The Human Figure: An Anatomy for Artists

zoe hong recommended this book and i see why- its perfect!!

Though the contents of the book is what i desired
I rather hardcover than paper

but it will do

This is a nice, concise reference for human figure drawing. It covers each layer with a nice set of of the 4 major angles with some accessory drawings showing how things work. Its not definitive but it is a much smaller and lighter book making it far more portable and far easier to flip through when you need a quick reference.

I purchased this book a while back and just never got around to reviewing it. I felt this book was helpful in the since of understanding the structure of the human body. However, if you are looking for more demonstrative drawing than text then this is perhaps not for you. There isn’t a lot of “movement” in the illustrations. Mostly turning of the head or craning of the neck this way and that to show how the muscle and bones move with it. Same for the shoulders. There are only a few pages that compare youthful figures to older ones and the same for child and adult, but don’t let this discourage you from trying it. It’s a good reference to have on hand to look through and a good addition to your library. Not my first choice but still it comes in handy when needed.

The author seems to be one of the best ones on drawing, if you were to go by the reviews. I spent over a thousand rupees for less than 100 pages of the book.

Here’s the tldr
If you are in post Covid era, you will get ba while lot of information, that is useful to you as and artist, in a single pinterest board! For free!

This book is way too old and sold so many copies because it was there only one in the market perhaps, it good marketing. Three book feels more like a biology chapter of 1940.

So what’s wrong in that?
The author explains in a bunch of pages what various muscles do-in Latin names. Then you flip over to 20 pages, where you check the index and find the muscle labelled in the sketch. And by three time I’m lost what I was researching about. It’s probably ok for a biology student of 80 years ago. Not now.

Save yourself your heartache, give this one a skip.

Having been an illustrator for years and artist most of my life, I came upon this book – lost in the overwhelming galaxy of anatomy books for artists online and elsewhere – and bought it thinking it looked okay based on the pictures of the inside of the book on Amazon. I bought it at the same time that I bought about 5 other anatomy books, many of them elaborately illustrated with HD photographs and overlays, often ten times more expensive than this little, compact book written by David Kresz Rubins in 1953. But those other books still – for the most part – sit on my desk in a neat pile only occasionally used.

This book, however, is extraordinary in its simple yet detailed display of muscles and how bones are wrapped in them, how the body can move and why, and why it looks the way it does. The amazingly clear way that Rubins shows each part of the body, layering it up from bones to muscles to skin, and then shows those parts of the body bending and twisting, and how those forms are created by what’s beneath – is really tremendously helpful. He’s really detailing the architecture of the body, and I’ve copied his drawings a great deal. (Just this weekend, for instance, I’ve been copying his wonderful drawings of leg muscles and how legs are structured… and I’ve learned so much.)

I draw these days on a Cintiq, and next to it is this book, forever bent open to some page from which I am copying anatomical drawings by Rubins. Every time I go through it and closely observe his drawings, draw from them, I discover new about a muscle group or the way the body is formed. It’s a jewel of a book.

If you spend time with it and really study and draw from its contents you will advance your anatomical understanding by leagues.