Anatomy book recommendations

[Brittneyok]

I got a few Amazon gift cards for Christmas and I want to buy one or two really good anatomy books.

I'm looking for something that covers structure first, more of an inside -> outside take on anatomy. I never really learned the internal structures of bones and muscles and how it translates while the body is in motion. A book that covers how muscles stretch, retract, hold tension, etc. is what I'm looking for. I don't always have easy access to a live model therefore learning how the body is one big machine of pulleys and weights is kind of difficult for me.

With that information, can you drop a few titles for me to look into?

Much appreciated!

[Black Spot]

Read the stickies http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...s-Reading-List

[Brittneyok]

Thanks for the link, but I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. "Click to look inside" doesn't always help me see what's actually covered in the books.

[Marc Anderson]

Go to your local library or book store with a list of the books that are in the link Blackspot posted and have a quick gander through them and the the ones you like buy off Amazon

I recently bought "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist" due to it being recommend on that list and glad I did.

[Izi]

Charles Bargue's hefty http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Bargue.../dp/2867702038

Tony Ryder's more streamlined and less pricy: http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Comple...ref=pd_sim_b_4

These are found in the libraries of many Academic Realism ateliers. Both Tony Ryder (living) an Charles Bargue (deceased) are lineaged directly to Michelangelo.

[SwedishMichelangelo]

Get Die gestalt des menschen by Gottfried Bammes. If you feel you would need a pure "bones and muscle" book as well i would recommend Artistic Anatomy by Paul Richer.

I might also mention that the books that Izi recommended doesnt cover anatomy at all. I have the ryder one myself.

[Elwell]

Yes, Ryder is very much of the outside-in, anatomical knowledge isn't necessary with accurate enough observation school.

[Izi]

Oh sorry for skimming the title and replying with my favorites...i did like them alot when i was in school.

Pecks atlas of human anatomy may be what you need, but for a thorough understanding you may want to look for an ecorche class.

For me i just try to remember the body is like thousands of rubber bands stretched on a jointed frame.

[arenhaus]

Yes, Ryder is very much of the outside-in, anatomical knowledge isn't necessary with accurate enough observation school.

Not if you actually want to understand what you are seeing. Observation without knowing the structures only goes this far; you can't even claim that it's what Ryder is really doing ( though his measurement tricks are all visual, he does stylize his figures subtly. ) I have a suspicion that he did learn anatomy, he just has it on an automatic level and so kind of disregards it.

[Izi]

I have a suspicion that he did learn anatomy, he just has it on an automatic level and so kind of disregards it.

Sure, Arenhaus you are right. For those wondering exactly what Elwell's glib statement means, let's get one thing straight - Tony Ryder isn't "anti-anatomy", he taught at The Art Student's League which has Ecorche and sends people over to the medical schools in the area to watch the educational autopsies next to the doctors in training. My teacher was Kathryn Manzo, who is a student of Tony Ryder and Ted Seth Jacobs. She was also a well known art director for a Toy company in NYC before entering the world of Contemporary Academic Realism, so coming from Concept Art into Academic Realism. (Fred Ross has been bugging her to scan her work and send it in for years to ARC, but she is one of the busiest people I know, doesn't even have time to update Facebook more than once every 2 years)

To understand why the Academic Realism movement takes anatomy "bit by bit" that is, they don't cram an anatomy book into your hands straight away, but they will point it out to you as the need arises during life drawing, you have to understand the motivation towards prioritizing. When I asked her, after being impressed by her off the cuff knowledge of bone and muscle names and how they are supposed to look, if I should I get a book on anatomy that detailed this. She told me if I had some spare money it's always a good idea, but not necessary until I had grasped the flow of the academic method thoroughly. What the academic realists are trying to do is teach the student how to observe, and once you can do that you will be able to draw without extensive knowledge of what each muscle and bone is called or how it connects. What the French had in mind was to get an artist to as proficient level as quickly as possible, and then to allow them to choose what they wanted to go into. A landscape artist could really do without anatomy, whereas senior figure artists would have a pretty good grasp of anatomy, enough to allow them to modify poses without reference - such as Bouguereau, but even he used reference.

For a good comparison of a master artist who didn't know anatomy (or didn't care) and one who did, compare Sargent and Bouguereau. Sargent hasn't the best anatomical practices per se, but his lighting and details otherwise are very exciting and effective. I personally like his overly long arms on women...

If you can't get into an ecorche class or request a pass to a medical student's cadaver course, you can always just get the best book on anatomy you can find a good French poultry cookbook and start buying meat. There's a lot you can learn about biology from a chicken carcass.

[Stoat]

Schider's Atlas of Anatomy is easily my favorite. Hundreds of drawings by dozens of artists, so you get to see how the same stuff looks drawn by different people. Somehow, that really helped me.

For my money, I'd get the used hardback. I had it in hardback, and it needed to be...it was my go-to book for everything.

[Izi]

that is a steal, stoat! sold!

[Arshes Nei]

I found this book pretty comprehensive http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Human-.../dp/0823024156

I also have the book Stoat recommended.
Actually the paperback isn't that bad. It's something a person can carry with them. That's sometimes necessary if you're going out to study. While other books are on the heavy side and harder to port.

[SwedishMichelangelo]

"I'm looking for something that covers structure first, more of an inside -> outside take on anatomy. I never really learned the internal structures of bones and muscles and how it translates while the body is in motion. A book that covers how muscles stretch, retract, hold tension, etc. is what I'm looking for. I don't always have easy access to a live model therefore learning how the body is one big machine of pulleys and weights is kind of difficult for me."

That is what he/she is looking for. Only "Die gestalt des menschen" will do. Trust me, I know.

[Izi]

For $200.00?????

[Whirly]

Wasn't there a GOOD translated version of it done recently?

[Arshes Nei]

Wasn't there a GOOD translated version of it done recently?

Gottfried Bammes has a few books out, so I don't remember if it's the specific one but all are pretty good with a lot of info.

The translated one you're mentioning is http://amzn.com/1844486907

[Kamber Parrk]

Yes, Ryder is very much of the outside-in, anatomical knowledge isn't necessary with accurate enough observation school.

Well, that's a big load off my mind!

So, then, it's perfectly copasetic to take 36 hours to draw a nude human with a hint of furniture.

Given a couple decades and a knitting needle, Ryder might even be able to layout PART of a Batman comic. . .

(Sorry, I did read the man's book. And, I learned a thing or two. And, he seems like a really really nice guy. But, I think that 36 hour thing is pimping his brand to get people to buy (literally) into the idea that Academic Figure Drawing is more "art" than it really is.)

[Whirly]

Thats the one Arshes, Thanks I meant the good translated version as opposed the bad translated version where it was mainly student drawings and people on CA tended to recommend getting the German one over it until this one was published.

[Parka81]

Some of the anatomy books reviewed with pictures:

http://www.parkablogs.com/content/an...-books-artists