Customer Reviews

Drawing the human head

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although taking a formal course of study in human anatomy will give you greater depth in drawing the human head as far as proportion is concerned, this book does go into more depth than a course would in terms of facial features.

Burne is of the old school in the sense that he probably learned such terms as "dolichocephalic" and "brachiocephalic" in the earlier part of this century, when these labels were commonly applied to ethnic groups. But he ably avoids this obsolete view by demonstrating these head types have examples in a variety of racial and ethnic groups.

This very variety of ethnic facial examples is the greatest strength of the book. I've seen too many comic books try to portray a multi-cultural cast without knowing how!

Maybe 3-1/2 stars... A popular, intermediate-level effort- It's definitely *great* for memory drawing, and it's recommended *mainly* for this reason...

In recent decades there have been 3 main teachers in learning to draw heads from memory. For cube-based construction we have George Bridgman. For ball/sphere-based construction we have Andrew Loomis. And for oval/ellipse-based construction, we have the famous teacher of the Dynamic Drawing series- comicbook artist Burne Hogarth. Many of today's Japanese animation & comicbook instructionals are using these very same principles, along with some of the teachings by the Famous Artists School. My current interest is in oval & cube-based construction, and it's exclusively *oval-based* construction that is emphasized in this book.
For me, the *best* section in this book is the 2nd of its 6 sections- which is oval-construction simplified. It's just 21 pages out this book's 160- but it's actually worth getting if you're interested in drawing from memory. The rest of the book, in my opinion, is mainly filler- to justify an entire book on this subject. In fact, Burne Hogarth's 1st book, Dynamic Anatomy, gives us a *very* brief intro into this exact same oval-based construction, and I think many people will prefer getting Dynamic Anatomy for this reason. I highly recommend getting the 1990 printing *original* version of Dynamic Anatomy- since I'm not a fan of the new, 'revised and expanded' version available today.

Really, the *main* sections in this book that seem interesting to me are that 2nd, 5th, and maybe 6th sections. In the 5th, many different head-types are depicted and compared, including about 30 specific ethnicities- giving this book a somewhat 'international' feel. The 6th section is a 'gallery' of heads as shown in ancient sculpture, as well as more modern western art. It's interesting information overall; just not really necessary in learning to draw heads from memory. In short: For *beginners*, I highly recommend getting Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm before getting this. For everyone else, this book is *moderately* recommended, although I greatly prefer Dynamic Anatomy.
P.S. For photo-reference of different ethnicities, check out Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference For Artists; also here on Amazon!

As another reader said, I'm not particularly fond of Hogarth's style, but this is a useful book (for what it covers). Content is limited in breadth, but goes into good depth on multicultural features and aging. I would have liked to see more examples of females, though, especially aged female faces.

I picked up this book while taking a drawing class on portraiture, and I found it to be an excellent supplement to the material I was learning in class. Hogarth takes the reader through the basics of measuring facial proportions, shadow and light planes, and anatomical details that are important to keep in mind when trying to draw realistically. While some of it may seem like overkill at first, with practice it becomes clear how paying attention to such small details (such as the various areas of light and shadow on a nose, or around the eye socket) can help improve one's ability to create a convincing human head in any medium of artwork.

There are reasons to be critical of the book, however. As my art teacher pointed out, Hogarth's illustrations are extremely high contrast, emphasizing light and shadow for teaching purposes much more so than they should be in a realistic drawing. Some sections are more filler than actual useful information as well, such as the "Gallery of Great Heads"; I could have used more detail on taking the anatomical information of the earlier sections and how to apply it to portraiture and creating a specific likeness.

Overall, though, this is one of the better books I've found on the subject and I do find myself using it as a reference when needed.

