Learning Anatomy from porn?

[TheNorwegian]

Is this a good idea? I dont mean hardcore things, but single woman pictures, you have all kinds of positions, and all kinds of bodies, so it seems to me like a very good idea, but i wonder why ive not heard so much of this idea before.

What is the upsides and downsides of this ? Iknow it cant compare to live models, but why does so many tend to want to learn anatomy from books and etc, when you can learn it by actual real peoples bodies.
Ps. im no pervert ^^

[dorian]

Heh I had the same idea, but now I have a life model every morning, so..
I guess there are no real downsides. But if you compare it to drawing from books: in books the drawings you study are usually prepared in a way to get a point across and make you understand one or another aspect of the figure.

I suppose you shouldn't LIMIT yourself to this type of reference, though. Drawing from life will teach you most. And reading the books, to understand.
Hm and usually the poses indicate pretty clearly what type of image it is. I don't know if you want to have your portfolio full of porn-pose drawings in the end?

[Friso]

whatever keeps you going man!

haha

[2b BOY]

*cough* just don't get side tracked.

[Lordmaul30]

it's where i learned my drawing of the female figure. i love to draw beautiful women and getting a model can be a pain at times, so i'll use erotic photos or draw from tv. try andrew blake films. mostly women in good lighting and good poses when you pause it.

[Elwell]

You'll get really good at drawing implants.

[Pixeldragoon]

domai ;D

[AdamDillabo]

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1813 (18+) theres this site metart my errr friend told me about it.. yeah thats sounds beleiveable but they have great poses and lighting to draw.

[BlueMech]

www.kindgirls.com si a good "fine art" website for nudes but its all basically softcore porn. It still has good reference though.

[evidence]

of course there is a downside, your trying to study 3 dimensional form from a 2d photo which flattens everything out. not to mention the lighting guy on the porn set probably isn't thinking about the best way to light those forms so that you can understand its true shape.

[rogfa]

Check out Hong Ly's photos at characterdesigns.com, he's got great studio quality shots with strong single light sources.

[Firefly]

Yes you are a pervert, shameless.

The problem you'll run into is the same as if you were trying to learn portrait drawing from fashion magazines. The lighting in both is meant to remove any "undesirable" lines, bumps, and shadows, and unfortunately that also removes all sense of form. Also the girls are airbrushed to no end and the poses aren't exactly natural.

If you want to study anatomy from magazines, I would suggest using fitness and sports magazines instead. The people are practically naked, but the whole idea is to show off the muscles, and they always have little schematic drawings that show which move is working which muscle and you'll learn more actual anatomy.

And you won't go blind, that's always a plus.

[armando]

I look at adult images and fitness mags. I don't see any down side to it. All bodies are made basically from the same parts, bones and muscles are the same in everyone, so if you understand the basic figure a photo can show you a different way of modifying it even if the lighting isn't ideal. Pretty girls all tend to look alike anyway, if you can draw generic pretty girl#2 you'll be fine.

[Lordmaul30]

it all boils down to how the figure motivates you to want to draw it. nothing wrong with drawing from porn. lighting, models, and whether it's 2-d or 3-d....it's still good practice. keep drawing....

this was taken from a very small b&w photograph. i tried to improvise with the color and 3 dimensional form.


this was taken from a soft porn film. i was looking for "artistic" rather than pornographic. drawing from porn does'nt mean your artwork has to be explicit.

[Crash]

Only a norwegian...lol


Whatever floats your boat man, but lifedrawings i ftw.

[GriNGo]

lol. there are so many other ways to draw the human figure... I'd even recommend old master drawings/paintings... Porn has other purposes in life!

[Lordmaul30]

Is this a good idea? I dont mean hardcore things, but single woman pictures, you have all kinds of positions, and all kinds of bodies, so it seems to me like a very good idea, but i wonder why ive not heard so much of this idea before.

What is the upsides and downsides of this ? Iknow it cant compare to live models, but why does so many tend to want to learn anatomy from books and etc, when you can learn it by actual real peoples bodies.
Ps. im no pervert ^^

you're the artist, why ask what to draw? you make that decision.

[DavePalumbo]

come on guys, like we haven't all practiced drawing from Playboy magazines. Er, anyhow, I'd assume we all have...

[Snowfly]

well this guy draws from porn regularly and seems to have narrowed his horizons quite a bit

[Lordmaul30]

come on guys, like we haven't all practiced drawing from Playboy magazines. Er, anyhow, I'd assume we all have...

of course. some people are just trying to "act" cleancut. we all love women and most of us enjoy drawing them in the nude. c'mon guys........

hey, any relation to anthony palumbo? and......did you exhibit some time back at 2/20 gallery?

[DavePalumbo]

hey, any relation to anthony palumbo? and......did you exhibit some time back at 2/20 gallery?

A+ for obscurity, sir. Did a couple group shows there a year or two back. And Anthony is my brother (Philly based Anthony Palumbo, not the New York based Anthony Palumbo).

[Lordmaul30]

A+ for obscurity, sir. Did a couple group shows there a year or two back. And Anthony is my brother (Philly based Anthony Palumbo, not the New York based Anthony Palumbo).

ah. i saw the show. i'm always visiting miguel. no relation whatsoever to the ny based? cool stuff, man.

[Michael Jaecks]

I'll just say this about working from porn, and this goes for both shots of men and women:

I used to use fitness magazines. However, the photography is usually pretty simillar from shot to shot, and they tend to crop from the thigh up, or waist up. Its been my experience that the photography in porn can be a bit more varied, and skipping over the obvious jokes about the extreme close-ups, you'll find more long, full body shots.

Of course, as with any reference researching, there's plenty out there you'll find useless.

[Lordmaul30]

it all boils down to preference.

[Arne S.]

main problem with drawing from porn is that you might not concentrating enough on the drawing. (that was really bad english?)
i think the photosets of "Petter Hegre" are very good for practiseing.

oh and.. - learning from anatomy-books help you to understand how the muscles work,
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[Adarias]

I just would second the notion that learning anything fron a 2d image leads to a reduction in quality, and I think, as figures go, pornography is probably not the best choice because the images are typically nowhere near pure and usually dont offer very good poses. 'Tasteful nudes' and such tend to offer more useable poses, but again fall short for the same reason that they have been excessively retouched and tampered with. Same goes for fitness mags I'm afraid. It boils down to the fact that many many people, many of which are very talented, get payed damned good money to change how photographs look. In all, studying pornography is even less usefull than studying a master's drawing, because its no closer to life and you are able to learn technique from the master, something you cannot take from porn.

The best thing to do is to find out when a nearby art school has an open model session and attend. If you have a couple hundred dollars and are free evenings, look for continuing education courses in figure drawing nearby (if you life in Mass or RI, I suggest RISD for the level of professionalism, though the price is fairly high).

Also, if you have comfortable friends, they might model for you, clothed or even nude if you are close friends or dating, but that is an entirely different situation that must be worked out on an individual basis; and without knowing your particular friends I can't really offer any advice as to how you might talk them into getting naked (nor should I if i could!).