{"id":326,"date":"2021-03-03T22:47:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T22:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/artofmakai\/?p=326"},"modified":"2022-01-19T20:27:37","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T20:27:37","slug":"the-mangled-mess-of-human-musculature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/artofmakai\/2021\/03\/03\/the-mangled-mess-of-human-musculature\/","title":{"rendered":"[How to Draw] The Mangled Mess of Human Musculature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Doodle;
(He wants to move.<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So you’ve learned a bit about the skeleton. That’s great! But now, that skeleton wants to move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Of course, on its own, the skeleton is incapable of movement – it’s basically just a collection of sticks. In order to move, the body requires muscles<\/strong>. In addition to providing a means of locomotion, muscles also keep us alive<\/em>, surrounding and creating the walls of our internal organs.




<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The 3 Types of Muscles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, muscles allow us to exist, and live. Without muscles, our heart would stop beating (cardiac muscle<\/a>), our internal organs would cease to exist (smooth muscle<\/a>), and our skeletons would be incapable of movement (skeletal muscle<\/a>). In other words, without muscle, we’d just be a hollow shell – like an empty suit of armor.

As suggested by the title of this section (and the examples I just gave), there’s three types of muscle found throughout the body. For the sake of clarity, I’ll repeat them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Cardiac Muscle<\/a><\/li>
  2. Smooth Muscle<\/a><\/li>
  3. Skeletal Muscle<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Generally speaking though, in art, we don’t talk about smooth or cardiac muscles very often. For one, both of those muscle types are involuntary<\/em>, so we don’t have any direct control over them.
    For another, their functions are either extremely limited, fairly self explanatory, or both – which will be elaborated on in the respective section for each muscle type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Doodle;<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Our heart is not a slave to our decisions or desires.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cardiac Muscle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Cardiac muscle is, unsurprisingly, only found in the heart. As previously mentioned, it’s involuntary – you have no direct control over your heartbeat. If you did, you could stop your heart at will, which… wouldn’t be especially useful. It’d be like having an off-switch for your brain.
    That said, cardiac muscle is <\/em>pretty fascinating – it’s just not especially relevant to art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n