Customer Reviews

Anatomy For The Artist

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book doesn't try to contain all the knowledge there is related to anatomy and drawing the human figure. That would take several volumes or more. It just does a few important things well. I think the main strength of this book is that it gives you an intuitive feeling for the human body's structure. It does a lot more than just list parts. It tells you how the body works, how the parts work together, and the nature of those parts. She gives you more scientific and historical information than other books generally do. The second strength is the large number of well-lit photographs of fit, lean, muscular models in many informative, useful poses. The models are pretty good for seeing the contours of muscles, bones, and connective tissues. I think the inclusuion of a few body builders might've been good too. The latter chapters of the book deal with poses and the body in motion. They include many photographs of models. I appreciated this, and it's something not a lot of anatomy books have.
As for the overlays, I didn't think they were all that important. As for the drawings of the muscles and bones, they were useful and good, but they could've been better. I would've prefered some sort of smoothly shaded renderings instead of scratchy pen & ink drawings. It would also have been nice to have the muscles in different colors so they'd be easier to differentiate. Although vellum is nice, it tends to warp from humidity and it's not transparent enough. Therefore it would've been better to make the overlays out of plastic.
While this isn't the be-all, end-all of anatomy books, I think it is one of the better books to include in your anatomy library. I have several other great anatomy books besides this one.

Of all the figure drawing books I've seen and owned (ranging from 'okay' to 'just plain god-awful'), this is the most superb manual to ever hit the shelves. Let me start by saying that this book probably isn't the best resource if you have absolutely no prior background in figure drawing. This is NOT a foundational text. No wire-frame sketches, no triangles and cylinders, none of that '7-to-8-heads-tall' business. This is for those who have at least had that first or second figure drawing class and wish to expand their abilities, and believe me, this is the best you can get. The photos are gorgeous and well-lit, with not a single grainy shot in the bunch. Each area of the body is covered in detail ...The variety of poses offered are limited, but they do the job of showing you the interaction of light, skin, and the bone and muscle underneath, so you can, after plenty of practice, make up your own poses -- and not have your figures look as if they just rolled off a cliff. Even the texts on art history and anatomy are interesting. The translucent overlays of bone sketches over actual photographs were awesome, and the author should have given us more than just the handful that were offered. Barring that, get this book. Take it with you wherever you go. Know it. Cherish it. Love it. Issue threats of grievous bodily harm to those who would dare lay their hands on your copy. You'll be glad you did.

I am very displeased with this book. From the reviews and other marketing ploys it seemed quite informative, so congratulations on selling a less than average product. I am a figure painter and drawer and I dread to see the work produced by artists utilizing this book. It did not pay enough attention to muscular structure, function, or ability. It would show a sketch of one view of the muscles in relax. A page per muscle would prove more substantial, to know how each muscle moved, what it did, where it attatched. And of all things, this is a superficial pictoral of societal perfection. Yes i agree that perfect human form is the best for muscular studies in shape and form and what not, but there was not one figure over the age of 35 showing any age changes, nor any obese figures to show how form can be concieled yet still percieved if understood. I simply think this book is a marketing extravaganza, seemingly indepth to the laymen yet lacking the true nature of what an artist should know and push.

Anatomy for the Artist was not what I was expecting. From reading the Amazon.com review, I was expecting to have my own life drawing studio in the privacy of my home. Instead, I received a book that reminded my of my college anatomy textbook. The photographs are very beautiful. However, I was expecting more photographic references so that I could have my very own life drawing studio. Perhaps, for the person that has never study human anatomy, this book will be helpful, but I found it boring. I tried to like the book, because it is so beautifully put together, but eventually had to return it.

This is a beautifully presented book dealing with the human body from the inner skeletal structure, muscles sheathing the bones, right out to the skin covering it all.
Clear diagrams, see-through-layered pages and wonderful photographs help the artist build up their knowledge of the human body, how it is put together, and how it looks as it moves.
An excellent resource for Life Studies and practising how to render the human form accurately.

As a growing figure artist, I fell in love with this book! Most anatomy books are either full of drawings, or full of boring photos. This book is amazing. It combines some small anatomy lessons with beautiful artistic photographs of the figure. This is a good book if you already have a figure background and want to think more about poses and drawing different people. Wonderful book, worth every penny!

decent book but could have had a heck of alot more poses. The book splits the body into categories which is helpfull but I would have also liked to see a whole section of various poses for study.

This is the best reference guide for drawing people that I have found. The poses and lighting are excellent! Most artist references on the figure show the skeleton and muscles but this book uses semi-transparent overlays so an artist can see a photo of a person then, using the overlay, see how the skeleton or muscles shape the body. A must have for any serious artist.

this is really a coffee table anatomy book, as it is centered on john davis's spectacular color photographs of physically pleasing young models, artsy anatomical illustrations of bones and muscle groups, a gallery of studio poses, and kewl design touches. (the translucent muscle diagrams are especially neat: they fold over matching full color photographs of head, limbs and torso, though the book bindery doesn't always line up the two exactly.) a bonus is the unique and interesting introductory history of anatomical studies. the coverage is broad stroke -- focusing on large muscle groups, or anatomical units such as the hand, not on individual bones or muscles. my disappointments include the appallingly skimpy treatment of facial emotions, the breezy anatomical descriptions (one gets a poor idea of individual muscle form and action), the narrow sampling of model physical types (all are gorgeous), and the fatuous gallery of simblet sketches, who likes to draw bodies piled on top of each other. for practical work, i much prefer eliot goldfinger's masterful "encyclopedia" of human anatomy for the artist, but simblet's book is easier to use as a quick or general reference and also makes a provocative browse for your dinner guests. best is to own both, and go to goldfinger if your question requires authoritative, in depth information.

The photography is great and the pictures are helpful to anyone studying anatomy...with so many anatomy books looking at the body from the inside out, it's nice to finally have one that looks at it from the outside in.