How to Draw Upper Back Muscles – Form
How to Draw Upper Back Muscles – Form
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Anatomy of the Human Body

Torso(163 Lessons)
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Upper Back Muscles

How to Draw Upper Back Muscles – Form

176K
Mark as Completed

How to Draw Upper Back Muscles – Form

176K
Mark as Completed

Assignment

Your assignment is to do quicksketch drawings showing the motion and form of the upper back.

For the second bonus part of this assignment, pose Skelly using the Skelly App. Then invent the muscles on top. This is a true test of your knowledge because you have no reference to work from. You have to invent the forms based on what you learned in these lessons. You also have to make sure you position the scapula accurately. The app gives you complete freedom to rotate the scapula how you want, so you have to think about the limitations and accuracy of your poses.

Download the assignment photos in the Downloads tab!

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Huba Hevele
Hello, these are my attempts before watching the critique video.It really helps to know the anatomy so I can represent form with my shading not just copy shapes and edges.But it is hard to keep myself in that 3d mentality while shading. Do you guys strugle with that?
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Zuzu Soltys
Hello,here's my submission of the assignment. I drew some poses more times, because I wasn't sure about the placement of the landmarks or I wanted to make the quicksketch more dynamic and less stiff. Critique is kindly appreciated!
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Lenserd martell
Looks like it needs more practice.
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Lenserd martell, I think these look really good! Overall, really nice work! - You might want to do some more studies of the pelvis and the obliques. - In image 2, drawing at the top, the acromion process should be farther out, I think. And the humerus could be farther out too. - In image 1, drawing at the top, I think the serratus anterior should reach lower on the ribcage. Hope this helps :)
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viny
4mo
drawing the back is always difficult
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TK
5mo
My assignment for this lesson
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Samuel Parker
Skelly app tracings
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Samuel Parker
Upper back quick sketches
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Tsotne Shonia
My attempt for this assignment :
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Margaret Langston
I did the quick sketches along with Prof P's demos. I did not do them myself.
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Camellito
Here are my upper back assingments.
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Alexis Riviere
Did a few drawings of the torso muscles in different poses, all from imagination. It wasn't the assignment at all, but heh. I wanted to put everything I learnt so far into some free sketches.
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xander
Hi everyone! Here's my assignment. Any feedback is much appreciated.
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hiflow
All critiques welcome!
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viny
1yr
Hello guys! this is my first post on the site, despite being in the middle of the course. I don't know if anyone will respond, but I wanted to post my studies somewhere and get some feedback. I understand the shapes but I think my problem is that I don't know how to put the initial trapeze gesture, if anyone has any help I would be happy! I'm not American, sorry if there is any mistake in my English.
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Madelyn Kuipers
Assignment 01 - Upper Back - Part 02 Feedback and critiques welcome and appreciated as always!
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Madelyn Kuipers
Assignment 01 - Upper Back - Part 01 Feedback and critiques welcome and appreciated!
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Nihi Sus
There's a lot of confusion still going on, I look forward to seeing the critique and getting some of my confusion lifted
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CHARLES DEIGHAN
Here's my Upper Back Muscle Assignment, critiques welcomed.
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CHARLES DEIGHAN
Hi Jesper, I was hoping someone would notice. Over the Christmas Holidays I did go back over my Figure Drawing course and did some exercises that I may have gone through too quickly. It appears to have payed off to some degree. Thanks for the in put.
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @CHARLES DEIGHAN, I think you did a really nice job with these. Is it just me or has your drawings gotten a lot more solid and three dimensional? I can really feel the mass of the trapezius in your drawings! - In #1 and #6 the upper portion looks too tall Hope this helps :)
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Luke Ng
Upper back muscle studies. Struggled with some of these on maintaining the gesture while still being accurate with the muscle anatomy Critiques are welcome
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Gabriel Benatar
Your drawings are awesome!
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Account deleted
2yr
Hey Lukeng, overall, I think these are pretty nice drawings. My personal feedback would be to work more on the clarity of the areas you're studying in the drawings (which I assume is the upper back based on the assignment description). In drawing #5 the information about the trapezius feels pretty clear and in drawing #8 it's also clear and I like the additional form information of the right scapula, the shoulder and how they all come together, but in drawing #7, for example, there are so many line movements and shapes happening that the information becomes a bit lost. I understand (based on the assignment description) that these might be quicksketch drawings, and I'm mostly just giving the feedback as something to keep in mind (if you agree with it). If they are timed quicksketch drawings, it might also help to focus your time economy more on the upper back (in this case) after finding the gesture instead of adding detail in order places. I hope this helps Lukeng, and keep up the good work! :)
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Max Franken
Hello everyone :)! My first post on the proko site! I would like to have some feedback on my drawing. Specifically i would love to have critiques on the shading (it took me a long time and was struggling through it) and anatomy. Any other critiques or tips and tricks are of course welcome. Thank you very much!
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Bradwynn Jones
Hi Max! Beautiful drawing! Very controlled shading. I would push the concept of lighting losing strength as it moves down the subject. So here the light would hit stronger on the shoulders and by the time it hit the lower back the power of the light has diminished and so light isn't as bright. That may add more depth to the drawing. Personally I'd add in some texture or hatching in the core shadow and where it meets the light to give some variation of feeling with the forms. May be that is just personal preference. Great work!
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