Customer Reviews

Modeling the Figure in Clay, 30th Anniversary Edition: A Sculptor's Guide to Anatomy (Practical Craft Books)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow, what a book. I have been searching for the right book to help me build a human body that looked believable in sculpture and this is the one. Lucchesi creates the form by first creating an armature, then building a skeleton onto it (ribcage, pelvic girdle, etc.), then adding the muscles, then adding the skin. A must for anyone who would love to sculpt anatomy like Rodin and Michelangelo. Lucchesi's head book is just as good.

If this book was actually what I had been looking for, I would have given it 5 stars. However, it wasn't exactly what I had thought. It is not so much a "how-to" book as it is an illustrated diary of the artist's amazing process. This particular sculptor sculpts the entire skeleton, muscular system out to the finished sculpture you see on the front of the book. It's amazing but a little more detailed than I believe a beginner such as myself needs - I was a little daunted by the entire process but also quite in awe. The photographs are tremendous. This book would probably be better suited to students in advanced sculpture.

This book, along with the other titles in the series: "Modeling the Head in Clay" and "Terracotta," is an excellent resource for beginning sculptors. In fact, if I could buy only one book on sculpting, it would be one of these three (and most probably this one). The book is a walk-though of a single sculpture, which is instructive, but it is also a great reference. Mr. Lucchesi's style is realistic with natural poses, and quite pleasing -- it exudes peace and repose. Ms. Malmstrom has a gift for photographing and describing exactly those parts of the process most interesting to students. The medium is clay, and I'm working in wax, but I have not found this to be a problem. Be advised that it concentrates on the female figure, so an additional anatomy book may be helpful for proportioning male figures.

If you are a representational figurative sculptor, and want to learn how to build the human body from the inside out, you cannot have a clearer how-to with pictures treasure book. 360 degree and close-up views are included with each step.

Step by step, the master shows how to build the figure starting with the skeleton, and laying on each muscle, then fatty tissue and skin layer. Serious artists will benefit by getting a medical poseable skeleton, along with the 19th century classic "Artistic Anatomy" by Dr Paul Richer.

Study hard, and do the exercise like you were in class with the teacher. There are no shortcuts, however,the dedicated few will advance exponentially, but only by having the patience and discipline to follow through. It pays to know more rather than less.

I actually didn't think this was really a book about the artist's method, despite what he might say - I think he was trying to show that to accurately portray the OUTSIDE of the human body, or ANY living thing, we've got to know what's going on INSIDE, and this was his way of learning the human body from the inside out. I'm more inclined to think that he uses fills like many of us do, because if he tries to fire that sucker, it's going to blow up in the kiln. If he's going to do a mold, he's got the undercut issue to deal with. What he probably does with THESE clay sculptures is what artists do so often that the rest of the world can't imagine - he puts it back in the slip bucket and recycles it!

This book is more helpful than Lucchesi's other guides. There is a lot of practicle info here which will help you get familiar with figure sculpting. I would say that this book as actually about as helpful as taking a beginning figure sculpture class, and the techniques are very solid. I am actually a pretty tough critic, and a 4 star review for an art instruction book coming from me is pretty rare (check out my other reviews for art books if you don't believe me).

both this and 'Modeling the Head in Clay' are the best books I've seen on the subject.

Highly recommended

So appreciate that Bruno took the time to produce this book so that those of us who arent able to attend his workshops, have the opportunity to learn.A master of anatonomy who presents the process in pictorial stages we can clearly follow.A must have figure form book.

I recently became interested in sculpture and this book caught my attention thinking it would teach me the basics. My uncle happened to have this book in his stash so I borrowed it. This book has about four pages of reading material, it doesn't really say much about the tools or materials needed for sculpting, it just shows you a few that the sculptor uses. The book is full of pictures where you can see the progress from start to finish of the sculpture depicted on its cover, however it doesn't demonstrate how or which tools were used to achieve such finish. It is obvious that the sculptor is very talented and has a solid knowledge of anatomy which is the only thing I liked about the book because you can see what can be accomplished with this medium.

Very good book,for students like myself a helpfull guide towards the long way to perfection, aMust Have for amateur and pro sculptors!!

Greetngs Matton Pierre from far away Belgium!