Morpho: Anatomy for Artists
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About this ebook
In this book, Michel Lauricella presents both his artistic and systematic methods for drawing the human body—with drawing techniques from the écorché (showing the musculature underneath the skin) to sketches of models in action.
In more than 1000 illustrations, the human body is shown from a new perspective—from bone structure to musculature, from anatomical detail to the body in motion. Morpho is a rich, fascinating, and helpful book that can go with you everywhere on your sketching journey.
Michel Lauricella
Michel Lauricella was trained at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (National Higher Institute of Fine Arts) of Paris. He has been teaching morphology for over twenty years, first at the Émile Cohl school (Lyons), then at the Beaux-Arts studios of the city of Paris, and finally at the Gobelins (Paris). He currently teaches at the LISAA school, the Beaux-Arts workshops, and the Fabrica 114 studio, all of which are located in Paris, France.
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Titles in the series (9)
Morpho: Skeleton and Bone Reference Points: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Simplified Forms: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Fat and Skin Folds: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Hands and Feet: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMorpho: Muscled Bodies: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Clothing Folds and Creases: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Mammals: Elements of Comparative Morphology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morpho: Face, Head, and Neck: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Book preview
Morpho - Michel Lauricella
introduction
These skeletons or écorchés stupefy because they act like living creatures.
—Roger Caillois, Au coeur du fantastique (At the Heart of the Fantastic), Gallimard, Paris, 1965.
André Vésale (1514–1564) and Jan Steven Van Calcar (1499–1546), L’Epitome (The Epitome), 1543.
The Écorché: a Genre
During the Renaissance, artists began producing works depicting the anatomy of the human body. These works were intended for art lovers, as well as for use by physicians. Given that Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) never finished his treatise, the 16th century seven-volume set of illustrated books, La Fabrica, by André Vésale is considered as marking the beginning of a long tradition of anatomical drawing that endures to this day.
Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697–1770) and Jan Wandelaar (1690–1759), Tabulae Sceleti et Musculoru Corporis Humani (1747).
Throughout history, the care that has been given to the representation of écorché figures, originally intended as simple anatomical studies, has made them into a subject in themselves—a genre just like the nude or the landscape. This genre also has its own history, codes, and conventions, and can be used as a means of personal expression. These écorché characters captivate us, with their bodies stripped and laid bare, improbably suspended between life and death. The surrealists later appreciated their strongly fantastical aspect.
Jacques Fabien Gautier d’Agoty (1716–1785), Complete Myology, in Natural Color and Size (1746) (renamed Anatomical Angel by the surrealists).
Morphology
As early as 1890, Paul Richer preferred using the term morphology
to anatomy,
as he believed the term morphology
was more about aesthetics and the form as a whole rather than about medicine and its individual details. We shorten it morpho.
This morpho approach involves retaining only those elements of anatomy that determine shape (we simplify and merge certain groups of muscles as necessary), making whichever anatomical element is most prominent under the skin coincide with the outlines of the drawing. In other words, the thickness of the skin is no longer taken into account and, depending on the regions of the body and the morphological characteristics of your model, you might choose to use an element of bone or muscle or fat as the underlying element that gives structure to the form.
We will, in fact, give equal importance to fat, though we will define its shape in a somewhat arbitrary manner, because unlike bones and muscles, fat develops underneath the skin and has no clear boundaries. I have included some sketches to demonstrate the drawing of fat.
Drawing the Écorché
An écorché drawing can be produced in several stages. First, I suggest you draw the basic composition of your figure using simple geometric shapes to create the overall silhouette. Check the proportions by measuring the various body parts and compare them to each other. Make sure your vertical lines are true by comparing the silhouette of the model with the vertical lines of the architectural space (assuming you have no actual plumb line) and the boundaries of your