Visualizing Muscles (Paperback)

John Cody

ISBN 10: 070060426X / ISBN 13: 9780700604265

Published by University Press of Kansas, Kansas, 1991

About this Item

Paperback. As the human body moves, muscles contract and relax, creating subtle changes in body contours and shifting patterns of light and shadow on the skin's surface. Visualizing exactly what happens beneath the skin to cause these changes on the surface is of interest to artists, physical therapists and body builders - to anyone who needs to understand the body in motion. This book aims to be a visual aid to drawing, sculpting and learning surface anatomy. A live model is made to look as though his skin has been stripped off - skin muscles, tendons and fascial sheaths having been painted on him - and photographed in multiple poses. For each pose there are paired photographs - one painted and labelled, one not - aiming to help one to grasp how the simulated muscles produce the subtle lights and darks, hills and valleys, on the model's unpainted skin. Aims to provide a visual aid to drawing, sculpting and learning human surface anatomy. A live model, with musculature painted on him, is photographed in multiple poses in order to help examine what causes changes of body contour and light patterns on the skin's surface, when the body moves. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780700604265

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Visualizing Muscles (Paperback)
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas, Kansas
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 070060426X
• ISBN 13: 9780700604265
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

As the human body moves, muscles contract and relax, creating subtle changes in body contours and shifting patterns of light and shadow on the skin's surface. Visualizing exactly what happens beneath the skin to cause these changes on the surface is an essential skill for artists, physicians, physical therapists, and body builders-for anyone who needs to understand the body in motion.

But how do you teach this skill?

Why not paint a live model to look as though his skin had been stripped off and then photograph him in multiple poses? From that idea comes Visualizing Muscles, an innovative aid to drawing, sculpting, and learning surface anatomy.

More than one hundred static and active poses are included in Visualizing Muscles. Paired photographs—one painted and labelled, one not—show how the simulated muscles produce the subtle lights and darks, hills and valleys, on the model's unpainted skin. Captions highlight the muscles called into play by a given pose.

Dr. Cody, who experimented with techniques for two years, pioneers the use of a model on whose skin muscles, tendons, and fascial sheaths are painted with scientific accuracy. Because of the elasticity of the skin and paint, the painted musculature expands and contracts along with the underlying muscles. Thus Cody's technique enables students of anatomy to visualize the muscles beneath the skin and the changes brought about by movement.

About the Author

John Cody, M.D., a retired psychiatrist, received his training in medical illustration at Johns Hopkins' Department of Art as Applied to Medicine and spent eleven years as a medical and scientific illustrator. His watercolor paintings of giant silk moths are currently on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Among his published books is the Atlas of Foreshortening.