Average customer rating:
- Nice pics but weak analysis
- A superior draughtsman
- A college Fine Arts Major's dream come true!!
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Language of the Body
John Elderfield
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Prud'hon, Pierre-Paul
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Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice
ASIN: 0810935856 |
Customer Reviews:
Nice pics but weak analysis.......2007-07-21
The heros of this book are the images and not the writing. While I'm thankfull to the author for presenting these rare drawings, I dislike his highly opinionated, rambling pontifications so typical of ignorant, ivy league writers. It confuses and distracts us from a more solid, critical analysis of Prud'hon's work. Its mostly a smokescreen for having something more intelligent and practical to say. And Ederfield's Bio revealing his Modern bent, deems him a poor candidate to be writing about classical art, but alas I suppose we have few other choices.
Since he's virtually clueless about the formal process, he instead hacks out an ambiguous search for a primarily emotional meaning - almost an entire page of text is wasted on meaningless speculations about supposed, effeminate male poses, perhaps motivated by some gay agenda. This again distracts us from studying highly complex issues. This could have otherwise been replaced by ie. close up's of the drawings, so prized by a painter like myself. It wouldn't be so bad if authors like Elderfield simply limited their thoughts to the emotional responce they personally recieve, stating clearly that it is indeed their own interpretation, but not only do they present these ideas as if they are factual, but they have the naive arrogance to refer to the process of drawing in the same subjective manner. I can only believe it is a pethetic attempt to elevate themselves from the category of documentary writer to the higher level of artist, as if to say, "I am a genius writer and only through my eyes and words are you, the lesser reader, able to experience a deeper understanding of the work". God forbid if we were simply given the few facts and allowed to make our own analysis.
The author is entirely incorrect on pg. 89 stating ie., "He (Prud'hon)only sees the surface...etc." This whole passage is a superficial, modern assumption, due in part, to a very photo-sited art community. The basis of cast drawing has, for example, little do with lighting and the whole Bargue/site-size baloney, rather it deals with complex, dimensional forms conveyed through Greek sculpture. Prud'hon, on the contrary, was a master of the lost art of "form drawing" so essential to classical art prior to the mid 19th C. His 3-D ability with respect to underlying structure and anatomy is extremely sophisticated and decieving to the untrained eye. Thank you for letting me ruffle some wanna-be-elitist feathers, and speak with substance rather than just saying this is a pretty book.
A superior draughtsman.......2006-02-06
I've owned at least one copy of this book for many years (1997). It's by far one of my most cherished art books and unmatched by any other book of drawings I've seen. If you appreciate fine drawings and value truly superior draughtsmanship you'll want to add this to your collection.
In my opinion, you owe it you yourself to purchase (yes, it's extremely expensive today, but keep watching) or find a copy in the library. Prud'hon was a late-18th century French academic that sadly wasn't fully appreciated in his day. He did enjoy success in his later career but some of his contemporaries, including David and Gericault, enjoyed more visible success in the same period.
The highlights of this book are the 57 color plates of Prud'hon's academic figure drawings, or "acadamies" as they are known. These drawings are exemplary models today, and unlike the scribbled messes many 20th century "artists" produce (and deemed acceptable by today's art schools), these drawings are dignified and stunningly beautiful.
Unfortunately, Prud'hon's drawing techniques have been lost and there is no definitive work describing how they were produced. Many of these drawings have unfinished sections and you can see not only the basic structure, but the construction process as well. We also can guess at what he did with the materials that were available at the time, but it would be nice to see the process documented.
Finally I believe this book should be reprinted, but until that time (if ever), try to at least see a copy if you can. For more information on Prud'hon I would also highly recommend the book Pierre-Paul Prud'hon by Sylvain Laveissiere; it's another beautiful - and still available - book illustrating Prud'hon's works, including paintings and drawings.
