Reviews (15)

a hidden treasure
Copyright 1951?Wow, what a stimulating discovery, and what fun! Besides the skeletal and musculature illustrations, "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist" isfull of Peck's own drawings of basic anatomical features.These are not just the "final" drawings, like the master prints in Hale,but the beginning "rough sketches".I find this delightful because every beginner needs some inspirational guidance in drawing's first steps.A simple rough sketch of a nose, with shading; or bones drawn as a simple hinge joint, an arm or leg....Peck's general reduction of the human figure to basic shapes is of inestimable help.The reader may just find himself saying, "Hey, I can do THAT!!!"And that is the wonderful thing about PECK's book.

Peck has impeccable credentials and must be compared to Robert Beverly Hale.Peck's is not merely an alternate duplication of the same material Hale covers.There is a 'personal' touch in Peck; but the problem with any/all anatomy books, for beginners, is that they are simply intimidating, in their detail,their precision, theirabsolute realism.PECK overcomes this anatomical intimidation.I would venture that PECK ought to be included in at least the first several "drawing" books that one acquires.Sometimes it seems that several pages offer more practical instruction to a new student than entire chapters in the books coming out in recent years with gimmicky titles.

"Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist,"in combination withany beginning book on figure drawing is a must.With Famous Artist's school,Willy Pogany, Walt Reed,Jack Hamm and similar instruction,any book-buyer/beginning artist will find themselves forward.I rate this in the top 4 of figure drawing books for the beginner.

The chapter on "Distinctions of Age, Sex, And Race" is highly useful.PECK may be in danger of getting shoved aside with time and the publication ofnew pablum texts containing nothing new or vital; but PECKhas written a timeless text that commands respect.CARPE DIEM [Seize the day!] I rate this book a very deserved 5 stars*

a hidden treasure
Copyright 1951?Wow, what a stimulating discovery, and what fun! Besides the skeletal and musculature illustrations, "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist" isfull of Peck's own drawings of basic anatomical features.These are not just the "final" drawings,but the beginning "rough sketches".I find this delightful because every beginner needs some inspirational guidance in drawing's first steps.A simple rough sketch of a nose, with shading; or bones drawn as a simple hinge joint.Peck's general reduction of the human figure to basic shapes is of inestimable help.The reader may just find himself saying, "Hey, I can do THAT!!!"And that is the wonderful thing about PECK's book.

Peck has impeccable credentials and must be compared to Robert Beverly Hale.Peck's is not merely an alternate duplication of the same material Hale covers.There is a 'personal' touch in Peck; but the problem with any/all anatomy books, for beginners, is that they are simply intimidating, in their detail,their precision, theirabsolute realism.PECK overcomes this anatomical intimidation.I would venture that PECK ought to be included in at least the first several "drawing" books that one acquires.Sometimes it seems that several pages offer more practical instruction to a new student than entire chapters in the books coming out in recent years with gimmicky titles.

"Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist,"in combination withany beginning book on figure drawing is a must.With Famous Artist's school,Willy Pogany, Walt Reed,Jack Hamm and similar instruction,any book-buyer/beginning artist will find themselves ona solid footing. I rate this in the top 4 of figure drawing books for the beginner.

The chapter on "Distinctions of Age, Sex, And Race" is highly useful.PECK may be in danger of getting shoved aside with time and the publication ofnew pablum texts containing nothing vital; but PECKhas written a timeless text that commands respect. I rate this book a very deserved 5 stars*

the best anatomy book i've seen
I've never actually seen a five-star anatomy book; each is different and has its own strengths and weaknesses, but this is the best and most balanced book I've found.

The muscle and bone diagrams are good, but seem very stiff.Fortunately, he supplements them with his own soft pencil drawings on other pages, and he includes detailed (and surprisingly readable and relevant) descriptions of how different bones and muscles connect.He does give the proper names for muscles and bones, but he doesn't bore us with overly scientific discussion.

The few photographs don't illustrate much, but they serve as fair examples for differing body types and positions.Peck puts uncommon effort into facial features and expressions: he doesn't just draw the muscles on the face, but he indicates the directions they pull and how they work to express temperament.

A previous reviewer expressed dislike for the racial comparisons - but I liked them.I don't think Peck means to say "all white people look like this, all black people look like this, etc." but he gives the artist characteristics to watch for when drawing from life (to base your own drawings off of his descriptions, well, yes, that would be silly).

Reviews (39)

A misunderstood and misjudged book.
Most of the dissatisfied reviews here seem to adopt one or more of a number of views.

