Recommendations for books on drawing human anatomy?
Can anyone recommend any books/other resources for drawing human anatomy? I’m not really able to go out and draw from life, so a book or something would be very helpful. I’d like to focus on improving my art this summer.
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The top of my list would be any book by Andrew Loomis, but specifically "Figure Drawing for What It’s Worth". All of his books are out of print, but you can find them on ebay if you watch long enough. It will be worth the money you spend.
Next, any and all of the Burne Hogarth anatomy books are also very good, I think these are still in print.
Bridgemans classic anatomy drawing books should still be in print from dover. These are recommended, (and inexpensive), but I’ll be honest and say that they never did much for me (generations of other artists through the years would say otherwise though)…
Be aware that there are thousands of really bad figure drawing books on the market without any substance. There are very few good figure drawing books, period. If you can, look at the book before you buy it.
One last thought, I used to do quick sketches from old movies on TV when I was a kid. I did pencil sketches and ink washes with a brush. This did wonders for catching porportion, gesture, and clothing very quickly after awhile and gets you in fighting shape for doing more involved drawings later on. Do as many throw away sketches on scrap paper as you can stand and you’ll be amazed where you get in a short time. With DVDs you can you can freeze very sharp images, so you can take more time with your drawings than I could (back in ancient times).
Good luck!
UPDATE: I took a look on ebay and there is currently a couple of "Figure Drawing for What Its Worth", one for 9.99 and no bids. There is also "Drawing Heads and Hands" with no bids- another excellent book by Loomis. Don’t be a fraid to get a beat up one (cheap) or later editions (also cheap but with portions edited out). The ones in good condition go for waaaay too much money.
I also see the "Drawing Heads" booklet is back in print. This is a really poorly done booklet, be sure to avoid it. It is like an oversized coloring book with some of his drawings and almost none of his instructions. It is part of the WALTER FOSTER series. They just grabbed a couple of images and called it an Andrew Loomis book, with a title very similar to a real Andrew Loomis book.
I am not actually sure type it in on amazon.com
or chapters.com or something like that:D
My favorite is the Cyclopedia Anatomicae, you can find it here
http://www.amazon.com/Cyclopedia-Anatomicae-Gyorgy-Feh%C3%A9r/dp/1579125913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245200695&sr=1-1