A college Fine Arts Major's dream come true!!.......1998-11-11
This book covers the structural anatomy with pin-point accuracy. Though this isn't really an anatomy book by title, by examining Prud'hon's structural techniques, one can easily see all of college's artistic anatomy classes in one of his graphics.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for Animation students.......2007-08-08
I've collected many anatomy books, but what makes this one unique is that it shows both the simple (shapes) and finished drawing in several camera viewpoints, and illustrates muscle changes (like when raising an arm), again both in simple (rough animation) and finished work. This is perfect for animation so we can study how the body shifts in a clean illustrative format. I particulary like how they illustrate the diffrences in gender proportionately. Made my life much simpler. Once you know how to draw the anatomy correctly yet cleanly, it's easier to adapt it to more complex or more cartoony forms. A must have!
not really manga .......2007-07-22
the artsyle on the cover is Extremely Missleading~!
It Will only show how to draw "realistic" style manga anatomy. The women model is also rather man-ish looking.
So its not what i expected at all and i'm kind of Dissapointed. There is also a very Weird p2 page spread of up-crotch shots that i can only imagine are there for H-manga refrences.
How to draw manga.......2007-05-30
The entire experience was amazing. Shipped earlier then expected, in pristine condition, no hassles no worry.
The product itself is great. The guide truly helps with the basic structure of drawing characters anatonomically correct. It's always better to learn how to draw something right first and then learn how to break the rules later.
what are we, children?.......2007-05-17
This is a decent book that shows how to draw the human form. Not necessarily from a cartoony, *manga* perspective but the way the body actually looks. If you don't see how that could improve your skills as an artist, well...
The main reason I wanted to post this review was to comment on the juvenile attitude of many of the other reviewers. This is an anatomy reference. That means pictures of the human form in different positions without clothes. I wonder how serious these artists are not to know that. It may shock them to know that life drawing classes often hire nude models to sit around in the middle of class just so the students can get a better understanding of the human form. This is NOT PORNOGRAPHY and is no different that the photo anatomy references you can find in the art section of any major bookstore. The breasts are shown but who cares? the genitalia is not shown, just a bare patch. For some reason they drew shorts on the guys but not on the girls, but naughty parts are not visible on either so really who cares? This kind of panicky, knee-jerk conservatism makes me ill.
Sorry for the rant but really, this is an totally decent book that has been much maligned for no good reason.
Why do they always revert to sexual positions :(.......2007-05-13
Once again anything female related is mostly used in a sexual position and after being highly dissapointed with the "How To Draw Manga Volume 20: Female Characters" I really think the author has lost track, either that or he has a low outlook on females in general... Sadly dissapointing once again.
Book Description
A unique collection of amazing views of the world by Stephen Biesty.
Machines, ships, buildings, and the human body as you've never seen. This unique collection of extraordinary illustrations by artist Stephen Biesty explores machines, building, ships, and even the human body from the inside out. From the Grand Canyon to the Space Shuttle, Biesty's amazingly detailed cross-section views take you right inside to reveal how things work or how things are made. See how a 14th-century castle holds up against a siege, and what life would have been like inside a World War II submarine. Learn how 18th-century warships battled on the high seas and what life is like on a space station. Discover how everyday things are made, from false teeth to Formula 1 racing cars and what holds up to the Empire State Building.
Author and illustrator team Richard Platt and Stephen Biesty's first collaboration Incredible Cross-Sections went straight to the top of the best-seller list.
Customer Reviews:
For kids of all ages and for diverse interests.......2007-09-03
This is the best-beloved book in our house. Our scientific-minded 5 year-old loves the body parts, my engineer/husband loves the machines and my humanities-trained mind loves the historical diagrams of castles and galleons. Don't buy one copy- buy two for when the first is read to disintegration.
A book we go back to again and again!.......2005-02-08
The age range of 9-12 for this book is too narrow. It is a favorite among ALL of our family members! With a book store gift card in hand, our newly-turned five-year-old picked this book himself above all others to bring home... and it has remained a favorite of his a year and a half later. Mom and Dad even enjoy pouring over this book with him WHENEVER he asks, and we have all learned a lot. Highly recommend this book to people of all ages!
It REALLY IS the Coolest Cross-Sections Ever!.......2004-07-17
We absolutely love this book and so glad it is in our home library. It is on our coffee table and continually poured over. I think this book will be timeless in this family. We love the detail, the layout, the insight and depth it gives on a topic in such an approachable way. Beautifully illustrated and presented. I think it deserves more than just 5 points. It is a winner.
