Customer Reviews

Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very detailed book and a must have for those that need to know more about animal anatomy. This book does layout the skeletal and muscular design of the used animals very well. One thing that it does not give you is a detailed description of exactly how the joints move or muscles work. But overall a must have if you are doing an animal study for sculpture or 3-d modeling.

Artists who plan on focusing on animals had better pick up a copy of Animal Anatomy For Artists: The Elements Of Form: a virtual 'Bible' of animal anatomy, is features over five hundred original drawings and over seventy photos which painters, sculptors, and illustrators can use to understand the underlying anatomy of a range of common and wild animals. Forms created by muscles and bones provide artists with a three-dimensional figure of the final surface of the animal, while Goldfinger provides discussions of how each piece of animal anatomy interacts with another.

Artists who plan on focusing on animals had better pick up a copy of Animal Anatomy For Artists: The Elements Of Form: a virtual 'Bible' of animal anatomy, is features over five hundred original drawings and over seventy photos which painters, sculptors, and illustrators can use to understand the underlying anatomy of a range of common and wild animals. Forms created by muscles and bones provide artists with a three-dimensional figure of the final surface of the animal, while Goldfinger provides discussions of how each piece of animal anatomy interacts with another.

I started using this book for my animal drawing students I teach at a university in southern California I've been at for more than 10 years. I used it to replace "Animal Anatomy for Artists" book by Ellenberger, Dittrich, and Baum (Dover Publications). The reason is that THIS book has more variety of animals with up-to-date terminologies which is more user friendly for the artists, a larger variety of animal bone and muscle references and illustrations (Including rhino, hippo, giraffe, elephants, etc.) which the other book has only a few.

This book also shows a breakdown muscle by muscle attachment points and also some photographs of the animals being examined.

The only weak spot is that in some of the diagram illustrations of biomechanic range of motion on some of the animals (particularly the horse) the range of motion is extremely exaggerated and unrealistic. Having been a horse trainer for years and knowing these animals exremely well, there are some ROM drawings that are not accurate at all. Other than that, if you don't look at those particular bone illustrations for that reference, the book is pretty good.

I am using this book both for slides, homework, and in class studies.

I got Goldfinger's human anatomy book, but in comparison, this is even better. Great multitude of drawings and diagrams of different species of animals, from bones to muscle to final skin with great angles. Highly recommend it.

And many of the reviews here were very helpful.

The book has excellent reference drawings of skeletal and muscular systems of several quadriped animals like a dog, horse, lion, pig and several more. It also includes other kinds of animals like a rabbit, squirrel and a chicken. It even has explanatory diagrams showing where the basic muscles originate and inserts. It's a great book for artists who need references for animals

A great book for sculptors and artists. Don't live near a zoo? Don't have a dog or cat to use as a reference, this book will help you see the muscles and articulation of bones in a variety of animals both domestic and wild

The many images and anatomy visuals in this book are extremely helpful for anyone wishing to better understand the animals and how they move.

Various skeletal and muscular details will help artists in better understanding their subject so they can more accurately draw them.

Even if you aren't an artist, the very detailed descriptions of the various bones and muscles are a wealth of information for anyone desiring or needing to know this information.

A superb book! The only qualm I have is that I ordered the book new and I found various smudges (looked like fingerprints) on various pages of the book. That is a separate issue, however, from the book review itself.

This book is really helpful to me. I had to get it for my animal anatomy class and its been such a huge help in looking for bone and muscle structures of animals.

Excellent reference book. 5 stars from the first to last page.