Anatomy of Sports Day at the National Museum of Health and Medicine 2015. Group picture of all the participating athletes, illustrators and physical therapists.

It’s really not often that you get a request for volunteer medical illustrators. I mean it is rare. So when I got the call for this years Anatomy of Sports Day – I was absolutely on board. This is a great yearly event attended by local area kids and parents. And I get to spend a day in one of my favorite cities, painting outside and hanging out with illustrators, and other anatomy and sports enthusiasts. This year I got to talk to one young attendee who came by because she was interested in a future career in medical illustration.
This year I had a volleyball player. Tech Sgt. Davita Vega of the US Air Force was my fantastic model for the day. Davita has been playing volleyball for twenty years. Not only did she patiently stand still for a couple of hours, but she brought an added dimension to our part of the exhibit by talking about the reconstruction surgery she had to repair her torn rotator cuff (a common volleyball injury). Her shoulder tear was from spending her early years playing with bad form, and that was a great talking point for the physical therapist in our little triumvirate.
Prep sketch. I wanted to concentrate on the mid, upper back, shoulders and upper arms.
The great thing about painting muscles on a person, as opposed to paper or screen, is that you have the real thing right there. You just need to feel for it and you can find all the origins and insertions. And can I mention right here that Davita has some well defined triceps? You could see the whole horse shoe. For real.
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]