Hey everyone. In this next video lesson, I'm going to be discussing my process for drawing the arms and legs. I'll cover both of them separately while talking about gesture, breaking the forms down into simple and basic shapes. And we'll even explore a few examples showing each in various positions that will show the muscles in action. So, that being said, Why don't we get started. First, I'm going to sketch the arm from the front view.

So we're going to start with a circle to represent the shoulder placement or the deltoid. And then we're going to sketch a smooth line and draw a circle halfway down where the elbow joint will go. Then draw another rough circle at the end of the forearm to represent the hand placement. You want to always make sure that you nail down the gesture of the arm first before going in with details or muscle structures. Because as they say, forms follow gesture and if you Don't nail the gesture down and you go in with details too fast, then your sketch is going to look very static and stiff. But if you begin with the gesture and then add the details, the forms are going to look a lot more fluid and natural.

Okay, now that we have the overall gesture of the arm sketched out, we can now begin to go in with building some of the muscle structures. So first wrap up the bicep, and then draw the supinator muscle directly below it on the left side of the forearm, followed by the flexor carpi radialis muscle on the right side of the forearm. And then you're going to sketch in the small pronator terrorists muscle just above that. Okay, and then Next, you're going to sketch the extensor carpi radialis longest muscle on the left side of the forearm, along with the tricep and you're going to define the deltoid muscles. Remember, the deltoid is split into three sections of muscle, but from the front view, you're only going to see that front section and a little bit of the metal Park. And we're also just going to rough in the hand real quick, so you guys can get a general idea of the placement and positioning.

But we're going to cover hands in more detail in the hands and feet video coming up. Okay, moving on. Example number two is going to show the arm from the side view. So just like we did in the first example, I'm going to start with that circle to show the shoulder placement, and then I'm going to sketch a fluid line. And since we're viewing arm from the side, the line is going to be a little bit curved because the arm naturally falling is never going to appear straight up and down, it's going to have a little bit of a curve to it. So like we did with the front view, we're going to establish that fluid gesture before we move on to adding any details.

Now that we've established the fluid gesture, let's start building some of the muscles Again, start with roughing out the bicep. And then next sketch the supinator muscle directly below it, followed by the extensor carpi radialis longest muscle and the extensor digitorum. Next, we're going to throw in the tricep muscle in the back, and then the elbow joint. Next, what I'm going to do is define the deltoid muscles by splitting up the main form into those three sections of muscle. Now that we're viewing the arm from the side, you'll be able to see all three sections clearly. And like we did in the last example, I'm just going to throw in the hand real quick so you guys can get a sense of the positioning.

Okay, now example number three, we're going to sketch the arm from the back view. So like we did in the first two examples, we want to start with that fluid gesture. I'm also going to rough in a part of the back of the torso. So you guys will see how it connects overall Now that we have the gesture down, let's start building the muscle structures. So first we're going to start by defining those deltoid muscles up top. And I'm also just going to start defining the shoulder blade a little bit, followed by the tricep muscles, we're going to add in the elbow joint, and then we're going to sketch in the supinator muscle and the flexor carpi radialis.

But we're only going to see the back views of these muscles because they wrap around to the front of the arm. And then the last thing I'm going to do is sketch in the extensor digitorum muscles and throw in a rough sketch of the hand. Okay, now we're going to explore the arm and a few different dynamic poses showing the muscles in action. But basically, the key things to keep in mind are when the arm flexes forward as shown in this first example, the bicep will contract and bolt out while the tricep expands. Say thing goes for example number two here, but this time the arm is going to be flexing in a different direction. But the same thing applies, the bicep is going to bulge and contract while the tricep expands.

And then in this third example here, we're going to use a little bit of foreshortening to show the arm reaching out. And you want to remember that the supinator and flexor carpi radialis muscles point downward towards the center of the palm. So when the arm is rotating, as shown here, with the palm opening, those muscles are going to rotate as well. Alright, now that we're done with the arms, we're going to move on to drawing the legs. We're going to begin by sketching the leg from the front view. So start by sketching a box for the hips along with the lower portion of the oblique muscles and the groin area.

Next, rough out the upper and lower legs with smooth gestural lines similar to what we did in the earlier portion of this lesson. Because remember, Following gesture, next begin shaping the upper and lower leg. After this, you want to define the kneecap and sketch the vastus externus and vastus internus muscles on the upper leg, the rectus femoris will then be placed in the middle above the knee. Following that, you're going to draw the muscle that flows from the hips down to the lower leg called the Sartorius and the tensor fasciae latae on the outermost region of the upper leg. And lastly, sketch the calf muscles on the lower leg along with the tibialis anterior, now the left side of the calf muscle will actually appear to be a bit higher than the calf muscle on the right side. Okay, and example number two here we're going to draw the leg from the side view.

So first sketch that box for the hips just like we did in example one, but from this angle. Keep in mind that this box is going to be tilting downward slightly and also sketch the circle For the hip joint. After this proceed with drawing the upper leg and the lower leg. From the side view the front of the upper leg and back of the lower leg will be curved. Well inversely, the back of the upper leg and front of the lower leg will be straight. Next, you want to rough in the foot and sketch the vastus externus.

Draw in the kneecap, the tensor fasciae latae and the rectus femoris muscles on the upper leg. Then you want to sketch the side of the glute muscle over the hip joint and drawing the calf muscle on the lower leg. Also, be sure to include part of the biceps for Morris that will be visible behind the upper leg. All right, moving on. The third example is going to show the leg from the back view. So again to begin drawing that box to represent the hips.

And next you want to form the glute muscles. As we discussed in the torso slash hips lesson. Imagine the glute muscles as butterfly wings after this sketch the upper and lower legs with those same fluid gestural lines that we covered in the previous two examples. And also you want to rough out the back of the foot as well. And lastly, you want to draw this semi tendinosis and bicep for Morris muscles on the upper part of the leg, along with the calf muscles on the lower leg. All right, now we're going to go ahead and sketch the legs in a few different dynamic action poses.

So when you're sketching the legs in different positions, you want to keep in mind all of the steps that we covered in those first three examples. But this time, we're going to be focusing more on the gesture of the pose. So like I stated earlier in the video, you want to really focus first on those smooth flowing gestural lines before going in and adding any detail. This way the pose will look a lot more fluid and natural and it won't look as stiff. As withdrawing any part of the human figure in different positions, it definitely takes a lot of practice and patience. It's something that you may not get a grasp of immediately.

But with enough time in practice, you will in fact get the concepts down, and you'll be able to eventually then draw them for memory. Awesome job. Congratulations for completing lesson three of this course, by now you should definitely have a much better understanding of how to construct the arms and legs. Before we move forward. Let's just do a quick little recap. So when you're beginning to sketch the arms or the legs, you want to remember that forms follow gesture, meaning you want to start with those those smooth fluid gestural lines before adding detail, because then you start with the detail first, you Your forms are going to look very rigid and stiff.

So always begin with gesture. Next you want to remember as always, to break everything down into simple and basic shapes, and then gradually build detail upon them. And lastly, you know, just explore different positions and angles for both, as this will increase your knowledge and ability to draw the arms and legs more accurately. So thank you guys so much for watching. I really appreciate it and I hope you learned something from this. I will see you in the next lesson.

Take care