Budding artists can master the toughest and most treasured technique of all: portraying the beauty, grace, and personality of the human body. This wonderful tutorial, and a variety of inspiring sketches on every page, provide the solid technical foundation needed to depict every type of figure—young or old, male or female, standing, sitting, or in motion—and with style. Intricately detailed drawings, some with grids, help capture the correct proportions for head, torso, arms, and legs; add light and shadow for tonal depth; and create texture, volume, and expressive lines. A thorough study of the nude and the development of preliminary sketches make this an extraordinary value.
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12 reviews for Art of Drawing the Human Body
3.7out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
2
★★★★★
2
★★★★★
1
★★★★★
1
★★★★★
2
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★★★★★
Carib Leather –
Great book, loved experimenting with it
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★★★★★
Happy Gal –
Excellent examples of the basics of figure drawing. I wish I had bought this book first, it would’ve saved me a lot of money that I wasted on other books. It takes the reader through a logical progression of approaches and drawing techniques. My figure drawing has not only improved immensely, I’m not getting so frustrated trying to get basic things like proportions right. It also contains some excellent practice exercises and suggestions.
I’m kinda scratching my head at the reviewers that gave it a poor rating; I’ve spent a LOT of money on figure drawing books and this is one of the few that really helped me improve. To each his own, I guess. Buy it from the Marketplace and it won’t break the bank to check it out.
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★★★★★
Placer –
kind of simplistic
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★★★★★
deedee –
Good for a beginner. Showed motion lines of the body, shading and tonal drawing.
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★★★★★
Amazon Customer –
Very substandard book. And, by the way, strangely he has chapters on drawing females, children, the elderly and the obese and nothing on drawing the male body. I guess he’s repulsed by it?
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★★★★★
Mario –
I can’t believe they let such a terrible illustrator release this book. The drawings are awful and the text is very basic, mostly with clichés. Try another drawing book.
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★★★★★
Solipsist –
“The Art of Drawing the Human Body,” we are told within its pages, was translated into English by Edgar Loy Fankbonner. The actual author of the book, to my knowledge, is nowhere identified. Why not?
That is a minor annoyance. What’s worse is the author’s use of other people’s work without citing the source material.
On page 74 of the paperback, behind the text is an illustration of a seated nude that is clearly copied after Harold Speed, from his excellent book, “The Practice and Science of Drawing.” No credit is given.
On page 77, there is a sequence of “blocked” figures going through the motions of an uppercut. These figures are also copied directly out of another book, Preston Blair’s “Cartoon Animation.” Again, no credit is given.
I have to wonder if any of the other illustrations in this book were also copied from other books.
In both cases aforementioned, the illustrations are not merely “inspired” by the source material, nor “interpreted” from it, but are COPIED by the author to the best of his ability.
Which brings me to another point: The original drawings in this book (i.e. the ones that are not plagiarized) are just not very good. They pale in comparison to the works of, say, Andrew Loomis, Willy Pogany and Victor Perard. Some of them are downright awful, ill-proportioned and amateurish. Why choose this inferior instructor when you can learn from the professionals? How much can one expect to learn from an author who himself obviously still has a lot of learning to do?
There IS some useful information in this book, but it is much the same information one would get out of any decent book on figure drawing. What differentiates “The Art of Drawing the Human Body” from the competition is that much of the information herein is presented in bits and pieces, scattered around the pages, with nothing really organized or fleshed out.
This, also, may be attributed to the author’s seeming inexperience; It is as if he had heard of this or that method of conceiving the figure, but didn’t really know much about it, so he gives you a tidbit in a caption under a little picture and leaves it at that. Not at all helpful.
“The Art of Drawing the Human Body” is also plagued by that problem, so common in modern books on drawing, of using lots of words to say little or nothing. For example:
“Perspective need not be a problem, for it, too, can be used to establish a clear background, and thus the comparison of the size of the figure with the objects in the background can be extremely practical in achieving a realistic representation of the figure itself and its surroundings.”
Maybe something was lost in the translation.
If you want to read a lot of text and actually learn something useful, get Speed’s book, or Richard G. Hatton’s “Figure Drawing,” or John H. Vanderpoel’s “The Human Figure.” All three authors were accomplished artists and capable writers.
If you prefer a more visual approach to learning, go for Loomis (out of print but available used), Pogany, Perard or Jack Hamm.
Carib Leather –
Great book, loved experimenting with it
Happy Gal –
Excellent examples of the basics of figure drawing. I wish I had bought this book first, it would’ve saved me a lot of money that I wasted on other books. It takes the reader through a logical progression of approaches and drawing techniques. My figure drawing has not only improved immensely, I’m not getting so frustrated trying to get basic things like proportions right. It also contains some excellent practice exercises and suggestions.
