The Human Machine

It's amazing, I haven't even begun to read it, I've only copied the pictures, and I'm already doing much, much better! Obviously, I intend to read the book, since it would make my work even better. This is one of the best anatomy books I've ever looked at. Even though I haven't read it yet, it's indespible. Five stars.

After purchasing too many sub-par reference books on anatomy for artists, I highly recommend the Bridgeman books. This one stresses the hinges and joints of the body and how their bending and twisting movements affect the external shape of a figure. Nobody has studied the figure as long or as intensely as George Bridgeman and it shows in the superb illustrations, many apparantly constructed from memory. For economy of line and accurate sence of under-structure, the illustrations can't be beat. Incidently, "Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life" incorperates much of the above book, along with several others, and is a better buy. (It's also a larger format book!) I also recommend "The Human Figure: An Anatomy for Artists" by David K. Rubins.

I am a commercial artist and an illustrator in training, after coming across a lot of artistic anatomy books over the years I say honestly that this and all the George Bridgman books are the best available. A couple of reasons for this are 1) his clear and totally accurate drawings and 2) he shows us muscle groups that act together rather than just naming every single muscle and leaving it at that. Also, he uses a very visual teaching method, showing the shapes of the muscle masses that are easy to remember. I would suggest that every beginner start with Mr. Bridgman.

Even though Bridgman's anatomy books have been around for a while, I haven't seen anything better yet. This and his other books helped me tremendously. Keep in mind that these series are not a step by step instructions, they are schematics that you must study and draw at every possible angle and preferably use it as a reference for real figure drawing classes.The illustrations are somewhat badly printed and hard to make out at times but it's still very helpful especially for the price of these books.Four stars because of poor print quality.

All of the Brigdman series are excellent as is this on human anatomy. A must for any art student.