Customer Reviews

Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I cut my teeth on drawing people with Burne Hogarth. He has analyzed the human figure in a brilliant manner. Despite this, I would recommend "Dynamic Figure Drawing" over this book. For starters, the first sixty pages are devoted to art history. Nothing wrong with this, but for people that want to get started on drawing the human figure, it's not necessary. Second, "Dynamic Figure Drawing" is more accessible for beginners. The forms of the body are broken down so the reader can see the shapes. I would buy this book after spending alot of time with "Dynamic Figure Drawing". There is relevant information in this book, but it's not for beginners.

The inimitable Burne Hogarth breaks down, with startling simplicity, the secrets and tricks behind inventing YOUR OWN dynamic action poses! Once you've mastered his techniques, you REALLY WON'T ever need reference again!

As an artist (15 years illustrating), I can whole-heartedly reccomend this book to any other artists (especially aspiring comic and sequential artists), struggling with the difficulties of posing the human figure in deep perspective (and making it look right).

While I'm not a big fan of Hogarth's style (all the drawings... hundreds of them... are rendered in his style), I was nonetheless SO blown away by the techniques he revealed that I went and bought ALL the other Hogarth books.

For the experienced artist... the benefit is this: Burne Hogarth doesn't try and teach you how to draw like HIM. He shows you how to use what he knows, to better serve your OWN art. And his tricks are time tested! Well worth the investment.

The original version, 1990 printing, is really one of my all-time favorite figure books. Yet in 2003, the new, revised & expanded version changed my 5-Star rating...

To make this simple: there are basically 2 versions of this book.

1. The original version, '90 printing, is ISBN 0823015513, 232 pages, and is predominantly black & white, with a few bronze & white drawings for a little splash of color. The original version is *brilliant*- and is widely considered a classic.

2. The new '03 revised & expanded version is ISBN 0823015521, 256 pages, and is for the very first time in full color. It's visually a completely random mix of black & white, red-orange, bronze, grey, and sometimes blue-lined work.

The original has copyright dates of 1958- 1990 (1st paperback). The revised & expanded version is copyright 2003- and is available today. Currently, both versions share the same reviews listing, hence my mixed 3-Stars.

Since there are 2 distinct versions, I'll be giving 2 distinct reviews.

1. '5 STARS'- Original Version, 1990 printing: It really is great(!)- EVERY muscle of the figure is shown in brilliant, 3-dimensional perspective.

How brilliant is this? To many, it's simply an introduction to Dynamic Figure Drawing, which is often considered Burne Hogarth's best book. But Dynamic Anatomy is much more than that. It's his very 1st book-1958, and it's the basis of *everything* he's ever taught in the Dynamic Drawing series. All 5 of his other books spring from this. Essential bits & pieces of those books are actually included & originated from here!

As much as I love Dynamic Figure Drawing, Dynamic Anatomy *does* do a few things better. The figures in Dynamic Anatomy tend to be a little more sharply delineated, clear, high-contrast, and detailed. With an 8-3/4 heads standard, proportions are also very clearly detailed- in Dynamic Figure Drawing the emphasis isn't as sharp in this area. Dynamic Anatomy features fantastic close-up views of the figure's main parts- Dynamic Figure Drawing concentrates mainly on the interconnection of parts, as well as with brilliant, full-figure construction from memory. Both books get my *highest* recommendation!

And Dynamic Anatomy really is a classic. Even Marvel's *great* John Buscema recommends it- check out his bibliography in How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. It's important to note that he never saw the 2003 update of this book, so his recommendation is referring to the brilliant *original* version only. He also recommends a few George Bridgman books to go along with this- definitely a great idea!

2. '1 STAR'- 2003- Revised & Expanded Version: An interesting but absolute *mess*! What in the world were they thinking?!?

Goodness gracious alive, I can't stand this book now. As mentioned above, this book is a complete & total random mess of color. We get black & white, red-orange, bronze, grey, and sometimes blue-lined work- an especially hideous example of 'revision & expansion'. Nobody in this WORLD can convince me that Burne Hogarth would've wanted it to be seen like this.

Consider this- Burne Hogarth created Dynamic Anatomy in 1958- he passed away in 1996. He had about 38 years to make whatever changes he wanted, and guess how many changes he ended up making in all this time? Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Absolutely NONE. Apparently he was happy with it exactly as it was. Yet not even 10 YEARS after he passes away, the Hogarth family decides to change it. Even with the *best* of intentions- this is morally & ethically wrong. Even the BEST intentions here can't make this 'wrong' a 'right'.

