Art book help....Please

I was just wondering if anyone could help me with books about human antinomy. Also any art books in general would be appreciated.

If so please post the name of the book and a website I could get them.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mystic

Having just gone looking for this a few days ago myself...

I was told that "Anatomy for Artists" by Barclay was a staple, but when I found the book...it just wasn't what I was looking for. It was ridiculously complex in areas I didn't need, and stupidly simple in parts where I needed complexity.

(I ended up walking out with a copy of Anatomy for Comic Book Artists and Dynamic Figure Drawing (to help with posing, which is my weakness)..)

I suggest firing up the Barnes & Noble website (or visiting a store), and just searching for "Anatomy for Artists" - you'll get about four pages of art/anatomy books (they all seem to have similar names)...but you'll really need to preview them at a store to see if the information they offer is something that will help you, because the range/style of information seems to be -very- different across the board.

I know it's not an anatomy book, but Drawing on the Left Side Of the Brain is a very good learning book

For anatomy for comic artists though, I have the Chris Hart book, just look for his name and he's got a zillion different titles. One of them is Anatomy. Goes into skeletal and muscle structure 'under the skin', divides it into sections, shows what contracts and expands, as opposed to standing straight and doing nothing manniquins that you often find in anatomy books.

It's not enough to just know what muscles are under the skin, you need to know how they work and move.

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It's not enough to just know what muscles are under the skin, you need to know how they work and move.

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I agree and thanks for the info ladies.

Mystic

The book that Sun_Ruan_Er and Rowrsie suggested are very good. In addition I would also look at the Jack Hamm's books too (they are very inexpensive and have a wealth of info). Another study tool I would recommend are fitness magazine such as Muscle and Fitness (for male anatomy) and Shape (for female anatomy). I stress the need to look at real life image to help with subtle muscular definitions. Those aforementioned books are for more superheroic body types for regular body sketch from life or consult fashion magazines.

It's better to learn from these sources first then later stylize your figure drawing. A good foundation is a big advantage.


p.s. I've been drawing and painting for over 25 years.
Good Luck

*artist-sense tingling* 25 year artist eh?

*winks*

I saw an interesting comic book/fantasy art drawing book in the bargain area and B&N the other day... and deuced if I can recall the name. It was also a kit with pencils and such, but the book part looked pretty good.

Personally I liked WIZARD's series on HOW TO DRAW.

Dynamic Anatomy and Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth are great, as is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. What I also have found has helped me is to find an artist I like and imitate them. Maybe at first I won't understand the lines I'm drawing, but eventually I do, and if I can pick up just one element of figure drawing or perspective or, really, anything from the excercise, then that's one more element that I didn't know before.

if you wanted a comic style. well pick up a comic book that you find visually appealing. but for assistance in that area of anatomy. but still would like to keep that comic book feel, find George Bridgeman. one of the many artists that have influenced my artistic style. And as for learning how to draw... hmm... there is a book that i can't quite remember the name of. I'll have to get back to you on that. But all i can really suggest is that you keep practicing. And try to use the least amount of line to describe something (gesture drawing).

Any good "Writing for Comics" books?

Another good series of books that might help can be found here on the Official How to Draw Manga website. They do teach the stylized anime.manga style faces, but they also show how to do realistic faces. As for the rest of the figure they do a fairly good job of showing various techniques and often show things not found in other books and series.

Thanks for all the info everyone. I will be checking on these at the local B&N.

If anyone else has any other suggestion please feel free to add.

Mystic

AAaaahhhhhh yes, now i remember that book. it's by Kimon Nicolaides. recomended to me by my life drawing animation teacher.

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I was just wondering if anyone could help me with books about human antinomy.


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Sorry about the late post, was mostly out of action over the holiday.

I noticed Anatomy for Fantasy Artists in the bookstore the other day. Could only glance through it since I had to go right away, but it looked like it had some promise. Basic anatomy discussion, followed up with how to distort the basics into template forms found in fantasy settings, (hulks, cherubs, sveltes, etc.).

It also discussed extreme posing (such as exaggerated punches and so on), and I think it might've had a section devoted to showing photographs of real-life models demonstrating extreme posing as a reference guide. Hard to recall exactly though.

I'll probably look at picking it up sometime, but that bookstore was out of town, so I'll have to track it down locally all over again.

As for how I developed my art skills, (such as they are), I pretty much went with How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way and Dynamic Anatomy (the old 60's version, as the new revised version hadn't been released before I got started into drawing). There was also a small book discussing tv-cartoon-style animation that had some good points to make, though the book's name I've long since forgotten.

I also recall picking up some bodybuilding magazines at about the same time, figuring I wanted to give serious training a try, but that impulse only lasted a couple of months. However, those mags had decent lasting value as anatomy references too.

Hope that helps.

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I noticed Anatomy for Fantasy Artists in the bookstore the other day. Could only glance through it since I had to go right away, but it looked like it had some promise. Basic anatomy discussion, followed up with how to distort the basics into template forms found in fantasy settings, (hulks, cherubs, sveltes, etc.).

It also discussed extreme posing (such as exaggerated punches and so on), and I think it might've had a section devoted to showing photographs of real-life models demonstrating extreme posing as a reference guide. Hard to recall exactly though.

I'll probably look at picking it up sometime, but that bookstore was out of town, so I'll have to track it down locally all over again.

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I wanted this book when I went to the store, but they didn't have it in...and since I was using a gift card, I didn't want to waste free money on shipping. I'll definitely be looking for it in the future, though. *seconds the recommendation*

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Another good series of books that might help can be found here on the Official How to Draw Manga website. They do teach the stylized anime.manga style faces, but they also show how to do realistic faces. As for the rest of the figure they do a fairly good job of showing various techniques and often show things not found in other books and series.

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Bah beat me to it!

I went to Barnes & Noble today and re-saw that book I was thinking of. It's called Fantasy Cartooning Book & Kit by Ben Caldwell. Looked pretty good for practicing and inspiration, plus it's in the Bargain Books section.

Also, B&N is having a buy one-get one deal on TV series box sets for DVDs. Just a value-added FYI to this post.

It's not a book but a tool that can certainly help in getting poses and whatnot right when used with a book to help get the "look" you're going for is this:

DAZ|Studio

It's a 3D application that's free that works a lot like Poser. I believe that it does come with some content (figures and whatnot) so it's not going to be an investment from the get-go.

I know that some "purists" might not appreciate me adding this in here but if you're going for drawing and 2D art consider it nothing more than a computer based woody figure.

Anyway, good luck with your art!!