Constructive Anatomy: Includes Nearly 500 Illustrations (Dover Anatomy for Artists)

A classic, great book for basic, and anatomy improvement.

In fact, I can safely say that this really is the most important book on artistic anatomy one can learn from. Many seem put off at first glance (I know I was) and say one of or all of the following... 1 - "the drawings look sketchy sometimes" 2 - "the anatomy seems exaggerated" 3 - "the look might "cramp" your style" 4 - "will copying the drawings really teach me anatomy?" Well, after having gone through the book once, reading how others go through it, working on form & exercises, and since I'm going through it again, I'll address these points. ---------- 1: The "sketchiness" isn't there for the sake of being rough. Those lines & curves are there to show the rhythm and flow of how this part leads into that part. Keep in mind that not every drawing in the book is like this. 2: The anatomy isn't really exaggerated. Consider that Bridgman's approach is on how muscles wedge into one another. If you study form, can analyze it, and can combine verious forms with overlapping, and then look at the drawings, things will click. The forms of various muscles stand out to show how the wedging works and sometimes the muscles happen to look flexed, that's all. 3: This was an odd comment I read at [...], and there's no way that going through this will "cramp your style." If this is the first anatomy book you're considering, and if you've never gone through a drawing book at all, then you don't have a style. Don't worry about finding your style if you're just starting out - take the time to learn foundational principles & techniques, and make that your goal. 4: I imagine that alot of people would think of copying like this: "Draw this line, put that curve right here, draw the line next to it, now move the pencil over here and draw this curve, repeat." Don't do that. It wasn't until I had a better grasp on form & the "classical approach" when things began to click. Once you learn the fundamentals of rhythm & gesture, observing angles, form, and "sculpting in the paper," use that understanding to analyze not only subjects for life drawing, but also drawings. As Glenn Vilppu says, "Don't copy the model, analyze it." --- With that said, this book will show you anatomy as a set of forms, how they look from different views & actions, and, overall, how everything fits together. It's the perfect book to pull out once you can draw those geometric skeletons. Take your time and understand the text as Bridgman will explain what you're looking at. Analyzing the drawings is one thing, but the text does mention a lot of aspects on how the anatomy works. There is one flaw in the book, and that is the layout. I found myself having to flip between a few pages to look at the right drawing with the appropriately labeled parts so I could flip back to the text and better understand the stuff. This got a little frustrating but if you're patient, you can pick up alot of things from this. Like I said, take your time.

Great information, love this! He explains things clearly and offers great illustrations to help you recreate the anatomy of the body.

As an art student, I've perused quite a few instructive anatomy books. I was suggested Bridgman by a teacher who ranked him as simply the best. A lot of the reviews here seem to focus on quality of reproduction, so I'm going to focus on the original product. By the way, get Dover. Pros: As stated universally. Bridgman runs through the all the major body masses ranging from something as large as the trunk, to something as minuscule as the septum of the nose. He shows the human form in various stages of muscular undress, ranging from skeletal to fully skinned. There are often numerous angles and perspectives from which to study as well, and proportions are helpfully laid out in block form for the larger masses. Speaking plainly, I haven't found a book that does better than what Constructive Anatomy does. Cons: Formatting is a little awkward. Text that pertains to a whole section appears on the first page of the section, and the following pages are wordless. This makes it mildly frustrating to follow the words of wisdom that Bridgman is no doubt divulging. Which brings me to another drawback. The vocabulary matches the book's age. Expect a great deal of Latin nouns. Despite having a pretty firm grasp on bone and muscle names, I found myself lost on numerous occasions. Consider the following text, describing the armpit: "Its rear wall is deeper, since the latissimus attaches farther down the back; thicker because made of two muscles (latissimus and teres major), and rounder because its fibres turn on themselves before attaching to the arm bone." This would be an extremely minor annoyance if not for the complaint mentioned above. Much of the text is disassociated with the illustrations, forcing you to either flip back and forth, or try to follow along in your head. My final con is what irked me the most. There is no female anatomy to speak of, and neither does Bridgman speak of it. For an anatomy book, this is a severe drawback. I understand the age of the book may have made such depictions taboo, but we're talking about half the population here. Bridgman's men are patently bony. Not as a synonym for thin, as they are exceedingly thick, but his bones have a tendency to protrude and take the shape of geometric objects. This is of course very beneficial to students, and his drawings are pure joy to duplicate, but you can imagine how hard it is to transfer this knowledge to the neglected sex. Anatomy books have a tendency to prioritize subjects approximately in the following order: the Male figure, the Female figure, the effects of age and finally, the child. Bridgman focuses solely on the first of the queue. My conclusion is thus: Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy is an excellent manual for building men of young to middle age. The description applied to it most often seems to be "it's a great starter book." I would contend that the male and female figures are so different as that one cannot "start" with a male figure, and end up with a female figure. Consequently, Constructive Anatomy is not a great starter book for understanding the female structure. Despite the cons I have stated, I have given the book 4/5 stars. Why? Because I knew of these drawbacks before I purchased the books, and purchased it anyway. The score is not some form of self-punishment for making a mistake, but a rating of the material I knew and wanted. I only list the cons so that future purchasers may know them as well, and make a more evaluative judgment.

