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The Art of Figure Drawing

The Art of Figure Drawing

List Price: $22.99
Your Price: $16.09
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: rate this book an "...Incomplete Guide to the Classical..."
Review: Judging by the numerous 5 star ratings, some people presume to learn from Robins' style of writing and illustrating an art instruction book. Moreover, Robins subtitles the "Art of Figure Drawing" as : "THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CLASSICAL TRADITION"; well, it isn't! It is anything BUT a complete guide to the "classical tradition".

I recommend that prior to making this purchase, that a student do a websearch on LUCA CAMBIASO, born 1521, died 1585 in Uffizi, Florence and study his block-figure drawings, for they are fundamental to the work of the Rennaissance Masters of the "classical tradition."

Robins fails to include block figure, human puppet, or simplified figurette drawings that must be part of a book referencing the "classic drawing techniques," because such block figures are much represented in books genuinely invested in "the classic tradition".

Robins is entirely misleading in his title. Rather than being invested in "the classical tradition" Robins is vested in the "contemporary perspectives" approach to figure drawing. (books by Walt Reed, or Jack Hamm, for example, are rich in these BLOCK FIGURE or HUMAN PUPPET drawings, along with intermediate steps for refining rough sketches by degree, which is the "classical tradition".)

Another fundamental flaw in Robins method, is that he offers what one Amazon book reviewer has termed, "Invisible Problem Solving," whereby the final drawings are shown, avoiding the beginning or intermediate steps which are used to arrive at final drawings.

The last MANGA drawing book I peeked at contained no less than 70 pages (out of a total of 190 pages) on human...(HUMAN, not CARTOON, mind you) antatomy using a HONEGUMI skeleton for illustration. This included basic instruction that any COMPLETE guide ought to have: how to draw human eyes, ears (from front and back view), nose, mouth, musculature and bone structure. In this regard, the use of a basic anatomical device such as a HONEGUMI skeleton or "simplified figurette" as Jack Hamm calls them, is fundamental to basic drawing. And this is my criticism of Clem Robins; that he has titled his book a "complete guide" but it certainly excludes beginning students as a target audience.

The price is too high, when there are more thorough guides to human figure drawing still in print for less, some of them published over 50 years ago.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: rate this book an "...Incomplete Guide to the Classical..."
Review: Judging by the numerous 5 star ratings, some people presume to learn from Robins' style of writing and illustrating an art instruction book. Moreover, Robins subtitles the "Art of Figure Drawing" as : "THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CLASSICAL TRADITION"; well, it isn't! It is anything BUT a complete guide to the "classical tradition".

I recommend that prior to making this purchase, that a student do a websearch on LUCA CAMBIASO, born 1521, died 1585 in Uffizi, Florence and study his block-figure drawings, for they are fundamental to the work of the Rennaissance Masters of the "classical tradition."

Robins fails to include block figure, human puppet, or simplified figurette drawings that must be part of a book referencing the "classic drawing techniques," because such block figures are much represented in books genuinely invested in "the classic tradition".

Robins is entirely misleading in his title. Rather than being invested in "the classical tradition" Robins is vested in the "contemporary perspectives" approach to figure drawing. (books by Walt Reed, for example, are rich in these drawings, along with intermediate steps for refining rough sketches by degree).

Another fundamental flaw in Robins method, is that he offers what one Amazon book reviewer has termed, "Invisible Problem Solving," whereby the final drawings are shown, avoiding the beginning or intermediate steps which are used to arrive at final drawings.

The last MANGA book I peeked at contained no less than 70 pages (out of a total of 190 pages) on human...(HUMAN, not CARTOON, mind you) antatomy using a HONEGUMI skeleton for illustration. This included basic instruction that any COMPLETE guide ought to have: how to draw human eyes, ears (from front and back view), nose, mouth, musculature and bone structure. In this regard, the use of a basic anatomical device such as a HONEGUMI skeleton or "simplified figurette" as Jack Hamm calls them, is fundamental to basic drawing. And this is my criticism of Clem Robins; that he has titled his book a "complete guide" but it certainly excludes beginning students as a target audience.

The price is too high, when there are more thorough guides to human figure drawing still in print for less, some of them published over 50 years ago.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Drawings are not very clear or well done
Review: Thanks for this lovely experience. Coming to this book with no experience in drawing techniques, but some limited familiarity with anatomy, I was deeply impressed by its beauty and readability. The wealth of marvelous drawings and thoughtful organization of content kept me involved to the last page. But most pleasing to me was how Robins communicates complicated thoughts and ideas with such (apparently) effortless ease and clarity. What wonderful insights he provides to those of us whose only exposure has been endless hours of museum gazing. I will be buying gift copies for an art historian friend and also for a friend who is a budding artist.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Enjoyed By a Non-Artist
Review: Thanks for this lovely experience. Coming to this book with no experience in drawing techniques, but some limited familiarity with anatomy, I was deeply impressed by its beauty and readability. The wealth of marvelous drawings and thoughtful organization of content kept me involved to the last page. But most pleasing to me was how Robins communicates complicated thoughts and ideas with such (apparently) effortless ease and clarity. What wonderful insights he provides to those of us whose only exposure has been endless hours of museum gazing. I will be buying gift copies for an art historian friend and also for a friend who is a budding artist.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: The first thing that really impressed me about this book when I began poring over it was the way that he relates established ideas of planes, perspective, rendering, and shading to the human figure - something that never *entirely* happened in my life drawing classes. But what has affected me most profoundly is how he describes, and with his drawings thoroughly demonstrates, how to use the line quality of the hatching to describe the contour, shading, and texture of a given surface. Nothing new by any means, but it is presented with such thoroughness and clarity here that one can very easily see how it all serves and simplifies the task of drawing a figure. Beforehand I was always so concerned about proper proportions, lines, and shading (not to mention the clock) that my drawings, although accurate, still had a haphazardness that I couldn't shake and now I know why and what to do about it. That alone was worth the price of admission.

This certainly isn't the only book you'll need if you want to learn figure drawing - you'll need at least one good anatomy book as well as books dealing more thoroughly with your medium(s) of choice, but it is an excellent introduction for making the transition from drawing to figure drawing and is one I plan to work from for some time.


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