Friday, June 29, 2012

CARTOON ANATOMY (PART ZILLION)

For the cartoonists on the site, here's a couple of anatomical oddities that you might not have noticed before. For one thing, an awful lot of people don't have much of a trunk. Classical anatomy charts (above) tell us that we all have one...a space between the bottom of the ribs and the pelvis... but you don't see it in a lot of real-life poses. 


In real life, lots of people (above) appear to be trunkless. For them the mid-body bulge (above) begins immediately under the breasts...at least when seen from the front.



From the side (above) we get a different picture. In the back we see a trunk line from the bottom of the scapula to the beginning of the bulge.  So the trunk is there, but it's wedge-shaped, and only visible from the back and side.


Here's another interesting one: in about half of all people the arm (above) doesn't connect to the body at the shoulder. Cartoonists have known that for years but it's taken time for the public's awareness to catch up.
Cartoonists know that the arm (above) usually connects to the side of the body, not the shoulder.


Are you skeptical? Look at this guy's arms (above). They connect to the body way below the shoulder. It's as if he was wearing shoulder pads.


Even if your arms did connect directly to the shoulders the clothes you wear (above) might make it look otherwise. Most suit jackets are padded.

Interesting, huh?


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think even the people who don't appear to have a trunk do because of all that fat that's under that area. It's kind of like with the double chins people have. It's all fat accumulation under the skin, but it looks like an extra chin. As for the arm observation, I think the cartoonists are implying that the arms are connected to the body, but maybe the clothing's drawn oversized on purpose. Who knows?

Anonymous said...

One thing I forgot to tell you. I'm leaving for New York City at 5 in the morning, so I don't know whether I'll be able to comment on any posts over the weekend. The reason I'm going up there is because my college orientation on Monday is in Piscataway, New Jersey, my mom wants to check out some housing up in NJ so she can move out of Georgia by November, and to see family that I haven't seen in years.

pappy d said...

You make a good case for why cartoonists need anatomy. On those heavy models, you wouldn't guess there was a skeleton underneath if you didn't know better. Shoulders are very tricky. They attach to the shoulder blade which is held in place by muscle & the shoulder blade is connected to the collar bone. CG riggers sometimes try to get by with one joint at the shoulder & it can look really bad. A horse's shoulder doesn't have a joint at all.


Best of luck, Robert!

Joshua Marchant (Scrawnycartoons) said...

Great cartoons! The famous Eddie-Theory-Cartoonist-Wrinkle Jacket of legend is prime example of your theory. Another triumphant discovery for cartoon science!

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Roberto: So the adventure begins! Good luck!

Pappy: Before you mentioned it, I never gave it much thought, but the real-life shoulder and upper arm probably do move together in a complex way. I wish I understood it better.

joshua: Yes, my experience with the Wrinkle Jacket was what prompted all this.