Need a quick adivce over Loomis and Bridgman

[LeTurismo]

Hello,

i have a question regarding books, or rather my limits about books.

I have a somewhat artistic background, know basics of the anatomy, so i want to buy one of them from amazon, but i'm uber-poor what means i can afford only one or something up to 26$.

Now i stand before choosing between:

Constructive Anatomy (Dover Anatomy for Artists) [Paperback] + something else maybe.

and:


Figure Drawing for All It's Worth [Facsimile] [Hardcover]

I can afford only one or something up to 26$, and i need some advice between choosing one.

[Arshes Nei]

If you are going to start with a Bridgman book start with http://amzn.com/0486227103
Constructive anatomy is good after you start with the Life Drawing one.

I'm not a fan of the compilation book "Complete drawing from Life" because it edits out information from his other books. Buy the books separately.

Before anyone does it, do not tell the OP to download the PDF of the Loomis Figure Drawing book, the book is here legally now. However, the other UNPUBLISHED ones, I can understand.

So if you have money after Life Drawing, and Constructive anatomy, there is also Jack Hamm's book. http://amzn.com/0399507914


If you can save up a little more Hampton's book is also great but it's currently at $35.
http://amzn.com/0615272819

But I also very much advise you to look through the sticky thread of this forum on books to pick out others later down you'd like to purchase.

There are also public domain editions of Bridgman.

These according to the site are public domain http://www.drawingbooks.org/index.html

[arenhaus]

Go with Loomis.

[Stoat]

If I could only afford one anatomy book, I would choose Schider's Atlas of Anatomy for Artists. It includes plates from many different artists, so you get to see how different draftsmen "see" the same shapes. It's awesome.

And it's under $10.

[kinjark]

That price will get you a couple of used books. They don't need to be new do they?

[LeTurismo]

Ok here's the deal, i wanted to buy Bridgman's Life drawing and his anatomy book, but that doesnt add up to 25, what means i cant get free delivery.

So i can buy something like Loomis igure drawing + Constructive anatomy or Life Drawing + Loomis.

What do you think ?

[Arshes Nei]

Ok here's the deal, i wanted to buy Bridgman's Life drawing and his anatomy book, but that doesnt add up to 25, what means i cant get free delivery.

So i can buy something like Loomis igure drawing + Constructive anatomy or Life Drawing + Loomis.

What do you think ?

Up to you and your math.

There are several books mentioned in this thread you can pick from and come up with something. I mentioned not getting Constructive anatomy first because while neat, I think it's best to read the Green book Life Drawing first before trying to look at the figure in parts - which is what constructive anatomy does.

However, this is just an suggestion based on experience, because I got Constructive Anatomy before I got the Life Drawing book, and realized Life Drawing was better to start with first.

In the end however, it's all up to you, you're going to probably go through more books, and there are these book rental places too called "libraries" and you may find those books there. Though all the book ordering in the world, won't make you a better artist - lots of practice will So just pick a book or two and order more down the line.

[LeTurismo]

Things such as libraries are just an urban legends where i live, we carve our history on walls and animal skin.

[triggerpigking]

Well if you work in front of a computer like me you can get all of loomis's books here for free http://alexhays.com/loomis/
If you look around the internet a bit you can probably find bridgemans stuff for free as well.
Both loomis and bridgeman are long dead so I really don't see the point in paying for their stuff.

[Star Eater]

Both loomis and bridgeman are long dead so I really don't see the point in paying for their stuff.

Seriously?

[triggerpigking]

Seriously?

Well yeah whats the point I pay for stuff to give money to the original creator same goes for games, music and whatever the hell.

[Star Eater]

Well yeah whats the point I pay for stuff to give money to the original creator same goes for games, music and whatever the hell.

So, by your logic, any publication by a dead author/composer/illustrator is fair game?

Heh, wow.

[Elwell]

Many of Bridgman's books are indeed out of copyright, those that are can be found on sites like Project Gutenberg, Archive.org, or Google Books. The Loomis books are not. Loomis is a particular case, the books were initially scanned and put up online because they were out of print and only available used for outrageous prices. Many attempts were made to reprint them, but because of various legal difficulties all were unsuccessful until the current Titan Books editions, which are both beautifully done and relatively cheap. Since this is what everybody has wanted for so long, the proper, practical, and moral thing to do is to buy the reprints, whether or not you already have the PDF versions, to encourage Titan to keeps the books they've already reprinted available, and to reprint the ones they haven't yet gotten to (Creative Illustration!).

[triggerpigking]

So, by your logic, any publication by a dead author is fair game?

Heh, wow.

But they won't be getting any money for it the same would go for if an author lost the rights to his book for an unfair reason i'm not gonna pay for something if the money's gonna go to someone else and not the person who made it.
I'm happy to argue about this but would you mind telling me whats wrong with my logic here rather than just saying seriously and wow

[Elwell]

But they won't be getting any money for it the same would go for if an author lost the rights to his book for an unfair reason i'm not gonna pay for something if the money's gonna go to someone else and not the person who made it.
I'm happy to argue about this but would you mind telling me whats wrong with my logic here rather than just saying seriously and wow

We won't be continuing this conversation. Your position may be arguable morally, but it isn't legally, and advocating piracy on these forums will get you banned. For reals.

[LeTurismo]

I dont like piracy, or "e-learning" or any kind of e-books that require monitor to look at.

It doesn't matter if he's dead or alive.

If author's alive, good, he'll get some money from me, mostly i buy this kind of things from respect to the author. Sayin that he's dead and all of his stuff should be free is just idiotic, author gave someone else copyrights, or someone just inherited them.

Also I dont like to learn from pirated things, just because i feel like i'm pissing on author's hard work, it's all about your moral codex that's inside your head.

[Arshes Nei]

Things such as libraries are just an urban legends where i live, we carve our history on walls and animal skin.

Blasphemy! Though...actually that would be awesome

To re-explain.

Life Drawing, takes the approach of the figure as a whole. I think is a better approach than focusing on specific details of anatomy - which Constructive Anatomy does.

As stated before, there are several editions of Bridgman books in public domain. I gave a link to other books in public domain. All can not only be valuable about learning anatomy, but in a sense art history which is also important.

You can take a glance at the ebooks in public domain, but like you, I prefer having the physical books around. There's something about that nice page flipping I still like even though tablets and e readers aren't so bad.

I am glad you also have respect towards other people's copyrights when learning. Too many don't then cry when their stuff is stolen. What goes around comes around.

[J Wilson]

Paying for books means that publishers keep them in production, which means future artists have a chance to own them. There is a good chance of valuable information, like Loomis's books, being essentially lost forever. It's not just about supporting the original author/artist, it's about supporting other artists and not letting the craft die out or diminish.

Not that it really needs to be justified. Just because the author won't personally benefit doesn't give you or anyone else any claim on it. The books are very reasonably priced, there is zero excuse for stealing them. Even when I was pretty close to flat broke, I could skip a few meals (or make something super cheap) and afford a few books when I needed to.