Book Description
The Anatomical, Physiological and Embryological Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci
With more than 1200 reproductions of drawings by the master's own hand, this book is the definitive and most complete collection of Leonardo's anatomical drawings currently in print. Here Leonardo's notebooks have been arranged according to the systems of the body in order to indicate the full extent of his anatomical work. This book will captivate curious laymen, medical professionals, and art and history enthusiasts alike. Also included are:
• Translations of Leonardo's anatomical notes which were written in his cryptic reverse handwriting. These translations provide an unusual glimpse into Leonardo's creativity and genius.
•Extensive commentary from the editors.
•A thorough background of Leonardo's life that reintroduces him to the world not just as a master artist, but as a brilliant scientist.
Book Description
This book contains stunning images for use as a graphic resource, or inspiration. All the illustrations are stored in high-resolution format on the enclosed free CD-ROM and are ready to use for professional quality printed media and web page design. The pictures can also be used to produce postcards, or to decorate your letters, flyers, etc. They can be imported directly from the CD into most design, image- manipulation, illustration, word-processing and e-mail programs; no installation is required. For most applications, single images can be used free of charge. Please consult the introduction to this book, or visit our website for conditions.
Customer Reviews:
Good book but misses some inmportant elements.......2007-05-29
Overall a solid resource book. However I find it missing some of more useful elements, such as plain realistic images of body parts or full body images in different poses. It contains a lot of imagery but they afre of more vintage/anatomical nature. So in this respect the book is a bit limiting.
Book Description
A solid understanding of the structure and natural movement of the human body is vital to the creation of rich figure drawing. The Anatomy and Figure Drawing Handbook offers a complete course in anatomy and the ways in which the human body moves in and occupies space. This handbook, complete with 500 helpful illustrations and photographs, will improve figure-drawing skills with informative lessons on drawing nude and clothed figures, portraits, and caricatures.
Book Description
This magnificently illustrated book accompanies the most ambitious exhibition in the Hayward Gallery's program for the year 2000. Spectacular Bodies: The Art and Science of the Human Body from Leonardo da Vinci to Now is a ground-breaking exhibition with the potential to be a visual, cultural, and academic revelation with profound impact. The project encourages a new way of looking at visual objects from the territories that are conventionally labeled "medicine" and "art."
The human body is an astounding feat of engineering. For centuries man has striven to understand its complexities, both artistically and anatomically, often resorting to human dissection. Illustrating the point at which medicine and art collide, Know Thyself brings together an extraordinary range of more than 250 objects from more than eighty medical and art museums and collections worldwide. Works of art from across the centuries include the anatomical drawings of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Dürer, and Stubbs, seventeenth-century portraits of surgeons and paintings by great masters including Rembrandt, Hogarth, Courbet, Gericault, and Degas. These works will be shown in a new context alongside medical instruments, prints, and drawings used in the medical study of the human face and body, and life-size anatomical models.
Today, as forensic and medical sciences advance as never before--with the development of genetic fingerprinting, cryogenics, and designer babies--artists continue to find inspiration in the human body. Video installations, photography, and sculpture will present new perspectives on the historic material. The eight contemporary artists involved range from internationally celebrated video artists Bill Viola and Tony Oursler, to younger artists like Gerhard Lang, Christine Borland, and Marc Quinn.
Customer Reviews:
A spectacularly successful foray addressing Science and Art.......2001-12-30
In this extraordinarily interesting book, a catalogue that accompanied an exhibition in England in 1999 - 2000, the authors and curators present figurative painting and sculpting in a fresh and original fashion. Dipping into the engravings of Vesalius and the amazingly detailed wax recreations of anatomic dissections which populated Medical Schools for centuries, we are introduced to an art form that preceeded drawing from the model in the studio. Never meant to be "art", these dissection models were high science at the same time serving to "glorify the magnificence of God's creation of man". Whatever the initial inspiration, when placed side by side with the Renaissance paintings of the various anatomy lessons (such as the fmous Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp) from Rembrandt through the 19th century to the present day explorations by the likes of Bill Viola and Tony Oursler they serve to enhance our understanding and appreciation for our own bodies as corporal science and as vessels of art. What a fine exhibition this must have been! Fortunately the thought vested in this significant collaboration has been captured in time in the form of this beautifully illustrated and documented book. Only one complaint: Why was this luxurious volume printed only in paperback form? This is an art book worthy of any artist committed to the figure and to all of us who admire figurative painting, sculpture and the wonder of the human form.
