The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition

Rating:
Summary: Can't Draw Without It
Review: I love The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition by Anthony Ryder. Buy it and you will find that you can live (draw) without. I would probably buy any book written by him.

Rating:
Summary: Good Idea and Well Presented
Review: I purchase books for ideas. In the drawing category I have many books and most of them espouse a rather common idea of drawing which involves making an overall shape, such as an oval, and then working to improve the shape into a face or feature into which the eyes, mouth et al are added. In Ryder's book he starts out stressing that the artist should use a method that allows the overall production of the figure to proceed in distinct steps which stress the total development of the work rather than just one area at a time. He wants the artist to try to use an "envelope" to start out with that embodies the entire figure including the gesture and the energy of the pose.

This is a new idea - at least to me - and it is worth trying. The author doesn't say it is the only way to draw but he does say it will improve your drawing to try this method and work at it consistently. Of course it isn't for everyone. There are many methods of drawing. Contour is only one. Mass is another. This author uses what is basically a contour method and he adds in the mass (light and dark areas) after the contour is perfect. It shows in his art. Some will like it and some will not. But that isn't the point. The point is he has a method of producing lifelike figures that is different.

Thus, I give the book 4 stars, because Mr. Ryder introduces this new idea in a straightforward fashion that allows the artist to try it out to see if it suits them. The illustrations could be a little more complete but they are good enough to introduce the concept and by trial and error the student can see if it is something that works for them.


Rating:
Summary: Nice coffee table book; not a good guide
Review: I'll admit that Anthony Ryder's drawings are beautiful. They're a fine example of what years of practice in the art of figure drawing can accomplish. However, as a reference for those looking for practical techniques to improve their own figurative skills, this book is useless. It's more of a catalog of the artist's work than a guide to drawing the figure. Ryder reveals through his text that he has his own, EXTREMELY particular technique, one that demands inhuman amounts of patience and stamina (he said himself that he can spend weeks working on one figure) and eyeball-splitting attention to detail with millions of tiny pencil marks. This is fine for Ryder, but not necessarily for everyone else. Follow his techniques, and you end up producing drawings that look like they were done by Anthony Ryder, not yourself. Think of an art professor who posts one of his or her drawings on the wall, explains to the class exactly how it was produced (whether with stippling, smudge sticks, etc), and tells everyone to draw the exact same thing in the exact same manner. What do you get? Well, duh, you get a couple dozen drawings that are pretty much the same.

Ryder's technique ain't easy to follow, either. His method of boxing in the thin air around the figure and layering inward, somehow coming up with a finished, correct drawing, is difficult, if not impossible to follow. Again, the author himself states that the technique is hard to learn. By the time I got through tearing my hair out trying to copy it, I just set the book aside and went back to the way I was drawing figures before. I followed my own methods, and the only thing I got was better.

And I guess that's the key to learning how to draw the figure. There ARE no set, generic, step-by-step formulas to follow that could be published in some book. The best you can do is pick up a good anatomy book (Simblet's 'Anatomy for the Artist' is a wonderful resource). As an artist, you have to PRACTICE to find the method that's right for you; hence, no figurative work by any two artists is exactly the same. The only way to find that method is to start with the basics and work your way up, finding your own style and comfort zone in the process. Ryder's book is not going to help. Spend in practice what you'll save in money by not buying this book.

Rating:
Summary: not much to emulate here
Review: I'm a beginning artist, and I ordered this book for tips and guidelines to help me in my upcoming figure drawing class. After a brief perusal I've decided not to try any of the author's techniques and suggestions, mostly because his own drawings, as reproduced in the book, are so flat and dull. My own beginning classmates' drawings have more weight and energy. Try another book--I certainly plan to.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful people, beautiful pictures.
Review: If you are looking for an introductory book to ease you into being a whiz in life class, this is not it.

The techniques described are time-consuming and require a steady eye and hand - not something the average beginner has a lot of, with five or twenty minute poses and a wobbly easel.

