The Importance of Anatomical Accuracy in Figures

[mick3272]

I must admit that I don't get too hung up on anatomical ratios.
If it looks good and the pose is physically possible I'm happy.

Quite agree Del
I dont think this is a case of a figure being Anatomically accurate , as we come in all shapes and sizes.
Its a case of being Anatomically pleasing to YOUR eye.

Mick

 

[peedee]

Oh, that was your torso he was referring to!!........ Bob

Aye Bob......

Thankfully !

Paul.

 

[Blind Pew]

A bug bear I have, which I'll include here as I think it's in the same ball-park, is this.

Figures holding heavy pieces of kit, such as a rifle, in totally unnatural positions. The heavier an object is, we hold it closer to our own centre of gravity, especially towards what's called the power region (where people hold and carry heavy stuff). I see figures of men holding equipment as if they're Arnold Schwarzenegger. Either that or it's a papier mache sword.

 

[Babelfish]

A bug bear I have, which I'll include here as I think it's in the same ball-park, is this.

Figures holding heavy pieces of kit, such as a rifle, in totally unnatural positions.

Or dogs even!

As a spaniel owner of many years standing, I can say with absolute certainty that you would have a very hard time holding one like this! Even if it kept still for long enough (unlikely in that position, even though they enjoy fuss and a cuddle as much as the next dog), it would be extremely awkward and it's actually a very unnatural pose. And yet otherwise it's a lovely sculpt and a great subject. If only they'd thought the pose through a bit more.



- Steve

 

[stormtrooper miniatures]

Anatomy and posture are 2 different subjects. Generally both arebanded about as the same thing.

The anatomy dictates posture,,,ie structure governs function.

As an example a hunchback has a certain posture because of his anatomy,,,its not wrong its just how he copes.

We all have varying postures dictated by body form, so as you can see its not so easy.

Pose / Posture is generally whats wrong ,,,,not the anatomy

Stuart

 

[ellie]

hi chris seen as we got a mention again about the Prussian. it has now been corrected, the arm moved forward lets hope this gives him a much better pose. we will be posing new photos soon. just thought I would clear it up.

cheers

ian

www.elliesminiatures.com

 

[Ray Stout]

A long time ago,(1980s) I saw what appeared to be a fantastic figure of a Renaisance Knight, 80mm which had been heavily converted, and, at first,and second glance, by me seemed to be a really good conversion, but then a friend pointed out to me that if the right arm was straightened out, he could easily scratch the back of his knees, without bending down!! This period was a favorite of mine at the time, and with relatively few comercial figures available then, I imeadiately favored it, and was prepared to "blank" any faults because of this. BIG mistake!!! Ray

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I think this is a matter of how anatomically incorrect a sculpt is. There are grades.
But I think its more important as every human is used to seeing other humans. But have very little knowledge of uniforms and military equipment.

Me ol lady usually have a lot a criticism on the horses that are presented in miniature?

Cheers
Janne Nilsson

 

[Oda]

Posture can sometimes be misleading.True ,anatomy dictates posture but sometimes it so happens that a sculptor turns it all around and distorts anatomy to fit the posture he/she has in mind.Take a very close look at some of Verlinden's (an excellent sculptor otherwise) works and try the exercise mentioned above i.e imagine both arms and legs stretched out and see if they're equal in size,you might be in for quite a surprise.
In a previous posting I mentioned biodiversity (the fact that nature has created countless shapes and sizes even within the same species),this is hardly ever taken into account by all of us.We create vignettes where eveyone is exactly the same height,weight etc with everyone else in the scene.Commercial sculptors do the same thing (the only exception that leaps to my mind is Andrea's Don Quixote vignette where the immortal hidalgo differs substantialy in shape and size from the peasant Sancho).In reality, in a scene with more than two people there would hardly be any conformity regarding height (not to mention weight).Hussars where by default less robust than cuirassiers,guard regiments where composed of men handpicked for their greater stature and so on.It is a fact that most of us tend to sculpt a "generic" human form.This is true for horses as well.In reality there are many horse breeds and no two are identical,(even within the studbooks of a given breed there is space for deviation from the rule).A Barb,an Arabian and a Thoroughbred are different in many ways that's why they are described as different breeds in the first place.A mongol archer riding anything bigger than a przewalski horse and a knight riding into battle on a horse smaller than a modern say hunter are probably (there are always exceptions)historically inaccurate.A knight's destrier is different from a drought horse.A destrier was a warm-blood beast bred for war whereas a drought horse is rather cold-blood, bred for work and it posesses a docile personality even by the day it is foaled and yet most sculptors tend to sculpt a big horse wlth tufts of hair above its hooves (clearly a drought breed) and call it a destrier ( modern research using evidence based on surviving horse bardings and harnesses has come to the conclusion that destriers where not much bigger than modern day hunters)......and I just realised that I've already taken a lot of space (clearly the subject fascinates me) so I will restrain myself (at least until the next posting).

Oda.

 

[Ferris]

Very common errors that put me off are unraised shoulders when arms are raised and necks that go straight up instead of slightly forward. There are many more subtle errors, many of which have been mentioned already. In anatomy/posture of sculpts there definitely are things that are simply wrong. Nothing to do with taste or variety, it is possible to make bad sculpts. Actually, that is quite easy... I have tried! Sculpting WELL is difficult.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Oda]

So very true Adrian.

Oda.