sence of a bone beneath, and the muscles being layered on top. In drawing 1, 2 and 5 I feel like we're lacking some of the arm's volume; maybe because the unvisibile anatomy hasn't been clearly considered. I like to treat my anatomy studies, kinda like écorché sculptures; you build from skeleton up to the surface. - I think the drawings would look even more appealing if you balance the round forms with some hard planes. Try to be a bit more boxy in you mass conceptions. In image 6 for example, you have a wonderful opportuniy to draw an almost box like biceps. - Try to consider the gesture more when adding the structure and anatomy. If you study this drawing by Michelangeo https://i.pinimg.com/originals/21/86/5f/21865fe4ea3811d6cdad9a961d5d5ce3.jpg, you might notice how every single line is contributing to the gesture. It might help to think about a river flowing through the body; the forms are like rocks that the water flow across, around, smashes into, splashes over and the lines you draw is the water interacting with them. One of the difficulties with figure drawing is to keep on adding to the gesture, while adding the forms and details, and this river analogy might help with that. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
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Samuel Parker
Found some time to get back to this course! Been busy with my mentorship with Simon Lee.
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Margaret Langston
Posting my attempt at the biceps assignment, which shows my very fuzzy knowledge of anatomy in general. I will come back and copy the SP demos at some point.
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Marco Sordi
2022/11/25. Good morning everybody. Here's my latest anatomy study (source: "The Anatomy of Style" by Patrick Jones). Thanks and have a good day.
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James Paris
Here are my assignments for this exercise
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Jesper Axelsson
Really nice!
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David Gutmann
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @David Gutmann, nice drawings! Good gesture and shading, I can clearly feel the forms. - I would do some deeper studying of the anatomy to make sure you know all the muscles from this lesson and their attachment points. In drawing 2, I'm unsure whether you're aware of the biceps's insertion point at the radius and the presence of the brachialis, since they don't seem indicated (though I'm seeing a light line that might be part of the brachialis). Maybe you were, but choose to leave it out for a focus on light- and shadow-shapes? You can shade of course, though for your anatomy studies I would recommend that you lightly indicate, or at least in the lay-in, find the muscles and bones that lie deep as well. In image 3 you've indicated the coracobrachialis, though I'm unsure whether you know where it's heading for the coracoid process. In drawing 4 you seem to have grouped the biceps with the brachialis into a single cylinder. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
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abrahan13
Any feedback is appreciated
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viny
1yr
biceps exercises ready, I'm still going to do some more, I don't think I understand everything right.
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viny
6mo
another study 8 months later
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Luke Ng
Nice work! Keep going
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Luke Ng
I struggled with Identifying the brachialis in the models, especially on the medial side of the arm. Also, I'm not sure if the brachialis and the deltoid are supposed to attach to the same location of the humerus. It looks that way on most ecorches I've seen though I could be wrong. Any Critique about my anatomy or general drawing is greatly appreciated
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cg_art
Although I truly do not have the knowledge to give you any useful critique, I will say I look forward to when my work is on this level and beyond :)
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Atharva Lotake
looking good! keep it up!
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squeen
Looking reaaly good.
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Ria Kumo
All critiques appreciated. I did edit some of my traditionally drawn work. I think that's okay?
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Johnathan
For you last drawing, the gray part seems to be the brachialis, not biceps brachii. It looks like you can identify your muscles well though!
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hiflow
I think I'm starting to get the hang of implicit shading. All critiques appreciated!
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Johnathan
Well done. For your drawing of the woman, the deltoid and biceps brachii lines should be touching, as there's nothing in between them at that area. Your drawings look structural and has volume though so keep up the good work!
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aishwarya_b
Posting Biceps assignment.Any critique is appreciated.
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CHARLES DEIGHAN
Here's my Bicep assignment. Critiques welcomed, thanks.
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Thieum
Biceps assignment attempts
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Matt Abery
Here is my attempt at the bicep assignments. Sorry if the camera quality isn't that great.
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Francisco Laurel
awesome
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Gannon Beck
Good studies!
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Marco Sordi
Awesome!!
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Shiela Mae Arevalo
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Johan Kurniawan
I'm having a hard time locating the Coracobrachialis and the Medial side of the Brachialis on the model. I remember in the lesson the medial Brachialis isn't as obvious which confuses me with the Tricep, I haven't get to the Tricep lesson yet so I'm not quite sure how to locate the Tricep properly and differentiate it from the medial Brachialis. Also does the tendon of the biceps that inserts to the radius bends when the arm is bent? I'd appreciate any feedback about the anatomy or even general drawing critiques. Thank you.
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Johan Kurniawan, I think you're studies are awesome! Very good structure! Learning about the triceps in the next lesson will definitly help in distinguishing the brachialis from the triceps. They are separated by the medial inframuscular septum (MIS), which goes in a straight line from the medial epicondyle and up toward the head of the humerus. If the brachialis and medial head of the triceps are two hills, then the MIS is the valley. Look for a subtle depression For identifying the coracobrachialis, or any muscle, I find it helpful to indicate the bones. The key landmark for the coracobrachialis is the coracoid process, where it originates. GENERAL DRAWING Again, the drawings are really nice! I think they would be even better with more gesture (revisit the first part ofthe figure drawing course. You can do gesture drawings as warm-up, while continuing with anatomy) Dare to exaggerate! Dare to bend the cylinder of the arm in a c-curve if the gesture is a c-curve! When you can combine the awesome structure in your drawings with awesome gesture, great things will happen :) I hope this was helpful :)
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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
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