Bridgman's Life Drawing (Dover Anatomy for Artists) [Paperback]

George B. Bridgman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Anatomy for Artists | Publication Date: June 1, 1971

The revered instructor of the Art Students League of New York explains in nontechnical terms how to discover the vitalizing forces in the human form and realize them in drawing. Topics include movement, light and shade, proportion, and movable masses. Nearly 500 illustrations cover every principle and point of instruction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (June 1, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486227103
• ISBN-13: 978-0486227108
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Arts & Photography > Art > Instruction & Reference > Figure Drawing
  • #19 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Arts & Photography > Art > Instruction & Reference > General
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Arts & Photography > Art > Instruction & Reference > Drawing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like a 'Mini-Version' of his Complete Guide, March 18, 2006

By 

"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bridgman's Life Drawing (Dover Anatomy for Artists) (Paperback)

More than a few people think this is Bridgman's best *individual* work, besides his later collected & largely comprehensive Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life, which actually *includes* most of these contents within.

While I'm not really certain I agree with that, Marvel's legendary John Buscema seems to think highly of it(!). Co-author of How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way with Stan Lee, Buscema lists 2 Bridgman books in its bibliography: Bridgman's Life Drawing, and then that aforementioned collected Complete Guide. My guess is that some people will feel overwhelmed by the Complete Guide, so it's definitely a good idea to steer people towards one of Bridgman's smaller, easier to understand books. Buscema knew what he was talking about! I fully agree with him on that sentiment. Having collected all of Bridgman's books though, I personally find this among the least helpful(!). Sharing a similar contents structure to the Complete Guide, Bridgman's Life Drawing is his 1st & only book to deal with overall full-figure construction and proportions, on top of the individual parts analysis that many figure drawing books seem to prefer. The first 94 of 169 pages deals with simplified, classical looking full-figures in action. While many people love Bridgman's simplified figures here, I think most will likely find them to be of limited use by today's standards. Beautiful to look at maybe, but better, more detailed books are available. Beginners especially will be put off by the lack of clarity & detail here. The individual parts analysis however, beginning on page 95, can *really* be pretty helpful.

Mainly intended as a brief overall study of the figure, it's great for a quick & easy breakdown of Life Drawing in general. People looking for more *in-depth* figure drawing skills however may want to check out some of Bridgman's other, better drawn, and still more detailed works. The Book of a Hundred Hands, Constructive Anatomy, and Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life are *currently* my 3 favorites.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Drawing book ever written for ilife drawing!, October 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bridgman's Life Drawing (Hardcover)

Bridgeman teaches everything that a figure drawing artist needs to know in a clear, concise, logical, inside out progression. He teaches the mechanical workings of the limbs in relation to their counterparts and even details the tendons and striations as never before. He avoids teaching a particular style by focusing on the anatomical correctness of the figure and not the way to draw. I learned more from this book than from any other book. Period.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The QUALITY is here, but the QUANTITY of illustrations is missing., December 13, 2006

By 

Bruce Bain "Romans 9:33/Remember Jackie Robinson" (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bridgman's Life Drawing (Hardcover)

"Bridgman's Life Drawing"--by George B. Bridgman

Beginning books on figure drawing are published every year, almost as though there was, by some insane principle, a national shortage of art instruction. Many of these books have fantastical claims by reviewers, like: "MUST BUY"...or ...."GREATEST BOOK EVER"....and similar remarks, many of which are supported by ....maybe two sentences to justify the glowing comments. Some readers will give a book glowing reviews because they have bought the book, without a comparison to other works on the same subject. I've always found it better to study the longer reviews carefully to see if there's something worthwhile to know about the book.

There are some books published nearly 50 years ago that are better than any published since. Bridgeman's book I one that was once one of the best in the CLASSICAL TRADITION.

Bridgman's book is available as a reprint of an original 1924 edition, so it needs to be noted that the book is "dated". It is a good book, by 1924 standards, and it is not expensive in it's paperback editions, so if you can afford it, buy it anyway.

It is important to compare the illustrations inside with some of the books offered today. Thus we may observe that newer books are not always better, and in fact, today the student must fight through an insane abundance of mediocre drawing books. That is why considering Bridgeman is a good idea.

There many good "human puppet" illustrations in the CLASSICAL TRADITION of block figures and so on, and his illustrations are instructive; but I've looked at older books, and generally, 75 years ago, the publishers were selfish when it came to putting lots of illustrations in the books. Whatever the reason, Bridgeman's book does not contain the abundance of illustrations that one can find in some other drawing books.

I'm happy to own my Bridgman, and it's a good asset if you've not looked at drawing books published before the computer era.