The following project was created as part of a task to animate muscles onto a provided moving skeleton.
Steps Taken:
Referencing AnatomyI referred to anatomy books to ensure anatomical accuracy. Each visible muscle was sketched individually onto the first frame, from origin to insertion, and colour-coded for clarity. To keep the process organised, each muscle was placed on its own layer.
-
Frame-by-Frame AnimationAfter vectorising the muscles on the first frame, I moved to the second frame. Using the transform tool for broader adjustments, I then manually repositioned every anchor point to align the origin and insertion of each muscle with the new skeletal position. This process was repeated across the remaining frames, resulting in six frames with full-body muscles superimposed onto the provided skeleton.
Due to the angle and perspective of the skeleton, copying, pasting, or mirroring muscles between frames—or even from left to right—proved impractical. Each frame required custom adjustments to account for changes in visible muscles, making this an engaging challenge.
-
Refining the VisualsOnce all frames were complete, the initial result was accurate but visually cluttered, with overlapping muscles creating an unappealing look. To address this, I revisited each frame and opted for digital painting. This allowed for greater freedom in line weight and pressure, moving away from the rigid vector lines.
During this process, I focused on cleaning up the design, ensuring only superficially visible muscles were outlined. Careful attention was given to the natural stretching and contracting of muscles during movement, ensuring the animation was both anatomically plausible and visually clear.
Final Thoughts
The end result reflects both the challenges and satisfaction of animating detailed anatomy within a dynamic motion sequence. You can find further work-in-progress images under this page: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mAvaAv.