This book is NOT:

1. A simple 'how to draw' book.Some of the descriptions and exercises are fairly complicated, and beginners will struggle if they rely on it alone.

2. An anatomy or reference book.The main aim of this book is not to provide examples to be meticulously copied; but to introduce a system of figure composition that reduces the need for (or, indeed, limitations of) life, photographic and other pose references.This has been my own personal experience, at the least.

3. A dictation of the 'right' style of drawing.Hogarth's style and exaggeration are not to everyone's taste.However, the principles of the book are not based on these.The reader is not required to limit themselves, and should be capable of adapting the rules and system to their own style and preferences.

Don't flip through this book and reject it because it's not a 'traditional' artist's book.Improving artists can learn a lot from it, as can beginners who use it in tandem with some form of reference.

Great great stuff, but definately NOT a medical anatomy book
This book , though I have only seen it for one night has shown e thigs I never would have thought of about drawing comic book-esq figures. Its definately a great book for people who aspire to professionally pencil comic books, like myself. But it is not medically accurate, so in that case, not meant for realist drawing.

I see that a few of the reviewers have been rather harsh with this book. Well in that affair, let me say that they are cases of people not looking at this book as a comic book referrence, but rather a realistic, fine arts way. So if that is what you are looking for, I do not suggest this book.

As to the explanations in the book, they are a bit tough to understand, but if you study carefully the illustrations, then the instructionsbecome much clearer.

Also, as a side note, as its been stated this is NOT a good book for beginners in the comic book field. In that regard, I suggest "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way," by Stan Lee, and John Buscema.

To sum it up, this book is for the small group of people who are not beginners to comics, but still need to refer or learn about the comic book style male body.

Reviews (6)

The Master is Far from the Student.
While I have learned much from this book, and the esteemed Mr. Hogarth's other instructional books, I do have one gripe that potential buyers should be aware of.

It seems that this fine artist does not write for beginners.His style is obviously advanced, but so are his instructions.A new artist might not be able to avoid the feeling that he or she just isn't "getting it."

Mr. Hogarth teaches through excellent sketches and explanatory paragraphs accompanying some of those.The text does not always lead from A to B.Sometimes, it leaves B, C, and D out entirely and leaps straight onward to E.

Mind you, I strongly reccomend this book.However, I suggest that new students of the drawing arts do not rely on it exclusively .

Don't be put off by the illustration style.
I've been really struggling with learning to draw hands.The best help so far was Bridgeman's, but I was having serious problems nonetheless.However, this book by Hogarth kept coming up whenever I looked at reviews and recommendations.

I'd been avoiding the book -- I love Hogarth's illustration style, but I wondered whether it would be a serious art instruction book. Feeling a little bit guilty, I decided to look at it at a local bookstore before buying it at Amazon.I spent about five minutes reviewing some of the key concepts.

Bottom line: I made more progress on drawing hands in that one evening than I had in the previous week.I ordered the book that night.In order to qualify for super-saver shipping, I also ordered "Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery" also by Hogarth, and it was an excellent purchase as well!

Reviews (7)

Excellent!
I absolutely love this book.I learned a lot from it in a short period of time.Most definately I would recomend it to anyone who has an idea about drawing that is interested in drawing portraits.

Not for the weak of heart...
This book is excellent! This is first and foremost a book on drawing no fat, face composition "blanks" of human face types. This is the most complete basic face composition book out there. Changing this into a certain person comes later on. If you're looking for a book on how to draw certain people, this is not a book for you. If youre merely looking for in depth info on aging this is not a book for you. If you're merely looking for a book on how to draw faces simple and easy, this is not a book for you. But if you have the desire to know what the form is really like, not just lines, this is the book for you. The illustrations are to be understood, not to be copied. This book is for understanding, not remembering. It's logic, not like a phone number. An instant classic.

Reviews (17)

This book suprised me in a good manner
This book is great, hasa lot of drawings where one could learn the anatomy of the human body. Many say that Hogarth style is`nt the best for artistic anatomy but i think the way he exagerate the muscles is perfect for memoratetheir shape and proportion and placement. And thats not all, the paper quality is awsome shiny and smooth and the book includes 150 color pages where Hogarth uses colored pencils for different muscles/bones. So get it now if you want to learn how to draw human figures, characters, comic art and more

I'm not impressed
Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy leads the reader through a series of demonstrations on how to draw the body's gross anatomical muscles.Hogarth's drawings are particularly baroque and certainly show every kind of muscle you could exaggerate in a muscularly beefed up male nude (for the record, I am convinced that Hogarth rarely drew women).

