Dynamic Figure Drawing

This book and the series by Hogarth in general, are a class apart in teaching the figure.In no other book I have seen the body masses so clearly and simply presented that with just one look you 'understand' the form and add it to your repertoire. Just like that.One striking difference we notice is the three dimensional presentation of the drawings using probably charcoal or a very soft pencil, how else will we understand that form if its not rendered in three dimensions?! Yet so many books exist, even the ones from great such as Loomis, where you would see a more finished figure, where the contours take over, making the student wonder 'why is a line in front of the other?' etc. Hogarth aims as dispensing such doubts and to get rid of the guesswork from the minds of the artist.He talks about 'inventing' the figure, and about a notation of representig the figure in deep space, meaning three dimesnions.As the masters such as Vilppu would say, drawing is all about learning how to represent the form in two dimensional paper, and about knowing the form one wants to draw. We do get both in this book by Hogarth. more actually on the forms of the figure. more than half the book presents the figure, the varous parts, the torso, the limbs and the head in great detail using simple three dimensional forms. and the remainder of the book deals with how one would approach or rather go about drawing the figure.An interesting approach here is to begin with the torso, and not with the head. torso, legs, arms and then comes the head, and surprise surprise, this is such an effective way of setting up the figure in the desired gesture. Vilppu would talk about a Ball and a box in a sock to study the torso. Bridgman would also talk in detail about these two forms, Hogarth lays down explicitly the order, and importance. This approach must be tried before understanding its effectiveness.This is overall a great book for the figurative art student. I found it most effective, because every single picture in this book teaches me something that I can apply directly. The rendering of the forms make it so easy to understand them and cast to memory not only the form but its relations to the other forms in context as well as what happens when they twist and turn and go about doing whatever a figure would do.This book stays right at the top along with Kimon Nicholaides and Glenn Vilppu and Bridgman.

Hogarth was one of the first (if not the first) to draw the human form in what we now know as the exaggerated pose of comic book art. One of the most difficult tasks in achieving this, is being able to think up the pose (a pose that may not be easy to find in real life) and then successfully draw it. In conjunction with his other book "Dynamic Anatomy", Hogarth makes sure you understand not only the anatomy, but every defining subtle detail of the human figure that is normally taken for granted and not consciously identified. Moreover, he draws and describes each part in three dimensional shapes and uses metaphorical descriptions that can't be forgotten. Also, I find his instruction for the order in which to draw each of each body parts to be key. This makes the formerly daunting task of creating a pose in your head so much easier, you'll be amazed.The only thing I wish there was more of in many of his books is reference of the female figure, but there's still enough there to get the job done, and enough references in other publications that can help.Just be sure to learn the fundamentals in "Dynamic Anatomy". Some of it is touched on in this book, but it helps to get full details from the other.

This is a great reference book for any artist interested in improving their study of anatomy. I have wanted it for years and I find it to be a great addition to my art library.

Rather than add to the dozens of wonderful and true things that have already been said about this book, I would just like to add one bit of caution. Though I believe this is probably the best book you will find on drawing difficult foreshortened positions (as this was/is my biggest challenge and this book has been a tremendous help) the artist in this book somehow misses something very basic in drawing the body.There is a way the body naturally tilts when more weight is put on one leg than the other. Unless I am deeply mistaken, the artist in this book fails to account for the tilt that occurs between the hips and shoulders in response to this weight shift. IE if all your weight is on your right leg, that side of the hip will almost always be higher and the shoulder is normally lower on that same side as the gap between the bottom of the rib cage and the top of the hip closes. As far as I know -- unless I am completely blind --, not a single picture in this book accounts for this. And when it does it is because the body is in an action that requires it. Not to take ANYTHING from this book or this artist, but this seems so bizzare to me that I feel like I must be mistaken here. Every other art book I have accounts for and mentions this, and if you look at any of the 'old masters' drawings you will notice that this sort of position was used quite often in depicting the standing figure. Infact just google the statue of david and you will see what im talking about. Whatever you think of that, this book is still the best book on the issue.