I’m kinda scratching my head at the reviewers that gave it a poor rating; I’ve spent a LOT of money on figure drawing books and this is one of the few that really helped me improve. To each his own, I guess. Buy it from the Marketplace and it won’t break the bank to check it out.
Placer –
kind of simplistic
deedee –
Good for a beginner. Showed motion lines of the body, shading and tonal drawing.
Amazon Customer –
Very substandard book. And, by the way, strangely he has chapters on drawing females, children, the elderly and the obese and nothing on drawing the male body. I guess he’s repulsed by it?
Mario –
I can’t believe they let such a terrible illustrator release this book.
The drawings are awful and the text is very basic, mostly with clichés.
Try another drawing book.
Solipsist –
“The Art of Drawing the Human Body,” we are told within its pages, was translated into English by Edgar Loy Fankbonner. The actual author of the book, to my knowledge, is nowhere identified. Why not?
That is a minor annoyance. What’s worse is the author’s use of other people’s work without citing the source material.
On page 74 of the paperback, behind the text is an illustration of a seated nude that is clearly copied after Harold Speed, from his excellent book, “The Practice and Science of Drawing.” No credit is given.
On page 77, there is a sequence of “blocked” figures going through the motions of an uppercut. These figures are also copied directly out of another book, Preston Blair’s “Cartoon Animation.” Again, no credit is given.
I have to wonder if any of the other illustrations in this book were also copied from other books.
In both cases aforementioned, the illustrations are not merely “inspired” by the source material, nor “interpreted” from it, but are COPIED by the author to the best of his ability.
Which brings me to another point: The original drawings in this book (i.e. the ones that are not plagiarized) are just not very good. They pale in comparison to the works of, say, Andrew Loomis, Willy Pogany and Victor Perard. Some of them are downright awful, ill-proportioned and amateurish. Why choose this inferior instructor when you can learn from the professionals? How much can one expect to learn from an author who himself obviously still has a lot of learning to do?
There IS some useful information in this book, but it is much the same information one would get out of any decent book on figure drawing. What differentiates “The Art of Drawing the Human Body” from the competition is that much of the information herein is presented in bits and pieces, scattered around the pages, with nothing really organized or fleshed out.
This, also, may be attributed to the author’s seeming inexperience; It is as if he had heard of this or that method of conceiving the figure, but didn’t really know much about it, so he gives you a tidbit in a caption under a little picture and leaves it at that. Not at all helpful.
“The Art of Drawing the Human Body” is also plagued by that problem, so common in modern books on drawing, of using lots of words to say little or nothing. For example:
“Perspective need not be a problem, for it, too, can be used to establish a clear background, and thus the comparison of the size of the figure with the objects in the background can be extremely practical in achieving a realistic representation of the figure itself and its surroundings.”
Maybe something was lost in the translation.
If you want to read a lot of text and actually learn something useful, get Speed’s book, or Richard G. Hatton’s “Figure Drawing,” or John H. Vanderpoel’s “The Human Figure.” All three authors were accomplished artists and capable writers.
If you prefer a more visual approach to learning, go for Loomis (out of print but available used), Pogany, Perard or Jack Hamm.
Miyagawa (Iseshi） –
人物画を描く為の男女・子供・老人のプロポーション、
頭部、顔のパーツの位置関係、トルソの前・後のフォルム
上肢・下肢、手の構造・アウトライン、骨盤の前後、
足の構造・形、より釣り合いのとれた人物像を組み立てる為の
計測方法、複雑な身体を、シンプルな形に置き換えての図像
いい形を決める為の練習、ラインと身体の内なるリズム
ソフトラインの形・調整、分析するポーズ、力の釣り合い
平衡、観点、ネガ・ポジのスペースの関係、立ちポーズの
体重の大部分を片脚にかけてるポーズ、頭部、肩、腰・膝の
傾斜の向きの事、ポーズ、モーション身体の隠れた部分、遠近法
ヌードを描く為の光の効果、人物を描く為の全体的な線描
ハッチングのプロセス、ボリューム・明暗の効果、着衣の人物像
折り畳まれた服、衣類を掛けた像、人物を取り巻く背景、ボリュームの
描き方、擦ら無くて正確な位置を決める。ブレンディング技法、表現に富むライン
髪の手触、チャコールでのアウトライン、人物を単純な形で組み立てる
男女の、短縮法、シミ、汚れ、明暗部の効果、人物のコーナーの重要な
ポイント、着衣人物、パステル・チョークでの人物画、人物の線描が
海岸での母子像、雰囲気の富む人物画の制作、肖像画の制作
人物を描く為の知識が豊富に詰まっている。参考になると思う。
全部で159ページ。