While Hogarth's demonstrations are informative, they hold little form in my opinion and convincing three dimensionality.I say "Convincing" because he has no poetry when it comes to his use of line.It is very straightforward, but at the same time, holds no kind of painterly edge to it.This is a book that would appeal more to sculptors, but even then, I would suggest building your own terracotta sculpture rather than read this book.

I'm not saying that Hogarth can't draw, what I'm saying is that he doesn't have a style that's worth becoming involved in.There are many MANY better anatomical demonstrations available in other books, one of which would be Elliot Goldenential's "Artist's Anatomy."

Hogarth passes off this book moreso as being a drawing manual.I heavily disagree.Drawing human figures is much more about abstraction than about information.The information needs to be clearly presented, but it must also be presented in a way that is artistic and/or poetic.In other words, the information of anatomy and the person up on the model stand should be presented in a way that shows a side of your personality and also shows a kind of universal beauty (if that exists).Figure drawing is about your experience with the model and expressing that as clearly as possible also.

Those of you interested in entertainment . . . well, that's a world I would not like to get into, save to say that this book might be more apealing if you're interested in drawing superheroes, big breasted women, and flashy cars and city-scapes.

Reviews (47)

This book has its place on any beginner's shelf.
I owned this book many years ago and have access to a copy. I even own the recently released digital version.

What Lee and Buscema have brought forth is fine for the aspiring but unskilled artist. You learn the very basic method of producing comics in an old style used decades ago by the 'greats' in comic artistry. Unfortunately, for those hoping this book provides a modern foundation, things have progressed significantly and almost unabatedly.

Those seeking to create comics have to understand the market will not bear another Stan Lee, or even a Jae Lee, imitation. To survive in the tight economics of comic book rendering, an artist must produce something original in style, form and imagination. Rehashing Buscema line work will not 'make the grade', to use a cliche.

That being said, this book has its merits for those willing to start somewhere other than 'real' art books. This volume provides the basic infrastructure to create artwork reminiscent of Spiderman 1975.

My suggestion to all would-be comic artists: eschew this book, learn the human form from all perspectives, poses and attitudes. Learn from non-idealized, non-stylized drawing sessions based on real life. From there, drawing a superhero, in your own way, will become a task far more advantageous commercially and artistically. You will be capable of producing a genuinely original and attractive style, capturing the attention of potential employers.

Other than that, it makes for a decent rainy Sunday hobby.

That's my two cents, here's your change.

A "Must Have" for the budding cartoonist
Even if superheroes are not your cup of tea, get this book. You'll learn more about inking, perspective, proper form, drawing for impact and structure than any other tome. Action comics are hard to do and the beginner needs all the help they can get and you'll find it here.

Reviews (13)

For those who wants to make a Manga
Just as it says, this book is for the artist "Getting Started" but it should include "...in drawing your own manga". If you are only interested in drawing manga/anime style only, then this book would stray into manga creation that you'll find basically unhelpful and useless. For the aspiring manga-ka, this is a great start and much more comprehensive than some other like books.

What I find interesting and quite useful in this book is that besides being seperated per chapter, it is further broken down into topics - 60 in total - with each pointing out something specific. There are several chapters which also have a summary of sorts compiled as a Q&A section with further tips and info.

All in all, this book touches upon everything and doesn't go in-depth into anything except manga making in general. This is a good book to get your feet wet but I would recommend you pick up editions that focus on one topic comprehensively such as HTDM Putting Thing in Perspective if you're serious about manga creation.

An ok look into drawing manga
This book is an ok start to help you get ready with drawing manga. While it is not really for a basic beginner with no knowledge of drawing it is essential for people who have or know a little about drawing. It is not really a nessecity for one to know how to draw but get the basics of drawing in perspective. This book utilizes the fact that you are a person who has seen enough manga or has seen enough drawings to want to get started and shows in it's pages tips and skills about what is needed to how to draw basic figures. While most people with absolutly no background in anime/manga may find it difficult to pick up this style it is easier for those who have been immersed in it for a bit and wanting to know how they are drawn or how to get started. While I admit this book isn't for everyone, I would recommend this book to people who feel they are ready to start learning about the basic steps to drawing their first characters.

Reviews (11)

Great coverage of guy drawing
Most manga how-to books I've purchased focus mainly on girls and young women, so this was a very refreshing break.Lots of illustrations and general tips, very good instruction for the price.Be sure to pickup "How to draw comics the marvel way" whichalso covers muscle-bound-men drawing techniques in a variety of fighting poses.And of course Vol 20 "Female Characters".