A lovely quick "go to" paperback with essential anatomically correct sketches. Easy to follow; Easy to carry; Easy to pack and take with you on a mini get away,

His work is so intuitive

I was looking for an introductory book on anatomy that I wouldn't feel too precious about marking up and adding my own sketches and notes. Some anatomy books are jam packed with info or are have paper that is difficult to draw on. This book is bare bones enough and not intimidating if you alredy have some practice with the basic fundamentals of drawing. I probably wouldn't recommend this book to an absolute beginner, more to somone trying to uplevel their basic understanding of anatomy. (Black ink sketches are what is printed in the book, colored pencil sketches are my own)

This is a wonderful book for the price and is pretty much aimed toward beginners. The illustrations in this book are drawn relatively simple and I believe it is done on purpose to not scare away beginning artists like other books with realistic images. I should also note that this isn't really a step by step book, but rather a book that is meant to instruct the reader with a standard approach to drawing the anatomical parts of the human form. It basically breaks down the fundamentals, but you'll have to look for other books that offer more images and explanation. Overall, if you're looking for a cheap anatomy book that will talk about the basics, it's great for you. If you're a more advanced artist looking for more explanation, then you might want to check out Michael Hampton's or Andrew Loomis' books.

Me encanta este libro, cumple al 100% lo que necesitaba saber sobre anatomía. Lo compré en el último momento por un arrebato y no me arrepiento para nada. Posiblemente es el mejor libro que he comprado de este estilo. La única pega es que esta en ingles, pero vamos... las ilustraciones es lo que más importa. Comprarlo si o si!

Overall, this is one of my most favorite drawing books from my shelf. It includes a good number of drawings that can also be seen in "Drawing from Life", but it misses the part that talks about drapery, for instance. This book is rather small and so can easily be taken with you in your backpack alongside with your sketchbook. In this book Bridgman covers all the essentials to figure drawing. It has a large chapter on different ways to draw hands, which I enjoy the most. Bridgman shows off more simple and constructed ways to draw the body (hands and legs in a very self explanatory and dynamic way) as well as more advanced techniques. I would personally say that this book has the potential to fit advanced artists as well as beginners since I have seen hardly any book that breaks down the basics better than this publication. (Hogarth is also very good, but different from Bridgman, so I would recommend to the beginner to practice with both and then pick the artist he feels he can relate to the most style wise.) What more is to say about this book is that readers that don't understand latin may feel a little lost with the descriptions of the muscles here, which is a little sad when you want to learn how all of the parts of the body are working together in depth.

Hızlı kargo, özenli paket, iyi kitap. Araştırıp ne olduğunu bilerek aldım ve beklentim karşılandı.

The book is great. But Amazon delivered the book damaged. Too much of hassle to return and try and get free delivery again (no option to exchange). Save yourself the time and money and rather buy it from a local store.

I like to use this as an early to mid stage reference when digitally sculpting realistic characters. As opposed to having a Pinterest wall up of anatomy boards. It's all hand drawings which helps to focus on form, rather than getting drawn in to detail. Each body part has an accompanying break down/explanation, much of which may seem rudimentary, though I always pick up a few new ways to look at or think about its construction. This is the type of book you can keep to hand without worrying about how battered or stained it will get. It's a pretty cheap paper back, with only 170 pages. So you aren't worried about bending it or propping it open in a nefarious way like you are with some of the other War and Peace style offerings. That said, and as such I would not consider this a complete guide by any means, you will need many other references. Though with the internet this is not much of an issue at all.