The largest bony mass of the body, the ribcage is too easily seen as a tangle of lines - the confusing, overlapping shapes of the ribs distract us from the larger egg shape, narrower at the top, with an opening at the bottom.
Note the necktie-shaped sternum, which comes half way down the egg shape and is an important landmark, helping us see the center of the torso.
The ribcage expresses itself on the outer body along this centerline, the sternum, and the lower ribs - the upper ribs are buried under the pectoral muscles. But we have to be able to visualize this egg shape within the body - we have to have to - to understand the mass and girth of the torso. It's always in there, an essentially solid mass (even though it does bend and squash a bit in movement).
We end with a drawing of mine showing good posture for students in figure drawing.
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