Anatomy for the Artist

Rating:
Summary: Terrific learning tool!
Review: I am learning to sketch and have this and another book of the same title. Despite the shared name, what a world of difference inside!

This is a detailed guide to human anatomy for an artist at any level. It teaches you both the physical and mechanical aspects of the body inside and out -- from what bones and muscles look like to how joints fit together and move, and what the resulted motion looks like. It also looks at all the different elements of the body, whether large or small, from several different perspectives, and from inside to out. The images are both highly detailed and natural.

In addition, all the images in this book are beautiful sketches done by a great artist. Rather than showing glossy photos (like the other book I have) that do not reveal the same kind of details an artist might, this book shows how a pencil and paper might be used to create acurate anatomical images. I find the various plates in the book not only helpful in illustrating what the body looks like, but also how one might depict it.

All in all, this is an extremely well-put together book for its purpose.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific learning tool!
Review: I am learning to sketch and have this and another book of the same title. Despite the shared name, what a world of difference inside!

This is a detailed guide to human anatomy for an artist at any level. It teaches you both the physical and mechanical aspects of the body inside and out -- from what bones and muscles look like to how joints fit together and move, and what the resulted motion looks like. It also looks at all the different elements of the body, whether large or small, from several different perspectives, and from inside to out. The images are both highly detailed and natural.

In addition, all the images in this book are beautiful sketches done by a great artist. Rather than showing glossy photos (like the other book I have) that do not reveal the same kind of details an artist might, this book shows how a pencil and paper might be used to create acurate anatomical images. I find the various plates in the book not only helpful in illustrating what the body looks like, but also how one might depict it.

All in all, this is an extremely well-put together book for its purpose.

Rating:
Summary: An anatomy class standard
Review: This book was the standard text for the anatomy class I took in art school and it's obvious why. Every part of the anatomy an artist would have to know to draw figures convincingly is shown. And the figures are not idealized, but realistic. They have some fat to them, just like most of us do. There are plenty of anatomy books out there if you want idealized or superheroic figures, such as the Dynamic book series by Hogarth. But if you want to be able to draw figures the way they really look, study and sketch from this very thorough book.

Rating:
Summary: Good artist, lame book
Review: This is the first book I've bought on anatomy-for-artists and I just decided to buy different one. Although it's obvious that Jeno knows human anatomy and can draw well, the book has failed to answer many of my questions. For example, one of my biggest concerns is proportion and the differences between male and female proportion, but the book is lacking in these areas.

The section on "differences in male and female proportion" is vague and only has a couple crude illustrations to go by. The only side-by-side comparison of male and female proportion was a male and female torso viewed from behind.

Another thing that I didn't necessarily care for was that the women seemed a little out of proportion. The illustrations of women in this book seem a little manly. They're a little too muscular and a little broad-shouldered. I hope the author was drawing from live nudes, because these aren't "ideally proportioned" women (or attractive, or average...)

Finally, I don't like the format of the book. All you have to go by are his vague scientific descriptions and his drawings. This is like the opposite of what I want in this kind of book. For one thing, if your audience consists of artists, don't write over their heads and force them to learn a bunch of medical terminology just to keep up with your text. That made me want to move on to other books. Another thing that I find really obnoxious is that the only visual reference is the author's drawings. What I want to know is what the parts of the human body really look like, how they're connected, and how they measure up to each other. I already know how to draw and some photographs would've been nice along with the drawings. Also, if you need to draw any body organs like the brain, don't look here.

There are better books on anatomy-for-artists out there.

Up to this point it probably sounds like I didn't care for this book at all, but I do see where I could be useful for people who draw from models. For people that have a live nude model to work with, this book will give you some insight as to what is going on beneath the skin and make you more anatomy-aware in your artwork. That's why this book gets three stars, which I'll have to admit has to do with it's low price.