Customer Reviews

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life: Over 1,000 Illustrations

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You MUST have an in-depth knowledge of the human anatomy (particularly the bones and muscles) before you buy this book. I bought this book on the account of the previous reviewers who I assume (just now, unfortunately) are professionals or fine-arts students. Most of the analysis refers to scientific names of bones and muscles. I understand this is a good thing BUT most of the time, there are either (1) no visual references to these bones and muscles on the page where the analysis is made (i.e. sometimes you have to move forward a few pages to determine what is being discussed) or worst, (2) there are no visual references at all. I don't blame the author considering this book is a compilation of his individual works which may have been complete unto themselves. I blame the publisher for not taking the time and effort to add value to the book by labeling the visuals themselves (perhaps by asking Mr. Bridgman's former students to do it for them) and for making sure the pages are in the correct order. I get the feeling this book was hurried out of the press.

I have downloaded Mr. Loomis book "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" and if you're a beginner like me, it's a better deal (heck, it's free) because the text are clearer and the visuals cleaner. Please consider my rating a beginner's gauge rather than a professional's or a fine-arts student's.

I'll just probably use this book as a visual reference rather than a self-study guide...

In my opinion, perhaps it is best to review this book in two aspects: a) what & how they are covered in the book and b) how I use this book.

WHAT & HOW THEY ARE COVERED IN THIS BOOK: This book covers every part of a human body and how to draw them. These include proportions, balance, light & shade, head, torso, arm, hand, pelvis, leg, foot, and drapery. Not only does each section show how to draw these human organs, their anatomical aspects are also discussed in sufficient detail. Illustrations are drawings by the author, going from simplified to realistic expressions of the organs. Movement, gesture, and balance are the most useful and interesting aspects discussed for each organ as well as for the whole body. These aspects are usually not as clearly covered in other anatomy books as in this one. This is a special strength of this book compared to others.

HOW I USE THIS BOOK: Although the approach I use to do life figure drawing is more like that described in "The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing : A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition" by Anthony Ryder (also read my review on this book), this book is valuable to me for the following reasons:

- Certain poses that are impossible to set sufficiently long for a detailed rendition, either due to their complexity or time restraint, that a live model cannot maintain. In this case, quick sketches or incomplete drawings are done from a live model; the rest will be done based on an understanding of human anatomy. This is when this book becomes a big help.

- Even when drawing from a life model, certain features are not clearly visible or existent in the same model. For instance, a beautiful face does not always come with an ideal body proportion. Obviously, in the final painting using a model, it is sometimes the artist's job to figure out what to use from the model and what to implement from an understanding of human anatomy. In my opinion, it is dangerous to "invent" what you don't see in your painting, since they will appear unnatural. However, to diminish this risk, a good understanding of human anatomy is a powerful tool to the artist for this task. This book is a good and reliable companion for me to tackle this difficult task when it comes to anatomy.

To keep it short, I'd like to say that, "I don't read this book. I STUDY IT."

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

Mainly for intermediate-level artists- I *might* have to pick this as my #1 Bridgman book. It has a little bit of *everything* depicting figure construction from memory. It's also great for general improvement; a few tips & tricks- an indispensable reference for all working artists.

And Bridgman appeals to a very wide-ranging audience: fine & commercial artists; illustrators; comicbook pencilers; animators; video-game designers; fashion artists; sculptors; computer graphics designers; students; intermediate-artists; experts; and professionals. This Complete Guide represents the best of 6 out of his 7 individual books. Drawing the Female Form is the book that gets left out. Designed by editor Howard Simon in 1952; Bridgman passed away in 1943, so it's not Bridgman's fault if anyone has issues with the layout(!).
Here's a quick breakdown of his 6 individual books, from my very favorite to least...
1. Book of a Hundred Hands- His *best* representation of hands; if hands are your main interest, skip all else & buy 100 hands.
2. Constructive Anatomy- His best individual work on detailed figure construction- especially with his cube-based construction of the head.
3. Bridgman's Life Drawing- Like a mini Complete Guide. Treats the figure in its parts as well as with basic, full-figure movement.
4. Heads, Features and Faces- Great for beginners; it isn't in-depth, and it isn't nearly overwhelming like this Complete Guide.
5. Human Machine- Genius in concept- drawings exceedingly sketchy. These are the sketchiest drawings in this Complete Guide.
6. Drawing the Draped Figure- *Very* basic. Everything you need from this exceedingly thin book is included in this Complete Guide.

In short: The basic point of Bridgman's Complete Guide is to help people to draw figures more convincingly, and even from memory. To a great degree, at least in my opinion, this book still succeeds in a very effective way...

P.S. This book is definitely *not* for beginners! Only *Intermediate-level* artists need apply.

I was very put off by this book initially for reasons that I see in some of the other reviews: very rough drawings, and somewhat inconsistent labeling. However, with my professor's repeated encouragement, I stuck with this book, and I'm glad I did. It outlines a method of machine-like construction that I have found invaluable for illustration, life drawing, and animation.

The idea of breaking down the human figure into simple forms for construction is not new - most good figure books I've come across outline methods of doing this. (One of the other reviews suggests Andrew Loomis, for example, which everyone should definitely check out.) What makes this book unique, though, is that it takes the principle a deeper extreme - you learn how to construct not only the basic masses (rib cage, legs, head, etc) but the individual bone and muscle groups that they are made out of. Solid drawing taken to a new level.

