Customer Reviews

Bridgman's Life Drawing

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4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
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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.

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.

"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.

George Bridgman is a fantastic figure artist and teaches life and figure drawing from the ground up. His drawings are beautiful, as he teaches the student several ways of imagining each piece of the human form.

Any artist should get this book, study it, and copy every drawing, regardless of his skill level.

This is a very good book for someone that is learning life drawing, it gives very good suggestions on proportions and how to measure the figure. It's illustrations are not the best but it is very informative.

This is an OUTSTANDING BOOK on drawing the human body. Whether you are a cartoonist, serious painter or sculpter, this is a "must have" reference. Buy it, borrow it, steal it if you must, but GET IT!

This was the second drawing book I'd ever bought, after Buscema's "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" -- which is where I first stumbled across Bridgeman's name. Buscema's book, which is fine for beginners, did well to point toward Bridgeman, for further study.

Bridgeman's books are a wealth of information on classical drawing, giving the student an understanding of the mechanics of the figure, necessary whether drawing from life, or imagination. Artists of all sorts can apply the principles Bridgeman teaches. Bridgeman doesn't show us pretty drawings, but instead, the underlying anatomy and basic shapes that give a good drawing it's substance and weight.

I bought this book back when I was in junior high school and now am considerably older and a published artist. I still find this and other Bridgeman books continuously rewarding of further study.

The only drawing books I would rate nearly as high, are those of Andrew Loomis, though personally, I think Bridgeman is better on structure, while Loomis' books cover more of the practicalities of illustration and focus more on surface drawing (though both teacher/authors are miles above others in showing the strong fundamentals of drawing) -- unfortunately very little of Loomis' teachings remain in print -- probably due to some misguided notion that they're "dated". Bridgeman escapes this by adhering to the classical and timeless.

Buy the book, already.

I require this book for the character animation course I teach. The emphasis on realistic drawing and proportions with the anatomical structure information make this a very good book but it is beginning to show its age (photos). A revision of this text would be warmly received.

When i looked at this book, i thought it was cool and it could teach me a lots of things. But when i received it, i notice its kinda for advanced students. I'm a beginner and trying to study the anatomy of the body. I'm not sure if its good or bad, but if you are a advanced student you should know it. I'm still keeping it.

When I was trying to learn how to draw when I was in high school, this was the book to finally explain muscles and human structure to me in a way that I could easily draw from memory.

I am an amateur artist, and I don't draw very often. So when I do get bitten by the creative bug, I find my skills have dramatically declined. I use this book the most to get my brain back into the technical aspects quickly. He has a lot of different ways to think of the human form, plane (my favorite), mechanical equivalent, muscular, and skeletal, all of which quickly get me back to where I was years ago.

However, the number of examples is lacking, so I would recommend having a few other sources around.

I have other anatomy books, and I never use them, sometimes I try, thinking that I better get my money's worth out of them, and inevitably I go back to Bridgman's work because it concisely tells the artist all the essentials, so that we can quit studying and start creating.