🔘 INTRODUCTION
You want to draw a muscle? But you are having a hard time to draw its forms? This tutorial will teach you how to do it in a simple way.
We all know that drawing muscles needs a lot of patience, but what if I told you that you can draw it by just breaking it into two simple shapes quickly? Stay with me until the end and let’s find out!
YOUTUBE VIDEO:
In this beginner-friendly video tutorial, I’ll show you how to draw and shade torso muscles using Clip Studio Paint, whether you’re on mobile, tablet, or PC.
PROCESS
Hi everyone! Welcome to this tutorial on drawing torso anatomy and muscles for beginners. Whether you’re using a phone like me or working on a laptop or PC, this tutorial will help you simplify muscles and add volume to your characters with confident shading—all using Clip Studio Paint!
🔘 PREPARE YOUR WORKSPACE
🔹Which brushes should I use?
Before we jump into drawing muscles, let’s prep the workspace. I’m using these four brushes:
1. Pencil Brush
For quick sketches
2. G-Pen
For clean lines
3. Soft Brush
For smooth shading
4. Turnip Pen
For stylized shadows
🔹Reminder for the layers
Rename your layers to organized: Sketch, Lineart, Base color, and Shading.
First, in order to rename your layer, you have to long press on the specific layer.
Just click the layer setting, then click to change the layer name.
Now change this
Now that everything is prepared, we are now going to dive into our basic torso shapes.
🔘 BASIC TORSO SHAPES
Let’s start with the basics by learning about simple anatomy or muscle forms.
🔹Two Shapes
For a torso, think of it as two simple shapes: a shallow bowl for the pelvis and an egg for the ribcage.
🔹Connect The Shapes
The spine is like a soft s-curve that connects them.
You can also try a line of action for gesture and add guidelines across the shapes to mark direction.
Don’t worry about muscles yet… just get the flow of the body.
🔘 FRONT MUSCLES
Now, let’s add major front muscles, as you can see we need to cover it up with muscles.
🔹Stretched Triangles
I’m drawing the pectorals here—these are chest muscles that look like stretched triangles across the ribcage.
🔹Curved Lines
Below the pectorals, we have the abs, or rectus abdominis. These don’t have to be blocks… just suggest them with curved lines that follow the form.
🔹Diagonal Ribbons
Finally, I sketch the external obliques on the side like diagonal ribbons.
Keep everything light at first.
🔘 SIDE MUSCLES
Now let’s look at the torso from a side angle. I still start with the same two base shapes:
🔹 Bowl Rotation
Still use these shapes but apply perspective: a shallow bowl for the pelvis and a slightly stretched egg for the ribcage but this time, I rotate the bowl to match the new perspective.
🔹Egg Tilting
The egg tilts slightly forward to follow the natural chest curve, and the bowl turns outward to support the hips.
🔹Soft S-Curve
I link them together with a gentle S-curve spine. Adding a quick centerline and cross guides indicates the torso's direction, which is highly beneficial for positioning the muscles.
🔘 BACK MUSCLES
For the back, start with the trapezius. This large, flat muscle sits just beneath the skin, beginning at the base of the skull, running along the neck, and spreading across the upper back. It works like a supportive cape, assisting with movements such as lifting the shoulders or tilting the head.
🔹Kite-shaped
Here, still use the same foundation to draw muscles… I used an egg and a bowl, and then I connect both with the spine. Now, since this is the back, I simplified it as a kite-shaped muscle from the neck to the shoulders and spine
🔹Wing-wrapped shape
Underneath that are the latissimus dorsi..these wrap around the torso and make the back look broad.
🔹Central Line
The lower back curves in, and you can lightly sketch in the spine with a central line.
🔘 SHADING MUSCLES IN CLIP STUDIO PAINT
Now that we know the basic shapes to build muscles, it’s time to render them in a simple way. But as a reminder, first pick your base color.
🔹Sketching
First, create the foundation by using an egg and bowl to represent muscles. Then, do the sketching with a pencil brush, ensuring it captures the major muscle shapes.
🔹Lineart
Make a clean lineart layer, then remove the sketch draft. I use a G-pen for this. It doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as it forms the muscle structure.
🔹Base Color
Add new layer for base color. Then add flat base color underneath the lineart layer.
🔹Light Shadows
Create a new layer set to 'Multiply' for shadows. Add soft shadows under the pecs, arms, and abs using Turnip Pen for this.
🔹Hard Shadows
Use a G-pen to draw harder edges like where the chest overlaps the ribs.
Then, I use the Blend Brush to smooth areas and show rounded volume.
🔹Finalized: add highlights, bounce light, blend
Before leaving everything with just shadows, it looks pale and muddy if there’s no light at all. So finalize it.
Don’t forget to use 'Clip to Layer Below' to stay inside the base color.
📍Result
The result doesn't have to be flawless or polished, because art is about mastering fundamental skills and processes. This is how it looks!
🔘 HELPFUL CLIP STUDIO PAINT TOOLS
Whether on mobile, tablet, or PC, you can use these helpful CSP tools that help me draw muscles:
🔹Layer Color
Quickly transform the lineart or sketch layer to any color of your choice, like blue, red, yellow, or green, and then proceed to ink it neatly.
🔹Clip to Layer Below
Use to organize shading, and fix existing messy lines or colors.
🔹Selection Layer
For clean edges when rendering
🔹Eye Dropper
Use the Eyedropper to pick tones and avoid muddy colors.
These tools speed up your work whether you’re on phone, tablet, or PC!
🔘 PRACTICE AND MISTAKES TO AVOID
Here are a few beginner tips:
🔹Just Major Forms
📍Don’t draw every muscle. Just the major forms.
🔹Not stiff straight shapes
📍Add curves to your lines, not stiff straight shapes.
🔹Don't be afraid to use reference
📍Use references! Photos, pose apps, or mirrors help a lot. In Clip Studio Paint, enable sub view for reference.
🌸 Shading Process:
🔘 CONCLUSION
And that’s it! You’ve just learned how to break down and shade a torso with muscles, all inside Clip Studio Paint on your phone, tablet, and PC.
This is proof that it's not about using phone or pc, this is all about your skill to learn.
Try this out, experiment with poses, and keep practicing!
If you find this helpful, download Clip Studio Paint, open it up, and enjoy drawing!
If you liked these tips, feel free to leave a comment…likes are always appreciated!
Don’t forget to leave a comment for future improvements. Have a nice day and enjoy using Clip Studio Paint on the go!
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