The art of dissection.......2001-04-03
This is one of the most fascinating art books to cross my path in some time. The subject is the artistic representation of human anatomy.
This is the occasion for a fascinating tour of curiosa. Of course, you have a sequence of Dutch and American anatomy theatre group portraits. More interesting is the sculptures in wax of dissection, surgical, and anatomical models, handmade by what were apparently a group of mostly Italian scupltors. A fellow named Clemente Susini was apparently the Michaelangelo of this field. What makes these interesting is that they are not, as in the -Gray's Anatomy- images, merely displayed. Many are dramatically posed, in the overdone, theatrical poses of baroque painting. The image of them gesticulating as they spill their guts is mildly disconcerting.
There is an extensive discussion of écorché figures, flayed figures that display skinless human musculature. Collections of skeletons and bones, often arranged dramatically rather than clinically, are also featured. There is a large selection of ethnological portraits, and photographs of the insane.
The text is largely sympathetic to these forgotten creators who sought to combine art and science. Identity politics and post-structuralist hoodoo intrudes only slightly on the text, much less than you'd fear given these subjects. A fascinating book for those who are not easily disturbed.
Book Description
Overflowing with sketches that capture a wondrous repertoire of angles and poses; this is the ultimate guide to drawing people “to life.” The author shows the male and the female body from multiple positions; reveals typical proportions; describes each part of the skeleton and each muscle; extensively comments on physical morphology; and offers a plethora of gestures and actions. A unique combination of technique and imagination.
Customer Reviews:
Best guide to shading the human body available.......2006-02-20
This guide shows you how to shade both male and female bodies in detail from almost every angle. That is, you can find out how to shade in whatever muscle or bones you need to. Don't read the text unless your a med or bio student--who cares what anything is called. I haven't found a single guide like it. If a shoulder I'm painting doesn't look right I can open this book, find an appropriate example, and fix the problem.
Reference book all the way !!!.......2005-03-26
I bought this book 'round August '04 due to the fact that I was in love with the book. I was new to art and liked the artist's crisscrossing technique. The book is not useful if you are trying to learn how to draw the human body, other books can cover that. The book in my opinion is a reference book due to his over complicated pictures which are nice to refer to when drawing the body. I drew every picture in this book with no guide except for the boring writing on the side, which I stopped at page 32 or something. What I like most ' bout this book is the pictures depicting the hands because I feel the artist does an excellent job on making the hands look real life even if it is the crisscross technique; it still looks good. If you are looking for a book that teaches anatomy with real life drawing this book will do that since it has a tone of pictures and scientific text which not too many readers will enjoy. If you are looking for a good book that teaches you how to draw the human figure I would suggest "The Figure", by Walt Reed. I just purchased the book yesterday and I can say that in about 3 pages I am really getting better!!!!!!! In all, "Drawing the Human Body: An Anatomical Approach", is a reference book for anatomy and that's the reason why it is staying in my at home library of book which is not a bad reason at all. If you are looking for help when it comes to purchasing art books I follow Bruce R. Bain's reviews on this site due to the fact that he has read a fair amount of art related books.
A useful book for the non-human artist.......2005-02-09
"Drawing the Human Body: An Anatomical Guide" by Giovanni Civardi comprises an indispensible book for any non-human artist looking to produce two-dimensional representations of the species homo sapiens inhabitant upon the third planet in the orbital system circumscribing the Class-H star Sol, Orion arm of the Milky Way spiral-form Galaxy. Unfortunately, the cerebrally advanced(for a human) and sublimely self-evident (for a human)text make this volume valuable only for its images if you happen to be of that self-same species homo sapiens from the afore-mentioned planet Earth.
