Throughout this week we have been looking further at the musculature of our manikins.  Professor Fichter went over some of the proper placements of the spinal erectors, and what to watch out for in the construction of our musculature.  The manikin was a challenging prospect that has thus far been a rewarding experience, one that will definitely help in my future sculptural, modeling and casting practices.  We were further instructed on how to use our Atlas book, and other resources that assist in the completion of our anatomic model.  One such resource, which I happily purchased was the Visual Body, online resource.  This resource has a plethora of uses for an emerging artist.  In addition to its usefulness to the artist it is also quite interesting to reference for medical purposes.

Toward the end of Tuesday's class we were given an exercises relating to the medial lines on our figure model.  First, we were given fifteen second increments to complete a snapshot of the movement of the medial line, overlapping each line with the previous line and pose.  Next, were exercises lasting one minute, that were useful in developing skill visualizing movement across the body.  Additionally, we were given one half hour to begin a contour line drawing of the figure model.  This was most helpful in my overall understanding of not only composition but scale and attention to the lateral line.

In addition to the lateral line we learned how to begin drawing the ribcage.  We learned of the various bones and cartilage that make up this area of the torso.  We were instructed to find the medial lines, or the central lateral lines as a reference point, then to add an egg shaped to it by locating other reference points.  We spent the first hour and a half doing thirty, and sixty second sketches of the spine and the ribcage.  This was helpful in determining how the spine relates to the movement of the ribcage.  We then worked for one half hour drawing the figure, concentrating on the torso and adding contour lines to the figure.  Finally I applied the abdomen musculature to the manikin.