Anatomy & Character Sculpture: Exercises

30/04/2025 - 27/06/2025
Ameera Rihana binti Remy Ansara
Bachelor of (hons) in creative media
Exercises: Fundamentals of Anatomy and Digital Sculpting

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Exercises: Fundamentals of Anatomy and Digital Sculpting

Recap
Students are given series of tasks to understand the methods of traditional sculpting integrated in digital sculpting tool by using figure drawing blueprint as base. Students will be constructing and testing digital sculpting techniques in creating components to further skills in anatomical rendering in 3D through the execution of academy-style scale models of head and torso.
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Weekly Exercises

Week 2
In our first weekly exercise, we were tasked to draw anatomy parts of the body. My first attempt was drawing the female and male anatomy to differentiate their body mass and muscles. Based on these drawings, we were told to start with simple geometric shapes in different angles and observed how they distort themselves in different perspectives.

We also needed to find a few references and study their poses on how they move and twist their body.

Fig 1.0 Female Anatomy (poses)

Fig 1.1 Male Anatomy (poses)

At the same time, I made some attempts in the Zbrush software at sculpting 3D just to get an idea on how it works and the complex functions it has. What I had in mind here was a goat monster.

Fig 1.2 Sculpting Attempt

Week 3

For this week, I tried to explore further in depth in male and female anatomy to get a better understanding. I studied the ways on how the muscles were formed when they are twisted and learning skeletal figures as a base for a human figure in order to landmark the proportions of a body. (torsos and legs)

Fig 1.3 Muscles & Skeletal (male)

Fig 1.4 Muscles & Skeletal (female)

Week 4

In this week, we were also told to make some skull studies and to determine some parts of it. I was not really familiar with the shape of the skull and the placement of the jaws at a closer observation. I decided to make further research in order to understand the basics and criteria.

Fig 1.5 Skull studies

After the research, I began drawing skulls and highlighting the parts of it and adding little notes to it so I would not forget. This turned out to be a pretty insightful experience.

Fig 1.5 Skull sketches

In addition to that, I transferred these knowledge and applied it into the Zbrush to see if I could get the basic shapes of the skull.

Fig 1.6 Skull formation

Fig 1.7 Skull formation #2

Week 5
For this week, I initiated my first project by planning a type of character that I wanted to create. I started with drawing silhouettes of a female body by applying together with the basics. At the same time, I continued my progression with the skull by adding more volume to add skin using a clay build up brush and standard brush.

Fig 1.8 Character first progression

Fig 1.9 Head Progression (male) #1

Fig 2.0 Head Progression (male) #2

Week 6

This week we were tasked on drawing the hands and the feet. I tend to struggle a lot with the fingers and toes because they always looked distorted and out of proportion. In a middle of sculpting, this was the part of a human anatomy that took me a while to get used to. In addition, I continued the progression of my original character by getting the proportion of the female body correctly.

Fig 2.1 Hand Studies

Fig 2.2 Hand Drawings

Fig 2.3 Character sculpting anatomy

Week 7
After the hands, I proceeded with the feet. I tried to looked up for reference to gather more insights. Other than that, I wanted to learn more about male torsos and abs so I tried my hand at drawing them. For the character posture, I continued adding more volume and convert them into dynamesh to join all the parts together.

Fig 2.4 Feet Studies

Fig 2.4 Feet Sketches

Fig 2.5 Male Torsos and Abs

Fig 2.6 Character progression

Fig 2.7 Final Compilation Exercises

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REFLECTION

Experience: Working on human anatomy, both through drawing and sculpting in ZBrush, was a very hands-on learning process. Drawing helped me study proportions, forms, and how muscles connect across different parts of the body. It was about breaking the figure down into simple shapes before refining them into more natural forms. Sculpting in ZBrush took that knowledge into 3D, where I could physically shape and adjust forms while seeing them from every angle. This combination of 2D and 3D practice helped me understand anatomy in a more complete way.

Observation: I noticed that drawing makes me focus on line, proportion, and silhouette, while sculpting pushes me to think about volume, depth, and how muscles wrap around the body. Small mistakes in proportion that may be hidden in a drawing become more obvious in 3D. Working in ZBrush also made me more aware of symmetry, balance, and how each part of the body relates to the whole figure.

Findings: I learned that understanding anatomy is not just about memorising muscles or bones but about knowing how they work together in different poses and perspectives. Drawing builds a strong foundation for observing and understanding form, while sculpting strengthens that knowledge by forcing me to think about it in three dimensions.