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How to Draw Body Fat

Today nosotros are going to comprehend what I consider the most overlooked topic in life cartoon – fatty. Most beefcake books for artists comprehend muscle and bone, which is practiced considering they are the underlying construction of the figure. But fat tissue is hugely important to the surface nosotros're really seeing. We'll speedily look at why we need to learn most fat, where it'due south distributed and finally how to draw it.

There are unlike types of fat, merely the topic for today is the fat that really affects what we encounter – the subcutaneous adipose tissue, the stuff only under the skin.

I establish when I mentioned to people I was making a mail service nigh drawing fat, nearly assumed that that meant drawing people of a certain size. But everyone has fatty tissue and it'll have a big touch on what we meet when we're drawing anyone, so talking about fat means looking at models of all shapes.

At school I call back my friend proclaimed to us that he had zero percentage body fat, and then some other friend told him that was dangerous considering Bruce Lee died from having no trunk fat, and he should eat some chocolate immediately. At the time, I fully believed both of them. Only within all that nonsense i thing actually was true – information technology would be dangerous to have nix body fat.

This tissue has various functions. It stores upwardly energy for use later. Information technology'south important for cellular function. It provides a cushion, which is why there is fat tissue on our butts and feet and it pads out joints and organs. On our hands plainly information technology even helps with forming a grip around things.

For effigy drawing, fat is really important for the overnice gestural curves nosotros love so much.

Preconceptions are often a hindrance in drawing, so let'due south forget fat as a category of people and instead see information technology for what it is – a major component of anybody's figure.

What we see

In some areas of the effigy, fatty merely softens the underlying structure, creating smoothen curves on meridian of more than angular bones and the undulating terrain of the muscles. The contours and tones are just simplified by the fat. Rather than lots of undulations, divets and ridges creating a complex assortment of tonal shifts, we meet larger, simpler and softer shapes. In these areas, the fat squashes and stretches only the overall shape and volume nosotros run across is still dominated by the bone and musculus.

In other areas of the figure, there can be plenty fatty that the fat itself dominates what we see, creating its own rounded and bulging shapes rather than but smoothing out the underlying construction. Fat squashes and stretches depending on the pose. In areas where the figure can curve, especially effectually the waist, fat tin can fold in on itself, sometimes creating quite sharp shadows.

Where is fatty distributed?

The first thing to note is that where fat is stored varies a lot between unlike people. It seems to be more individual and varied than muscle and bone. Just still, there are some generalisations we tin make.

On the trunk, fatty is often more heavily distributed on the belly under the belly button, creating a rounded class. Even on muscular models, you might see clear definition in the abs above the bellybutton, just still see that rounded course under it. Wait for differences in the shapes of the shadows above and below the bellybutton. Here there are slightly harder tonal shifts created past the musculus versus softer and rounded shapes created past the fat here.

There is frequently likewise more fat on the love handles. We looked at those in our abs article, because the oblique muscles, the muscles coming downward from the ribcage to the pelvis downward the sides of the body. Those muscles create a small-scale bulge just in a higher place the top border of the pelvis, and fat is added to that, especially at the back, creating larger bulges.

There is fat on the chest. We saw in our breast commodity that at that place is often a relatively flat surface area on the chest in a triangular shape under the collarbones. Below that area, the bulge of the pectoral muscles and the fat actually starts. The fat is peculiarly distributed at the bottom of the chest. On women, the breasts tin have a lot more fatty, and the corporeality of fat hither is non necessarily proportional to the amounts of fatty elsewhere in the figure.

There is a lot of fat on the buttocks, useful for sitting on.

On the limbs, there tends to exist more than fatty closer to the torso. So on the arms, there's more fat in the upper artillery than the forearms, and least of all on the hands. You might notice more than of the sharpness created by bone on the hands, and then more definition from muscles on the forearms and finally the smoother shapes of fat on top of the muscle in the upper arms.

There's a similar story on the legs.

Where the fat isn't

There is less fatty in places like the ribcage arch, the wrists, the bony tips of the pelvis, the collarbones. So where a effigy is smoothed out with fat, y'all can balance that out against some solid and hard structure at these points. Notice here how with the stretched out side of the mid-department, the ribcage and pelvic bone tip jut out a fiddling. And so you tin can bring out that flake of difficult structure in your drawing. On the other side, the fat is bunched up, creating bulging rounded folds.

Merging fat

Areas of fat tin can also merge together. For instance, the fat on our love handles and on our bellies under our omphalus tin can merge to create a sort of chugalug shape wrapping effectually the torso only above the pelvis.

Or the fat on the love handles can merge with the fatty on the buttocks, to create a large, smooth volume reaching from the waist downwardly to the meridian of the leg.

Mutual distributions

It seems that some people concord subcutaneous fat more in the lower trunk around the butt and thighs, some in the stomach and chest, some in a more even full general distribution around the body. There is actually another type of fat worth noting called visceral fat. It's the fat held effectually our organs in the abdominal cavity, nether the sub-cutaneous fatty on the belly.

How to draw fat

Shadow shape edges

Since the shapes are rounder and smoother, y'all desire to capture that in the edges of the shadow shapes yous draw. So here, there is a bone close to the surface, and the shadow created here has a precipitous, angular edge.

But here, there is fat nether the skin, creating a softer, rounder shadow shape.

Notice how the shadow shape tapers off to a betoken, helping explain the rounded form. Y'all get the aforementioned when drawing a sphere.

That tapering is really useful to explain the roundness of the breasts for example.

Contour lines

As an practice, indicate the book you are drawing with lines that run around and up and down the volumes of fat. Y'all can exercise this with imaginary lines, every bit if they've be drawn on with a mark pen, for practice. They'll help you to see and imagine the volumes.

Gesture

Since our gestural lines are often best when smoothen and sweeping, fatty can exist helpful for gesture cartoon. Dramatic lines that come up in and then sweep outwards are corking. We've talked before nearly looking for curves that complement each other and gain momentum. Rather than symmetrical curves, you can emphasise curves that taper together, menses like a river together or cascade into each other.

The balancing human activity

Drawing figures is a balancing act. In that location are simple big volumes versus details and smaller features. At that place'south hard structure and solidity so in that location's sweeping gestural curves. Understanding that balance is partly well-nigh seeing the effigy every bit built from the angular, hard skeleton, the simplifying, smooth and soft fat with the muscles in the middle, creating both hard, rigid shapes and smoother, flowing shapes.

Thank you models

The models in this video of all shapes and sizes are brave enough to bear all so that we tin can acquire from them. Nosotros owe them so much for having the guts to practise that, so thanks to these dandy models.

To get our Free guide to avoiding the mutual pitfalls with learning figure drawing, Life Drawing Success, click HERE

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Source: https://www.lovelifedrawing.com/how-to-draw-fat/