Books in the Dover Anatomy for Artists series

More than 500 drawings and text teach you to abstract the body into its major masses. Also specific areas of anatomy.

What is the difference between art anatomy and Bridgman's concept of the human machine? The human machine is the body as not only a fixed framework but also as a complex work of art which moves and was designed to move. In over 400 drawings, George B. Bridgman demonstrates the machine through the presentations which made him a gifted lecturer and teacher in his nearly fifty years at the Art Students League in New York and which gave life to drawings by his many students during those years. All skeletal and muscular systems are fully identified, and all are shown in front, back, and side views.The Human Machine begins with the framework of bones. In each section (head, neck, hand, arm, forearm, elbow, trunk, shoulder, back, scapular region, pelvis, hip, thigh, leg, knee, foot, and toe as well as the combinations of the major sections working together), George Bridgman starts with the skeletal components of the system; then he adds the muscles, shows the changes in the muscles as the body moves and, finally, shows the appearance of the bodily section in action. At the title implies, Bridgman, throughout, supplements his anatomical work with comparative drawings of simple machines. The anatomical approach to figure drawing is the foundation for the study of human form, and as in his other books on figure drawing, Bridgman's Life Drawing and The Book of a Hundred Hands, Bridgman's approach to the subject is important and unique. The Human Machine will give students and serious artists the conception of the human structure as the complex of beautiful machines it is, and will show how bone and muscle structures are solely responsible for our movements and for the shapes which we, at various times, display. Unabridged republication of the 1939 edition.

"Joseph Sheppard has been favorably compared to practically every Renaissance master...he is without peer among modern realists for his ability to impart a warm verisimilitude to the figure."--Artspeak magazine.In this highly praised guidebook, Joseph Sheppard, a versatile and influential artist and teacher who is widely recognized as a master of figure drawing, introduces an innovative approach to drawing the human form. Beginning by reviewing the basics of anatomy, he makes his principal focus the specifics of surface anatomy.Rather than depicting in detail the muscles and bone that lie beneath the skin, as do most books on artistic anatomy, this book concentrates on how the position and movement of muscles and bones affect the surface forms of live models. The effects are masterfully demonstrated in over 170 of Joseph Sheppard's own drawings of many different live models in front, back, and side views, and in various standing, sitting, kneeling, crouching, reclining, and twisting poses.Each drawing is accompanied by two diagrams, one for bones, one for muscles, which specifically show how surface forms are created by the definitive shapes beneath the skin. The superb quality of Joseph Sheppard's drawings, the wide range of poses he illustrates, and the effectiveness of his approach in this book--now in its first paperback edition--will help artists at all levels improve and refine their skills in drawing the living figure.Dover (1991) unabridged republication of the edition published by Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1984.

Certainly one of the most difficult, often neglected areas of art study is the correct rendering of heads, features, and faces. This volume, prepared by an expert in the field, is devoted exclusively to just that. With its clear, concise text, its almost 200 excellent illustrations, and its overall life-drawing approach, the book provides valuable guidelines on how best to portray faces, features, and heads. There is probably no better instructor to turn to than George B. Bridgman. He brings to the subject both his expertise as an artist and his fifty years' experience as lecturer and teacher at the Art Students League of New York. Throughout the book, he places as much emphasis on perspective and planes as on anatomy. In this way, you'll develop a more precise understanding of each feature, the head and face in general, the relationship between features, and the relationship between a specific feature and the face or head. Mr. Bridgman's consideration of the head includes such topics as the head at eye level and below eye level; planes of the head; and round and square forms. Four features--eye, nose, mouth, ear--are dealt with in detail. Sections on light and shade, comparative measurements, and principles of cube and oval construction further enhance the scope of the book. The finely executed drawings complement the textual material, illustrating all important concepts. Of special value is the author's inclusion of the work of famous portrait artists. Vermeer, Hals, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Louise Elisabeth LeBrun--these are the people who made portraiture a master art; and you'll be able to study, up close and at your leisure, the qualities that let their work achieve the status it did. Unabridged republication of the original 1932 edition.

In this superb guidebook, a skilled practitioner of figure drawing demonstrates how to achieve mastery of anatomy through careful, knowledgeable articulation of the muscles and bones lying beneath the skin. Joseph Sheppard's concise instructions have been carefully integrated with over 250 halftone illustrations and over 180 line drawings to lead artists one step at a time through the techniques required in rendering human anatomy convincingly.The opening chapter of the book presents the special techniques involved in mastering human proportion.The chapters that follow each deal with a separate part of the body: the arm, hand, leg, foot, torso, head, and neck (with special coverage of facial features and expressions) and the complete figure.Each of these chapters follows a basic format that combines drawings of the featured body portion from many different angles, coverage of the specific bones and muscles involved, a table of muscle origins and insertions, and coverage of surface anatomy and depictions of the body part in a variety of positions. >