Anatomy A Must!

So as I strive to learn how to make these beautiful OOAK Polymer Clay Dolls, it has been said many times that the best beginning point for any doll sculptor is knowlede of the Human Anatomy. I never realized how each individual muscle in the human body plays its own role in how the body looks. For example: If I were to raise one arm over my head, the muscles on that whole side of my torso would react causing just that side of my torso to show more muscle tone and texture (the ribs would show more, that breast would be lifted more and so on). I did a little experiement yesterday. I have a lot of mirrors in my bathroom that are positioned to where I can see my whole body from every angle. I sort of posed in different ways to see just how these muscles work and what the effect of them where as I changed positions. I was simply amazed at how every pose changed the entire shape of my contours and how different bones showed in some positions but not others. I can definetly see why you need to have some really good reference pictures of the Human
Anatomy.
Dollmakers are some of the nicest, most sharing people I have ever met in my entire life. There is an ocean of these people online that are willing to help you any way they can. Most of them have amassed tons of information that they are willing to share and all you have to do is ask! When I posed the question to other dollmakers as to where I might possibly get this kind of information, I got hundreds of responses. The following two websites seemed to be the favorite ones of other dollmakers:

http://www.posemaniacs.com/
http://www.human-anatomy-for-artist.com/

I have been to both sites but Posemaniacs is my perferred favorite. My next stop in this learning process will be my local library. So remember, if you want to learn how to sculpt the human figure in clay, you must first learn about the human anatomy.