But if you can get a model to hold the same pose for hours, possibly over several sessions, and you have some experience in figure drawing, then you may find this book extremely valuable.

Anthony Ryder talks the reader through the techniques, step by detailed step, aiming for understanding rather than slavish repetition. His method is logical and elegant, and if understood and practised, may result in some extremely good drawings.

Don't expect overnight success, however - there is a lot that is required before you can even start with this book. You'll need to know basic techniques with your media, be able to judge angles and proportions, have a good understanding of anatomy, and probably be able to handle a model in adopting the same pose session after session.

There is a good reason why most of the drawings in this book are of reclining models. Standing poses simply cannot be held for the amount of time it takes to achieve the same results. You'll need at least half an hour just to achieve the basic outline, probably more.

But having said all of the above, I must now state that this book is proof positive that Ryder's techniques work, are reproducible and can result in images of stunning beauty.

You still have to select a model and a pose, and this is another basic skill required, but Ryder is obviously a master at this, and the book is filled with drawings of the nude that are simply breathtaking in their beauty. Model, pose, arrangement and execution are all perfect. Classically elegant.

This is a book that rewards the eye as much as the mind, and it is a feast for both. If you aspire to greatness in your figure drawing, then buy this book, study it, and apply the lessons.

Recommended for artists of moderate experience. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Breathes new life into drawing from life
Review: If you're looking for anatomy lessons and short cuts (the eyes are one eye apart, the head five eyes wide sort of thing) then this is not the book for you. If you want to learn how to draw from life, to develop the basic techniques in tandem with a loving patience and relaxed attention, then this book will be hard to beat. Ryder demonstrates his method - starting with the "envelope" moving on to the "block in" then finished contour, and ending with the delicate shading that give life and mass to the drawings - with painstaking (but painless) care and wonderfully helpful illustrations from his own work.

I would strongly recommend this book with the warning that there are no shortcuts to drawing as brilliantly as Ryder - one thing that makes this book great is that Ryder doesn't pretend that there are any shortcuts. He admits up front that it takes hours of careful attention and work to get to the finished contour - which is the outline of the figure without the shading. But what he does give you is a very helpful technique. He helps with tips on judging distances, widths, proportions, angles; he helps with shading, seeing light and dark, building up tones.

Ryder is scrapping the scales of our eyes with this book, helping us to see - ultimately the most important aspect of drawing from life - and then showing you the best ways to get what you see on the page. It seems assumed that you will be working from a model or at the very least a superbly lit photograph. I think this book, coupled with Drawing on The Right Side of The Brain, would make an at-home-art-course that would be hard to beat.

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite reproductions, excellent advice
Review: Ryder is one talented guy. The reproductions in this volume are testament to his talent and are worth the price of the book alone. But you get much more than that with very well thought out lessons and how to's on figure drawing.

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Summary: The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing by A. Ryder
Review: The graphic examples offered in this book are beautifully rendered. The attention to the flow of movement, rather than angular lines, produced dimensional and life-like drawings. The style of writing within the text was a bit etheral at times but never to where it got so far off the mark so as not to be instructive. I most appreciated the emphasis to how light and the absence of light creates form. It was a worthwhile purchase, although I cannot say that I came away with any new approaches to the art of figure drawing. Perhaps that is due to the fact that there are just so many ways of inventing the wheel.

Rating:
Summary: A must get book
Review: This book is amazing, I recommend this book to any artist that wants to learn the art of figure drawing. It is the one of the best books I have ever read, It has seven amazing chapters. All the techniques and chapters will help you become a better artist. It teaches what made the great artistes so great. It teaches you how to see small details of light and how it hits the models. Trust me on this, it's a must have.

Rating:
Summary: The Complete Guide to Figure Drawing by Anthony Ryder
Review: This book is excellent both for the start of the drawing to the finished work. He offers advice on how to capture the gesture of the pose, how to measure and how to work with light. His is a very traditional and thorough approach, especially good for beginners who want to get the basics right early on. His own work is beautiful and appears, as well, in stages of completion.