For Example, on the the subject of heads the author writes:
The head is the uppermost part of the human body, situated above the vertebral column and joined to the body by the somewhat cylindrical, more restricted segment, the neck.
As a Zyborg from Planet Deltizoid, I found this bit of information quite useful. Heads at the top of the body-- how peculiar! The author later describes noses in a similar, authoritative fashion, defining this odd human sensory appendage as "an elongated pyramidal protrusion on the middle axis of the face." Prior to reading Mr. Civardi's text, I had always drawn my humans with spherical noses affixed to the sides of their heads. How wrong I was! Humans, of course, are universally aware of where their noses are.
On the subject of walking, the author is again particularly insightful. "Walking," he notes, "is the particular type of terrestrial locomotion characteristic to humans.... While walking, the body never leaves the ground." Fascinating. I truly had no idea! We Zyborgians wouldn't condescend to touch terra firma, even were our own milligenarian lives dependent upon it.
The author is notably less impressed with the representational potentialities of jumping than with walking. "Jumping is accomplished with diverse executive modality, but it is neither useful nor opportune to point out the characteristic morphological variations because they are corporal gestures rarely represented in art and can be valued completely only by means of photographic examination." I humbly beg to differ... the jump can indeed be represented in art, and should be more often. I myself have drawn it.
On the subject of the drawings contained in this volume, other reviews have spoken well of both their positive and negative aspects. I (honestly) found the artwork quite useful and skillful, though admittedly too pale in the printing. The pages of images regarding human cranio-facial mood-initiated morphologies, called expressions, however, deserve further examination.
Although the author professes that "designing truly expressive gesture becomes easier... [by omitting] such minute and marginal details as, for example, an excessive analysis of small wrinkles", he violates that excellent doctrine in his own images. I personally have made a particular study of human expression, and not one of his sample images can be seen in human nature outside of the movies of a certain 'Jim Carrey'. Nor was I able to, without looking at the image key, correctly identify which image correspended to which expression. I was certain Mr. Civaldi's "Joyful/Laughing" image was actually a politician at a political rally. His images of "Contemptuous/Disgusted" and (on the next page) "Doubt/ Puzzlement" are all but mirror images, indistinguishable. Furthermore, I am uncertain why the author chose to include separate images of "Pain" and "Suffering"-- "Pain" has the mouth open with teeth parted, "Suffering" has the mouth open with teeth clenched; otherwise the expressions are seemingly identical. Is there a difference between pain and suffering? If you want a book that does a good job with facial expression try "Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression" by Gary Faigin.
In short, as you may determine for yourself by the quotations given above, the text of this book, though it may be useful to a Zyborg such as myself, manages simultaneously to be utterly beyond human comprehension, and idiotically self-evident even in the unlikely event it were comprehended. Mr. Civardi has, I believe, missed his target audience badly. The pictures are nice, though not without flaws. Admittedly for the images alone some mere human might wish to purchase this volume, but if you happen to be of that inferior species there are better books on the subject available.
No need for another LESS-THAN-COMPREHENSIVE anatomy book.......2004-06-29
[The difficulty with the reviewing system is that so many reviewers approach a book title without comparative knowledge of other books on the subject. They review the book as though it were the only book written on, say, Human Anatomy. Without knowledge of the majority of good drawing books, the multitude of FIVE STAR ratings just don't mean anything.] Now, on to Civardi!
"Drawing The Human Body: An Anatomical Guide" by Giovanni Civardi is a fair book, with useful basic anatomical coverage, but that is not quite the same as saying its coverage is THOROUGH (which it is NOT), and it's brevity definitely excludes it from the category of BEST OF THE TYPE.
Essentially, Civardi covers, in brief, the more thorough and better handled subject of anatomy for artists by Stephen Rogers Peck, and, again, LESS is not MORE in art instruction. I think the remarks of a generous THREE STAR reviewer are inciteful:
"The book is NOT USEFUL if you are trying to learn how to draw the human body, other books can cover that." --Amazon rewiewer on 26 March 2005
INDEED! "Other books" do cover HUMAN ANATOMY better. The figure illustrations are flat, grayish and lifeless, which make the page abhorrent. Did the publisher decide to use "La Depresse`" ink or what!? The cross-hatching is redundant and shows lack of imagination for an artist desiring to move into the heavyweight anatomical field.