I wasn't sure I liked this set of portraiture lessons at first.
But after working with the exercises, I see the obvious benefit.
Burne worked hard to present- to those of us wishing to bump our
draftsmanship up a notch with -a more exact, or realistic representation
of a human head and face. It looks strange at first-like a skull with
the beginnings of skin overlay. But I assure you if you work with these
exercises, the more subtle features of a human face become more "logical"
and aid in getting the bulges in the right place. There are bone masses
common to all faces, and muscle mass, and certain 'hollows' that need
to be learned. Also there are important sizes, and placements of facial
features, and guides to commit to memory=such as the pair of human eyes
are about one eye width apart, and so on, with many, many other examples
The drawings by Burne are done in "shadow without line". This turns out
to be an important exercise as well. I found myself applying shadow with
lightest ever touches with "Vine Charcoal"-followed by a 1/4" wide, angled Taklon
brush to smooth and spread the shadow. The face is defined by shadow a good
deal more than with "contour line". As the head shifts in angle-to the side or up, or down, or from behind-all these have important proportional relationships for
an artist to commit to memory. This, of course, is best accomplished
by actually reading the text, and practicing with the examples done
by Burne Hogarth for us. This is a VERY useful text for anyone wishing to
improve their portrait skills. For it comes down to the subtleties of the
human face that really matter. Most of us are familiar with the drawing of
an "Egg" to begin the layout of facial features...but this all by itself is
Woefully Inadequate.
This book represents a tremendous amount of work by
the author-all in a kind and generous attempt to share classical draftsmanship
secrets with us. As a footnote for anyone new to portraiture, or drawing
in general - I bought a used book from decades ago featuring a collection
of drawings by Ingres. This was encouraging, inasmuch as it seemed clear
that even Ingres, considered one of the greatest draftsman of anthropomorphic
form in Art History...struggled with "getting it right the first time...you can
see several lines adjusted so as to cause the leg to appear correct. Often along with a figure, there would be several attempts to draw the gesture of the
hand-all on the same piece of paper. I could only conclude that a more fabulous
and flawless drawing of a portrait by Ingres, could only have been accomplished
by tracing the original draft through to fresh sheet of paper. That's good, because that is what I wind up doing, once I have everything close to a natural look to the figure...I made a large light table for this purpose. That, is my secret I share. A finished sketch with no evidence of "trial and error"-which
even great artists have to struggle with before they have a drawing finished enough to : then , and then only, proceed with the painting. All too many artists
skip the painstaking, tedium of the precision drawing....and their paintings reveal this unprofessionalism, and lack of hand control. These lost skills revealed in this book help us understand why one rarely sees a human face or figure
in a gallery that looks anything other than a creature from Late Star Trek.

I absolutely love this book. I learned a lot from it in a short period of time. Most definately I would recomend it to anyone who has an idea about drawing that is interested in drawing portraits.

This book does a good job with what it covers. I am no fan of the author's comic book style but the info he gives on proportion and aging were very helpful. He could have done much better with the individual features of the face but this book was a good addition to my library

If you want to improve your understanding and skill in depicting the human figure, you must read Hogarth's books. And you must reread them and draw and read them again and draw again.

Burne Hogarth takes you through his technique of measuring human proportions. Beware, at times you will feel less like an artist and more like a mathmatician. Hogarths work is better suited to my sculpture than my drawing as he tends to show all the planes in his work as very defined surfaces. For a beginner trying to draw you can do a lot better.

I have been drawing portraits since I was a teenager and I wanted to be able to draw portraits from my own imagination convincingly. For someone like me who has already copied and sketched portraits for so long this book is a dream come true.
Hogarth gives you distinct checking points for you to check your proportions. Like for example, a straight line from your nose down will be your adam's apple or the ear is as high as the brow and as low as the nose. These are all valuable checkpoints that you can quickly measure your drawing up before delving in further to the detailing process.
Other than that, you will be able to effortlessly craft a head of various ages by memorizing the proportions or by referring to this book when you need to. Most books explain about the proportions and the makings of the anatomy without teaching you how to draw a rotated or foreshortened head. This book. however teach you to do exactly that.
If you are into character design or are looking to build on extra facial structures for your existing portraits then this is the book for you. However, if you are looking to draw better from life or photos, then you will be pleased to know that you will be able to avoid making mistakes in proportions and perspectives once you have read this book.
What you would not get from this book is the know-how to shade the head. I think that is covered in this book instead. Dynamic Light and Shade (Practical Art Books)
One note though, if you are expecting his book of dynamic anatomy to be as detailed as this then you are mistaken.