Not been much of a help yet.
I recently purchased htis book, and as an amatuer, I really don't like it. However, I am glad that I got it. You don't see books focusing on drawing Male characters very often. But I wish I could have seen more full pictures, this including clothing and faces. Most of the book focuses on the different types of male bodies, and they seem to teach the same things repeatedly throughout the book.Although very few of the pictures have clothing, There really wouldn't be much "nudity" considering that all of them either wear breifs or simply nothing down there,like a barbie doll. Of course, there are many,many buttocks shots that I found rather disturbing, but that is only me. Although I have not learned all that muh form this book, I have a feeling it will come in great handy very soon. So I give it 3 stars and recommend having it around.

Reviews (45)

Great for artists with some training already
I agree with many of the others that this is not a beginner's "how to" book, but it has a lot of great examples to use if you are interested in improving Manga drawing technique. There is a wealth of examples in the book, to include "chibi" figures- "squashed", childlike figures. Again, the drawback is that there is very little step-by-step done, so an absolute beginner who has no experience with proportions and form may not like this book as much as I did.

A great book!
I got this book second in my collection, when I was only starting out. It pushed me along to where I am today.Of course, that isn't very far, but I am still working, and it is still helping. I find that every time I look in this book, I find something new and get alittle bit better.

This book showed many different eye variations. Standard eyes,up-turtned eyes, and droopy eyes. Crying eyes,jaw-lines, and other things to help with faces.
Next came the bodies. Hikaru Hayashi has done a wonderful job showing how curves and shoulder width can change the mood of the piture. There is some nudity in this section, but that should be expected in a book about the female body. The section on drawing the breasts may seem offensive to some, but I found it helpfull.

There was a section on everyday life and clothing of an average bishoujo. Such as different school uniforms. I warn of nudity in this section. The girl standing in the shower's whole body is seen, and is the only piture on the book with full detail on everything. A warning on this.

There are "out-of-this-world bishoujo". This includes fairies, mermaids, girls in fur, cyborgs,and more. There is so much more in this book, but I recommened buying the book and finding it for yourself.

Isbn: 0442226896
Sales Rank: 1765571

Isbn: 0500270562
Sales Rank: 906582
Subjects:  1. Architectural drawing    2. Architecture    3. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    4. Perspective    5. Study & Teaching   

Reviews (1)

Reviews (16)

One of the best perspective books
If you are a serious artist then you will probably have to study a few perspective books before you learn all you need to know about the subject. This book deserves to be in that collection. It covers the nuts and bolts of the correct methods for drawing in one, two and three point perspective and offers hints for shortcuts that you can use to build drawings with a perspective look, even if they are not technically accurate, when you have to work with a deadline.

What I like about the book is that it provides thorough context for understanding not just the how, but the reasons behind the perspective techniques. If you know the rules you can do it, but if you understand the context in depth you can make informed decisions about when to follow the painstaking rules and when to use the shortcuts.

The book is also written in a very approachable visual medium. Basically it is a comic book following in the tradition of Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics".

The book also includes some facinating bits of trivia about 3 point perspective, when it was developed and why, and the lengths that some artists, like M. C. Escher, had to go to in order to properly employ it.

The book has two shortcomings. The first is a consequence of its comic format, there are a large number of pages which present more character development than is strictly necessary to get the information across. By contrast, most perspective books are very condensed, explaining as much as can be explained with illustrations and diagrams. This not only goes into detailed discussion of perspective, its uses and theory, but does so within the voice baloons of two characters.

The second shortcoming is one that I can't think of any other perspective book that treats, that is, it leaves out curvileniar or 5 point perspective, though apparently the author is aware of this kind of perspective, he tantalizes us by using it in a couple of illustrations in the book.

Simplifying the complex, or complicating the simple?
Thorough explanation of perspective but at times it becomes "too thorough". Some things become too technical for the general reader.

At the same time, there's no section that deals with the really complex aspect of perspective - such as multiple perspectives in a single plane (for example, how do you draw a tilted boat on a beach?). Also, it doesn't deal much with putting people in perspective. Ok, so he does mention that you can use the horizon line but what if you're dealing with a single picture that has a person coming down a stairs, and another looking out a window, and another walking down the street? He doesn't explain how to draw them so that they look right. At least, he should have included how to tackle this issue.

For a book this thick, it's certainly lacking. This would be my only disappointment.

The only book I've seen that is much more helpful than David Chelsea's is the one written by Andrew Loomis (Successful Drawing, and Creative Drawing). But don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad book. It's quite useful but not that useful.

