Constructive Anatomy: Includes Nearly 500 Illustrations (Dover Anatomy for Artists)

In fact, I can safely say that this really is the most important book on artistic anatomy one can learn from. Many seem put off at first glance (I know I was) and say one of or all of the following... 1 - "the drawings look sketchy sometimes" 2 - "the anatomy seems exaggerated" 3 - "the look might "cramp" your style" 4 - "will copying the drawings really teach me anatomy?" Well, after having gone through the book once, reading how others go through it, working on form & exercises, and since I'm going through it again, I'll address these points. ---------- 1: The "sketchiness" isn't there for the sake of being rough. Those lines & curves are there to show the rhythm and flow of how this part leads into that part. Keep in mind that not every drawing in the book is like this. 2: The anatomy isn't really exaggerated. Consider that Bridgman's approach is on how muscles wedge into one another. If you study form, can analyze it, and can combine verious forms with overlapping, and then look at the drawings, things will click. The forms of various muscles stand out to show how the wedging works and sometimes the muscles happen to look flexed, that's all. 3: This was an odd comment I read at [...], and there's no way that going through this will "cramp your style." If this is the first anatomy book you're considering, and if you've never gone through a drawing book at all, then you don't have a style. Don't worry about finding your style if you're just starting out - take the time to learn foundational principles & techniques, and make that your goal. 4: I imagine that alot of people would think of copying like this: "Draw this line, put that curve right here, draw the line next to it, now move the pencil over here and draw this curve, repeat." Don't do that. It wasn't until I had a better grasp on form & the "classical approach" when things began to click. Once you learn the fundamentals of rhythm & gesture, observing angles, form, and "sculpting in the paper," use that understanding to analyze not only subjects for life drawing, but also drawings. As Glenn Vilppu says, "Don't copy the model, analyze it." --- With that said, this book will show you anatomy as a set of forms, how they look from different views & actions, and, overall, how everything fits together. It's the perfect book to pull out once you can draw those geometric skeletons. Take your time and understand the text as Bridgman will explain what you're looking at. Analyzing the drawings is one thing, but the text does mention a lot of aspects on how the anatomy works. There is one flaw in the book, and that is the layout. I found myself having to flip between a few pages to look at the right drawing with the appropriately labeled parts so I could flip back to the text and better understand the stuff. This got a little frustrating but if you're patient, you can pick up alot of things from this. Like I said, take your time.

Great information, love this! He explains things clearly and offers great illustrations to help you recreate the anatomy of the body.

A classic, great book for basic, and anatomy improvement.

I am an intermediate concept artist that bought this book because of my interest in character design and realistic human anatomy. I bought this book in the hopes of having an on hand and physical reference for anatomy whenever I need it and it does that very well. I highly recommend it if you need something like that. However, I do have one major complaint about the content of the book that I am fully aware is more of a consequence of when it was made rather than an intentional omission. But the book lacks a lot of information about women and people of other races who aren’t white. It’s very obvious that the person or kind of person that is used for reference are all only white men, which makes it difficult if you want to study anatomical differences in other kinds of people. And I personally believed that this wasn’t an unreasonable expectation to make as I was under the impression that this was a reference book for human anatomy in general and not just white men in specific. But aside from that complaint, it does a very fine job in what it’s supposed to be, and I highly recommend it to any artist that needs to have that accessible reference for anatomy anywhere they go.

A lovely quick "go to" paperback with essential anatomically correct sketches. Easy to follow; Easy to carry; Easy to pack and take with you on a mini get away,

His work is so intuitive

I was looking for an introductory book on anatomy that I wouldn't feel too precious about marking up and adding my own sketches and notes. Some anatomy books are jam packed with info or are have paper that is difficult to draw on. This book is bare bones enough and not intimidating if you alredy have some practice with the basic fundamentals of drawing. I probably wouldn't recommend this book to an absolute beginner, more to somone trying to uplevel their basic understanding of anatomy. (Black ink sketches are what is printed in the book, colored pencil sketches are my own)

First off. The retailer got me the book in three days. I didnt pay additional to have it expedited, so that was a plus. As far as the material goes. Buy this book. There is a reason that Bridgman is know and recomended by so many professional and aspiring artist. I hadnt had this book a month and already improved my anatomy line work considerable. The sketches are very much in the Frank Frazetta style. Not a whole lot of dialogue instruction but multiple angles of each part of the body and for a visual learner like myself. Extremely insightful. I read where a lot of people note that you already have to have a clear understanding of anatomy. Well i have purchased quite a few books that go in long, long anatomy detail and i am not a professional artist by any means. This series of books along with Loomis and Hampton seem to be the way to go if you want to really get a grasp. Just my opinion. I am very glad i purchased this book. I would use this seller again, no question.

Overall, this is one of my most favorite drawing books from my shelf. It includes a good number of drawings that can also be seen in "Drawing from Life", but it misses the part that talks about drapery, for instance. This book is rather small and so can easily be taken with you in your backpack alongside with your sketchbook. In this book Bridgman covers all the essentials to figure drawing. It has a large chapter on different ways to draw hands, which I enjoy the most. Bridgman shows off more simple and constructed ways to draw the body (hands and legs in a very self explanatory and dynamic way) as well as more advanced techniques. I would personally say that this book has the potential to fit advanced artists as well as beginners since I have seen hardly any book that breaks down the basics better than this publication. (Hogarth is also very good, but different from Bridgman, so I would recommend to the beginner to practice with both and then pick the artist he feels he can relate to the most style wise.) What more is to say about this book is that readers that don't understand latin may feel a little lost with the descriptions of the muscles here, which is a little sad when you want to learn how all of the parts of the body are working together in depth.

Hızlı kargo, özenli paket, iyi kitap. Araştırıp ne olduğunu bilerek aldım ve beklentim karşılandı.

The book is great. But Amazon delivered the book damaged. Too much of hassle to return and try and get free delivery again (no option to exchange). Save yourself the time and money and rather buy it from a local store.

One of the classics. I'm not overly fond of his style, but feel it should be included in any artist's library. There are not a lot of well priced artist anatomy books in kindle. A good reference to carry with you for practice. Only 'technical' problem l had with this book was that it took 15 mins or more to dl. The only book in 500 plus kindle books that l have had a problem with. Also slow on turning pages. Just checked now to load from device and its still loading. I use a surface two tablet. Still loading. :( I actually haven't had the chance to see all of the book because of the loading problem.

I like to use this as an early to mid stage reference when digitally sculpting realistic characters. As opposed to having a Pinterest wall up of anatomy boards. It's all hand drawings which helps to focus on form, rather than getting drawn in to detail. Each body part has an accompanying break down/explanation, much of which may seem rudimentary, though I always pick up a few new ways to look at or think about its construction. This is the type of book you can keep to hand without worrying about how battered or stained it will get. It's a pretty cheap paper back, with only 170 pages. So you aren't worried about bending it or propping it open in a nefarious way like you are with some of the other War and Peace style offerings. That said, and as such I would not consider this a complete guide by any means, you will need many other references. Though with the internet this is not much of an issue at all.