Do we 'honor' artists by changing their work? Do we 'honor' Michelangelo, Raphael & da Vinci by 'revising & expanding' what they did? No! We preserve it- maybe restore it- but we never... EVER... change what they did. But we have good intentions right? Let's break apart Michelangelo's sculpture of David, and then reassemble it with a few new parts, gluing it all together with a bright orange, neon epoxy! Not a good idea you say? Well it just happened to Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy! And it's truly made a mess of a brilliant work of art.

burne hogarth was not only a good draughtsman but also one of the most insightful with regard to the history and science of drawing. to appreciate this book one has to have an open mind(which for an artist is the only way to be)then you would see that he has learned human anatomy quite thouroughly then altered it to suit his line of work (drawing tarzan and the likes) and simultaneously he has also used this derivation of his to teach drawing to his students.this is not a realistic anatomy book which gives you a documentary reference for the human figure, but its a book which simplifies realistic anatomy for amatuers so that they get over their fear of anatomy drawing and later study anatomy just as the author did and make his or her own style.he has stylised and simplified all muscles and altered or even merged some.one of the attractions of this book is the section called the nine principles of foreshortening. this book as with hogarths other books are products of a lifetime of drawing comics and teaching,the author makes it very clear that the figures in the book are his ideal (which neednt be yours)he strongly recommends you to do your own research and not use this book as an encyclopaedia.i have heard a lot of criticism of hogarths style,that it is too strong and will influence other artists to become mere carbon copies,to refute this i must tell you that michelangelo copied and studied works of massacio, ghirlandiao,donatello,but ended up better than any of them.drawing is highly dependent on master pupil tradition, in this age where there are no great masters living in our neighbourhood(unlike michelangelo) we have to look up to the books by people like hogarth . as a teacher hogarth ranks as one of the best along with robert beverly hale,george bridgman and paul richer.

Being an aspiring comic book artist, I found Burne Hogarth's reference to be invaluable in the field of figure drawing.

Like most anatomy books, Dynamic Anatomy illustrates the relevant muscle groups in Hogarth's inimitable style. Unlike some anatomy books, however, this doesn't have skeletal references which most art schools would instruct as the basis of figure drawing.

Moreso, he provides some tips to effectively draw each major part of the anatomy, plus the discussion about foreshortening towards the end of the book is worth as much as the majority of the content.

Still, for what its worth, I found the book pretty well done and would recommend it to folks who do figure drawing (especially in the illustration of characters with superhuman physiques).

Though Mr. Hogarth died only a few years ago, his magnificent legend lives on in his books. For many a day I despaired that I would never find a good anatomy book to help my comic book aspirations along, and finally I found it. Though His instruction often takes the form of difficult, intricately drawn models created almost mathematically (and this difficulty garners the 4-Star rating), the overall glimpses of the human form (especially the arms, legs, chest and back) and the anatomical detail make this book a true must-have for any aspiring artist in any field.

This is a very good reference book for learning to draw the human figure in action. I am a commercial artist and designer, but have worked for many years on non-figurative projects. I am focusing on figurative work again, primarily in the game, fantasy and science fiction field. My goal is to draw entirely from imagination without having to use reference material, and this book by Burne Hogarth and his Drawing Dynamic Hands are helping me to reach this goal. The illustrations are very well done with good explanation and many drawings showing the figure in action. The muscles are heroic in proportion, which helps in identifying them. As an artist, you can choose to emphasize them or not... but knowing the structure is very important. I have had many life drawing sessions and have always been taught to "draw what you see", but over the years I have come to the conclusion that "drawing what you know" is equally important, both for time efficiency and quality of the finished illustration or painting. I highly recommend this book for any artist that is serious about drawing the human figure in action.

This book is not for beginners, however it should be in every beginner's library - as something to aspire to.
It can be a little overwhelming at first, but the lessons and tools that Hogarth provides are so brilliant and ingenious, it's practically like a roadmap to drawing accurately proportioned figures.

And to the detractors who say that Hogarth is instructing them to draw grotesque, hyper-muscled bodies -- that is most certainly not the case. He explicitly details the layout of the human figure in order to show how an artist constructs a figure. By understanding how and where the muscles go together, he shows how to draw the human figure in near perfect proportion without the aid of a model.

In this book the musculature is exaggerated only for the purpose of clarity and instruction, but Hogarth doesn't demand that the reader draw this way. It's merely a tool for understanding.

** Update 2yrs later: I had previously given this 5-Stars. But after spending much more time with the book -- I must change that to 4-stars, with an explanation:
While the book does have numerous, amazing gems, you must first plod through endless pages of ridiculously overwritten passages, full of unhelpful (for most people) medical jargon.
It's still a valuable tool, for an experienced artist, but I believe it would only hinder and frustrate most beginners. (Unless they happened to also be in Medical School.)

You can find nearly all of the best tips in Hogarth's more accessible 'Dynamic Figure Drawing,' which I would recommend instead.

This book is great, has a lot of drawings where one could learn the anatomy of the human body. Many say that Hogarth style is`nt the best for artistic anatomy but i think the way he exagerate the muscles is perfect for memorate their shape and proportion and placement. And thats not all, the paper quality is awsome shiny and smooth and the book includes 150 color pages where Hogarth uses colored pencils for different muscles/bones. So get it now if you want to learn how to draw human figures, characters, comic art and more

Dynamic Anatomy is an excellent book. It teaches all about human anantomy. I escpecially reccomend it if you have some trouble with hands. The book containes lots of detailed drawing primarily for the male figure. Though sometimes the angles of of his figures are a bit weird(sometimes you just can't see were all the muscles are)it still gives you a great visuall concept. I also highly recommend Dynamic Figure Drawing another one of his books.