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Scott McCloud's Reinventing Comics, the sequel to his groundbreaking work Understanding Comics, is a study of two revolutions: a failed one and a potential one. His 1993 book was not only a chronicle of the potential breakthrough of comics (which he redefined as "sequential art") into a legitimate art form but a sterling example itself of the medium's astonishing untapped potential. Now, seven years later, he chronicles the failure of the comic book industry to fulfill that promise, but also explores how the movement can be restarted, particularly by utilizing the resources of another spectacularly successful revolution, the Internet. In the first half of Reinventing Comics, an elegantly clean example of comic art in McCloud's trademark bold black-and-white style, the author outlines how hype, speculation, and artistic burnout led to the genre's decline. He then lays out 12 paths toward a new revolution of comics, including creators' rights, industry innovation, public perception, gender balance, and diversity of genre, which are then explored with such innovative intelligence that, as with his earlier work, the conclusions he comes to are fascinating for both artists and nonartists alike.

Editorial Review

Reviews (2)

A Comics Pro Gives It The Thumbs Up
As a veteran comic book illustrator (You can find my work here on Amazon.com; I am the CO-creator and artist of Transmetropolitan), I am often asked to recommend books to aspiring professionals in comic book illustration. In that case I always enthusiastically recommend any of Eisner's instructional books as essential reading for anyone serious about their craft and dreams of getting into the industry.

From the earliest work of his career, Will Eisner was an innovator in writing as well as illustration. Even in his twilight years the man is still a vigorous and creative artist producing work that pros as well as fans can't wait to get their hands on.

These books display his genius in an entertaining and easy to follow method, and if put to practice will inspire and reveal hidden keys to making your work truly professional grade. A great companion book to Eisner's "Comics & Sequential Art".

- Darick Roberston

Reviews (25)

Photoshop 7 for Dummies
Reads like stereo instructions. Too many technical graphics terms for a novice photo editor. I usually like the "for dummies" books but this one falls way short of the mark. I would recomend this book only to a seasoned graphic artist that was already familiar with the terminology.

A Little Too Advanced...
I have always loved the Dummies Series and I will continue to purchase these informative books in the future; However, if you are not familliar with Photoshop to begin with, it's not the best choice.

A lot of the book refers back to previous editions of Photoshop, but the authors swing from one side to another - either thinking that the reader is using a computer for the very first time, or have just purchased 7.0 as an upgrade.

There is no middle ground for folks who have a solid computer background but just need to know what all the Photoshop options and icons do. Way too much of one chapter is dedicated to changing how the main screen is configured.

I would say anyone who is a complete computer novice, yet managed to have moderate usage of the previous PhotoShop versions should benefit from this book.

(And I hate it when authors offer to give a hint, but only if you purchase their OTHER book...)

Reviews (10)

A Good Place To Begin
I am a complete novice to any drawing software. So when I bought Adobe Illustrator CS and listened to the accompanying "training" tape, I knew I had to have a lot more instruction. I have found that most software manuals are like dictionaries--fine if you already have a good idea of what you're looking for, but not if you don't. So usually a great place to start is a "good" Dummies book. This Dummies book is better than most. It is written in a clear, concise manner with instructions on how to accomplish each feature covered in the chapters. If a simple earlier instruction is needed in a later chapter, it is repeated instead of referred to from the earlier chapter. This saves a lot of time flipping back and forth. And I appreaciated Ted Alspach's humorous approach to topics--at least the first time around. If you have to go back and re-read, it just gets in the way. The only drawback to the book is that it needs either an accompanying CD filled with Illustrator graphics for practice or an Internet source for such vector graphics. Often the instructions say, "Select a piece of artwork..." and I'm left struggling to find a decent example.

Worst Dummies book I've encountered
I can pretty much learn programs during a weekend. I did learn some things via this book, but not as much as I need to get started. I was shocked to see that they actually define the word "font"...and discuss some really basic things. Someone starting Word might need this help, but give me a break -- if you buy Illustrator you probably already know! I was also shocked at how few visual examples they give. For a graphics program, I would give as many as I can.Finally, I would include a step-by-step creation of an Illustrator page -- gets the user to learn hands on.

Weak
Not sure why my previous review of this book was erased from Amazon, but it was probably whining on the author or publisher's part because of a poor rating.

This book (besides being biased against Mac users) is not the best for new Illustrator users because it doesn't create the best foundation for future learning.Being an advanced user myself, I wanted to buy something for a friend who wants to learn Illustrator, and I thought the Dummy series would be a good place to start.Several lessons instruct users to perform tasks in a way that real world users rarely use (because of inefficiency, better method, etc.).