And what is the justification for bringing this fair-to-middling-to-just-muddling-along text to market? Maybe the publisher decided that with so many "hack" art books on the market, prospective buyers were just too dumb to buy anatomy books written better. [Peck is hard to beat].
It is worth mentioning I believe, that reviews here are of the BOOK....not the author, nor necessarily of the publisher. Our obligation is to the potential reader. We share what we know from studying the book. Buyer beware.
In defense of this book and Civardi.......2003-03-03
I was prompted to write a review after reading the 'one star' review by Artshogun titled 'don't believe the hype'. That review was extremely unbalanced.
Civardi is a gifted artist who has authored some valuable books, primarily on figure drawing. However, this book has one major flaw which is not the fault of the artist. Most of the reproductions are extremely faint, using less than half of the available dynamic range of the printing process. Consequently you must have good vision (which I don't) and plenty of light to get something out of this book. There is no excuse for this and it's the fault of the publisher. If any book requires clarity then it's one that deals with the often-subtle tonal variations required to depict the human form.
Artshogun claims Civardi has 'failed to maintain accurate proportions' on many of the figures. I see no obvious errors of proportion.
Artshogun also states that the 'sausage-smooth approach to rendering his figures...has squashed the life and movement out of them'. It is true that the poor reproduction has had a severe flattening effect on many of the drawings. However, this is not really a book on drawing technique, or portraying the human form expressively. Instead it uses pencil to capture valuable anatomical information in an simple, elegant and unaffected way. To quote from the foreword by the artist. "Instead of expressively interpreting the form, I preferred to document it using a rather neutral, almost linear art style."
While Civardi's 'linear hatching' rendering technique may not be your cup of tea (Civardi has a broad range of drawing styles, which can be seen in many of his other books, which focus more on expression.), it is without question clear, consistent, and informative. Consequently, and most importantly it provides the perfect jumping off point for an artist to interpret the human form using his or her own technique.
Aside from the previously mentioned flaw, this is a valuable reference on drawing the human body.
Book Description
Budding artists can master the toughest and most treasured technique of all: portraying the beauty, grace, and personality of the human body. This wonderful tutorial, and a variety of inspiring sketches on every page, provide the solid technical foundation needed to depict every type of figure—young or old, male or female, standing, sitting, or in motion—and with style. Intricately detailed drawings, some with grids, help capture the correct proportions for head, torso, arms, and legs; add light and shadow for tonal depth; and create texture, volume, and expressive lines. A thorough study of the nude and the development of preliminary sketches make this an extraordinary value.
Customer Reviews:
Substandard.......2006-05-29
"The Art of Drawing the Human Body," we are told within its pages, was translated into English by Edgar Loy Fankbonner. The actual author of the book, to my knowledge, is nowhere identified. Why not?
That is a minor annoyance. What's worse is the author's use of other people's work without citing the source material.
On page 74 of the paperback, behind the text is an illustration of a seated nude that is clearly copied after Harold Speed, from his excellent book, "The Practice and Science of Drawing." No credit is given.
On page 77, there is a sequence of "blocked" figures going through the motions of an uppercut. These figures are also copied directly out of another book, Preston Blair's "Cartoon Animation." Again, no credit is given.
I have to wonder if any of the other illustrations in this book were also copied from other books.
In both cases aforementioned, the illustrations are not merely "inspired" by the source material, nor "interpreted" from it, but are COPIED by the author to the best of his ability.
Which brings me to another point: The original drawings in this book (i.e. the ones that are not plagiarized) are just not very good. They pale in comparison to the works of, say, Andrew Loomis, Willy Pogany and Victor Perard. Some of them are downright awful, ill-proportioned and amateurish. Why choose this inferior instructor when you can learn from the professionals? How much can one expect to learn from an author who himself obviously still has a lot of learning to do?
