Hands

This is a laugh, but I was digging up old pictures from elementary school and even middle school that I had drawn. From the start I have been curious about the human figure and trying to draw it accurately. I believe Leonardo DiCaprio drawing Kate Winslet in Titanic started it all but that's not the point. For the longest time I noticed, I drew figures with their arms twisted around to their backs. Although it gave many of the images innocent poses, the main reason is because I was very weak at drawing hands.
Hands are tough to get down, even now I tend to save illustrating hand gestures until the very last moment. However, when doing them as gestures, I use to make them into crescent shapes and was pleased, but now I base them off of the muscles that build them. I feel like they are much more lively and have a sense of motion to them. It's very exciting, and now I like placing hands in visible places. It's great.

Posture

Going into the muscles of the upper thorasic area and the pectoral region, I see how much the muscles are allowed to stretch and pull when a person sits up straight or slouches. It makes me wonder how we can possibly train ourselves to sit up straight, is it really beneficial in the end to have better posture? I believe it feels better, however when the body feels sluggish, not holding rigid poses seem to feel more comfortable. When models sit or lay in long poses, their bodies seem tense in some parts, especially joints. I find myself making darker lines to get the feeling of tension and discomfort.
The human body can be physically strong, however, can be equally weak when it comes to the smallest inflictions. Including poor posture and uncomfortable settlements.

Cooking with Muscles

I remember the day in class that Amy showed us a slab of meat (online) and how the white lines were actually sections were muscles have been cross cut.

I saw this while adventuring out in Wisconsin's wilderness and cooking up a 2" arm roast over a campfire. If you pick up the meat/muscle before it is cooked, it will hang and begin to separate from itself. I found this interesting, because you can also see the muscle structure and how it intertwines. It is also interesting to think how they would flex, extend, and contract. I wonder how holder peoples muscles look like in comparison to babies or even athletes vs couch potatoes.