Assignment #4: Torso Muscles

Muscles of the Torso

This project is due next week.

The torso, anchored by the spinal column, is the glue that ties all the extremities together. From the ribcage on top to the pelvic girdle below, it is where the gesture is born.  It can twist and turn in almost an infinite number of directions, and to do that its muscular structure is downright miraculous in its ingenuity.  We’re all familiar with its (idealized) major forms: abs, pects, hips and back, but relatively few people know much beyond those major masses.  This project will help.

In your sketchbook, you are to draw three views of a torso as accurately, proportionate, and as detailed as possible, with the major muscles and landmarks from the list provided below neatly labeled in each view.  You must label all muscles in view in each drawing!  You must draw an anterior (front) view, and posterior (back) view, and a lateral (side) view.. All three drawings should be on separate pages and--once again—should be independently labeled.  You may use any detailed image in Goldstein (see illustrations in Chap. 4) or research your own accurate images.  Use a finely sharpened pencil to accurately render as many muscles as would be visible in the view that you’ve chosen.  You must include everything from the neck down to the top of the femur, including the shoulders.  Include muscular striations that help to identify the direction of the pressure that the muscle applies. Do not crop your torsos at all and be sure to fill your sketchbook page as much as possible without compromising proportion or accuracy.  You are to label your drawings neatly and without compromising the details of the drawing with the list of muscles and landmarks `below.

• Sternocleidomastoid
• Trapezius
• Clavicle
• Deltoid
• Pectoralis major
• Serratus
• Latissimus dorsi
• External oblique
• Rectus abdominus
• Flank pad of the external oblique
• Anterior superior iliac spine
• Posterior superior iliac spine
• sartorius
• tensor fascia latae
• gluteus medius
• gluteus maximus
• great trochanter
• 7^th cervical vertebra
• infraspinatus
• teres minor
• teres major
• rhomboid
• sacral triangle