There IS some useful information in this book, but it is much the same information one would get out of any decent book on figure drawing. What differentiates "The Art of Drawing the Human Body" from the competition is that much of the information herein is presented in bits and pieces, scattered around the pages, with nothing really organized or fleshed out.
This, also, may be attributed to the author's seeming inexperience; It is as if he had heard of this or that method of conceiving the figure, but didn't really know much about it, so he gives you a tidbit in a caption under a little picture and leaves it at that. Not at all helpful.
"The Art of Drawing the Human Body" is also plagued by that problem, so common in modern books on drawing, of using lots of words to say little or nothing. For example:
"Perspective need not be a problem, for it, too, can be used to establish a clear background, and thus the comparison of the size of the figure with the objects in the background can be extremely practical in achieving a realistic representation of the figure itself and its surroundings."
Maybe something was lost in the translation.
If you want to read a lot of text and actually learn something useful, get Speed's book, or Richard G. Hatton's "Figure Drawing," or John H. Vanderpoel's "The Human Figure." All three authors were accomplished artists and capable writers.
If you prefer a more visual approach to learning, go for Loomis (out of print but available used), Pogany, Perard or Jack Hamm.
One of the better new books for beginners.......2006-04-25
"Art of Drawing the Human Body"
This is one of the better books on human figure drawing. There are lots of illustrations of the human figure. Typically, figure drawing books have a length of approximately 120 pages. This book has 159 or so.
The critical element in any figure drawing text is the HUMAN FIGURE PUPPET. Artists can demonstrate these figures with several geometrical devices. For example, the PUPPET can be drawn using BLOCK shapes for torso & limbs. Alternatively, the author can show the PUPPET with EGG-SHAPES or CONES. Another method is to use TRIANGLES for the torso, limbs & head. The important thing is that the author have sufficient examples for the student to copy.
This book covers:
HUMAN PROPORTION, PROBLEMS IN DRAWING THE HUMAN FIGURE, the FEMALE, CHILD, and ELDERLY, HEAD & FACE, TORSO (front & back), LIMBS (upper & lower), HANDS, PELVIS, FEET
LINES & RYTHM (of the figure), SOFT LINE & IT's MODULATION, DRAWING NEGATIVE SPACE, STANDING, SEATED, & RECLINING FIGURES, FORESHORTENING & PERSPECTIVE, LIGHT & SHADOW (in the human figure), and the CONTRAPASTO STANCE ...
TONAL DRAWING and CHIAROSCURO, HATCHING....
These are not all, but about 2/3rds of the subjects covered in ART OF DRAWING THE HUMAN BODY, and every one of these subjects is supported by some of the finest illustrations and examples to be found in any figure drawing texts.
As stated before, the HUMAN PUPPET is the critical illustration in a figure drawing book. Here, they are not only shown in passive states. Many of these are shown in dynamic action, which is an excellent kind of lesson material. Many are leaping, throwing, running, while others are passive, reclining and sitting in numerous postures.
The books shows how to draw the human figure with a methodology that is part of the CLASSICAL TRADITION, as part of a system that has been used often in the past, and it is better than the majority of the newer texts, many of which suffer from the limitations of INVISIBLE PROBLEM SOLVING; that is to say, many of the white bread, fast food texts which publishers are throwing out, fail to illustrate (with rough sketch examples) the principles articulated in the text.
Beginners must choose drawing books carefully. My own reviews list some very good ones, and I do not shy from indicationg those to be avoided.
The price of ART OF DRAWING THE HUMAN BODY is reduced by Amazon to $14.00, making this one of the best bargains for beginning students of figure drawing. -Bruce Bain, Englewood Colorado
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Form and Content in Children's Human Figure Drawings: Development, Sex Differences, and Body Experience
Karen Mortensen
Manufacturer: New York University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Development
| Child Psychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Human
| Sexuality
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Testing & Measurement
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Cognitive
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gender Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Reproductive & Sexual
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
| Fertility
| Generative Organs
| Hormones
| Medicine & Technology
| Reproduction
| Sex Differentiation
| Sterilization
ASIN: 0814755003
Release Date: 1993-08-01 |
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