Anyone know how to draw the body twisting or in more complex poses. Also how do you shade/ draw muscles to make it look like its apart of the body and not some line?

im a beginner artist but im not sure how to correctly draw the body in more complex poses. any advice

Hello! This is an excellent question, but a bit difficult to answer without knowing a bit about your process currently.

It is important to start with a line of action to map out the pose, and use volumes to note the positions in 3D space of the ribcage and pelvis, noting which directions they twist. I would recommend practicing using volumes, and learning perspective if you want to fully understand how things work in a 3D space. I will linik a few resources that will help explain it better than I can in text!


This channel has some very helpful videos! I recommend starting with this video:

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER: Gesture, Forms, and Animation

For a more technical approach, try this one:

EMULATING EVEN AMUNDSEN II: Pose and Camera Position

For muscles, I recommend studying anatomy as much as you can through anatomy books, free online resources, or courses like this one by Ariel Olivietti that I always recommend! I really admire TB Choi's work as well, and how she shows her in-depth knowledge of anatomy. Her approach to figure drawing and drawing muscles can be seen here:

How to draw body by TB Choi



Let me know if there is anything more specific you'd like to ask :)

Omg thank you for suggesting that moderndayjames channel! I've been looking for good online animation classes and it looks like they have a good one!