Anatomy for Artists

Understanding anatomy is essential for anyone who wants to draw people or animals. You don't need to spend hours doing those complex drawings you see in the textbooks - though they can be fun and interesting to copy - but rather gain a general idea of what is going on under the skin of your model. Awareness of underlying structure will help you accurately observe the model and draw what you see - especially the complex or subtle changes of plane which, lets face it, occur in every pose you can imagine. Use these internet Anatomy for Artists resources as a reference for practice sketches.
Try sketching part of a skeleton, then copying a diagram of the musculature, before drawing from a live model and thinking about the structure as you draw.