The loose, simplified style of the illustrations is necessary, I think - they capture the bare essense without any distracting detail. They also demonstrate how dynamic a drawing becomes when it is not overworked. On the other hand, they can be hard to "read" if you have no idea what you're looking at, so I think a companion book is necessary as a counterpoint for beginners like myself. My recommendation would be Dr. Paul Richer's "Artistic Anatomy," whose diagrams are the exact opposite of Bridgman's - exhaustive in detail and clarity. Usually, I have the two books open side by side - Bridgman for construction, Richer for clarification. Andrew Loomis is another must - very clear, very accessible. His system of construction is simpler, but as a result it is great for gesture drawing.

Bottom line, this book can be challenging in places, but it is well worth it to puzzle through them.

I would rate this ten stars if I could. Speaking as someone who has gone to some school and trying to complete my portfolio through books and tutorials, this book is absolutely indispensable. Its a little hard to understand as navarro states earlier. But once you actually work through an exercise, any exercise, his method clicks very quickly and easily. I am amazed by the amount I learn and skill I gain with every page of this book. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in any area of art.

I own several drawing books including: Drawing A Contemporary Approach (Betti / Sale), Figure Drawing (Goldstein), The Craft of Drawing (Wood), Gray's Anatomy, Drawing on The Right Side of The Brain (Edwards). BRIDGMAN'S is bar the best purchase, and possibly the only drawing book you need to teach yourself to draw. Let me preface that by saying, Betty Edwards book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain I also give five stars, primarially as a fantastic tool for teaching drawing, and for those beginners who are not right-brain dominant but want to draw.

Open to almost any page in Bridgman's and you'll see several illustrations to begin working from if you choose. Or, read from the beginning the simple text that helps break down the figure, and the figure's components, into shapes and go from there. This book is brimming with accurate and easy to read text and anatomical poses to learn from.

I guarantee you, if you draw as you see in the Bridgman's book, or if you even copy every drawing in the Bridgman's book, you will draw the figure, and everything else, like a professional. This book should be on every teacher and professor's course syllabus for all drawing levels. Great tips, great tools, great reminders. Enjoy drawing!

I have been drawing for going on 50 years; Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life is one of those books that was always around when I was growing up and learning to draw. I turned to this work (and many others) for reference often when I was young. Recently I purchased a new copy of this book from Amazon.com just to have in my collection of drawing resource material (and, I suppose, for a bit of nostalgia). The reproductions of Bridgman's demonstrative drawings in these newer editions are surprisingly poor I think, sometimes washed out and faded, all too often very muddled or blotchy... the same effect one would see if you used a low quality copy machine to make a copy of a copy of a copy of a pencil sketch... the publishers are obviously keeping in print a long established favorite that they know will sell and are not overly concerned with putting out a quality product. So, look for a vintage edition if you must have this book... I could not see using these current editions as a quality learning or teaching tool.
From a more subjective point of view, Bridgman has never quite impressed me for learning life/figure drawing... personally I just never quite warmed up to his style. The text is appropraite to the illustrations in terms of the mechanics of the body and naming the parts that do the work, but there is little to nothing by way of drawing theory/technique, elements of what makes a successful drawing work... Bridgeman rightfully focuses in breaking down the human body as simplified shapes... although in Bridgman's drawings simplified shapes appear rather grotesque distortions. On pages 212/213 where he describes how to draw an armpit... well, I'm looking at it right now and... well... frankly it's a mess. If you want to learn to draw the various parts of the human form as architectural moulding, block and tackle, wedges and fulcrum, etc., this is the book for you. If you want to learn how to make a realistic anatomically correct figure drawing jump off the page through line quality, contour, compostion, perspective, light and shadow, subtlety, etc., seek elsewhere.
The extremely brief breakdown of facial expression is sad (pun intended).
There is a nice section on 'draping', how cloth folds, hangs, bunches and masses, but the reproduced images are poor to the point of being near useless in these editions.
The question of learning/knowing human anatomy so that one may render it believably in a artistic sense is best covered, I believe, elsewhere. But depending on your artistic goals, level of experience, interest and commitment, this might be a good book for you; just make sure you get an edition where you can actually make out what the good Mr. Bridgman is trying to show you.

This book is excellent for those artists who need practice drawing the human figure because the book has so many progressive pictures to look at and utilize. The section for "hands" is very good showing the artist, by example, how to go about starting each finger and on to the thumb and how to attach them to the hand. Each of the sections on the figure is self contained with several sketches with varying views (top, side,etc.) I have a hard time with specific components of the figure and this book has made everything very clear and helpful.

This is a book anyone who is serious about drawing should not have in their library. It's a great resource to learn about anatomy for artist. Very comprehensive in scope to make one's drawing aesthetically beautiful. The book isn't just about life drawing, it's strong in drawing foundations which every artist should have.This book will also save you lots of time collecting books on life drawing because it covers the major areas of figure drawing. This is a book that comprise from all 6 of bridgeman's books. his other books are great for portability but i recommend this one so you don't have so many books laying around.

I'd like to change my rating of this book to 4 or 5 stars. I finally figured out what the point of this book is after I started making some serious efforts to construct figures out of my head. The book has figures and body parts simplified into blocky shapes in order to make it easier to understand and draw their shapes when you are drawing figures from imagination. That's the point of the book. I don't think you'd need this book if you're just drawing from live models, though. This book is really for illustrators, such as comic book artists. This simplified visualization method makes it easier to construct figures out of your head (i.e. not looking at a model) and get the various body parts posed in the proper directions, angles, perspective, etc. Then after you have the basic figure down, you can refine it and make it more realistic, smooth, and curvy. If you try to construct a figure by starting with realistic, curvy shapes, it'll be much more confusing and difficult. The blocky shapes help you to get the basic sizes, shapes, perspective, and alignments down first. So if you want to construct figures from imagination and have a better three dimensional understanding of the anatomy in different poses, this is one of the books you should get.