Customer Reviews

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth

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

 

 

I wish there were 10 stars.

Having stood the test of time, it was first published in the 30's, this book teaches you all that is there to figure drawing.

Andrew Loomis is one of those rare, gifted artists who can articulate as clearly and truthfully using words as he could with lines.

Using very simple tools to define the structure of the human body, essentially the skeleton as the foundation, he teaches how fantastically easy it is to draw the human body from any angle, in any action, and of any type.

This is not one of those 'feel good' books that teaches you to do 'yet another thing'. This is a grand text. absolutely dedicated work, you can see the earnestness in Loomis' anxious words about getting across the details to the reader.

Kimon's 'Natural Way to Draw' is a classic in a different way, where he asks us to discover almost everything. Loomis gives us the crutches. I think a combination of these two approaches can be terrific. thats what I am finding out.

It has been very fullfilling , since I can pick up the artifacts of drawing the figure, and infact drawing anything for that matter, Loomis will lead you to explore and expand, the techniques are amazingly simple, yet absolutely powerful.

He reiterates to see the structure beneath anything, the skeleton, and how it aids us in construction.

Note: the book is out of print, but several online versions are scattered across the Net.

This book left me speechless. There's not enough stars in the ratings for me to express to you just how great this book is. And the strange thing is, no matter in which branch of art you work, you'll feel as though Andrew Loomis wrote this book just for you.

If you're serious about your art, be you illustrator, comic book artist, animator, fashion designer, or even a games designer, you need to have this book in your library. The text and illustration work together to take you on an odyssey of discovery, a thousand and one techniques that will make your life easier, and your art so much better.

The original was printed in 1943 and has come to be recognised as the bible of figure artists. Although it's out of print now, you can still find a number of great condition reprints. Get one! Keep it by the drawing board and you'll never again be stuck on how to draw a figure, work with horizon lines, and place figures in space so that they relate perfectly to each other and their surroundings.

Ignore the price and get one ASAP. Don't eat for a couple of weeks if needs be, but acquire a copy of this book as soon as you find one.

I'm off to read mine now. You guys don't know what you're missing!

Everybody that does or aspires to draw the human figure from imagination, not particularly from live study, should run, not walk, to get this book. A long time secret classic for people working with cartoons, concept art, character design and so forth. If you think you are covered because you got Burne Hogarth's books on the human figure, think again. Not to dis Hogarth, but this one is the real thing.

This book is more of a high intermediate to advanced level book in which Loomis shows you a somewhat elaborate construction process to building the figure primarily from life. He really misses the gesture + building form portions which are the most important, with the exception of passively mentioning in a couple sentences that its important you 'feel' it.

All the Loomis books I feel are purely mechanical in nature with the exception of Fun With a Pencil. If you really need to refine your mechanics AFTER you've acquired the natural element to drawing this text is very valuable. Examples of beginner texts include the Vilppu Drawing Manual, Nicolaides' Natural Way to Draw, and Edwards' Drawing on The Right Side of the Brain. In order to do drawing you need core elements like a scaling element, feeling/ building form element, etc. which all the above mentioned texts are best in giving.

To be clear, this isn't figure drawing so much as it is drawing the female form, emphasis on form not female. And the forms we are talking about are the totally Caucasian, oddly wide-shouldered, hip-less, perpetually high-heeled, forms from early 1950s. Which is fine, and probably very helpful for illustrators, just don't expect to see any real emphasis on drawing from observation or drawing male forms, much less actual males.