Customer Reviews

Muscles in Motion : Figure Drawing for the Comic Book Artist

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I have just finished the book of Glenn Fabry "Muscles in Motion". The cover of the book was very promising and I thus have pre-order it. I was quite disappointed when I received it. I expected this book to be a kind of step by step guide to draw muscles or at the very least, a book which could teach me a trick or two from a pro. Nada! This book contains quasi no instruction. It's even hard to explain the contents of this book.
They are hundreds of drawings made from freeze-frame images from a videotape. Pages and pages of images of bodybuilders or dancers following each others like a broken down animation. The drawings are too sketchy and small to be a book of references and Fabry doesn't explain anything. I really don't know who would be interested in buying this book but I prefer the more easier approch to figure drawing and muscles from Loomis, Jack Hamm or even Bridgman.

N.B.: I took the liberty of scanning a few pages from the book. You be the judge...

I am a professional artist, and figure drawing is a favorite subject. I have collected many 'how-to" books on figure drawing over the years, and, therefore, have seen many systems of innovative anatomical figure construction. With that said, I must say that Muscles In Motion is a disappointment.
Although there are some quite good individual drawings by the author,Glenn Fabry,the vast majority of the book is drawings from photographs of female bodybuilders in posing or exercise routines. Fabry draws well, but his approach shows little to no
insight into the constructive nature of the figure, which I see as the main reason for purchasing a 'how-to" book on this subject in the first place. Also, I find it strange that the author has used, almost exclusively, female bodybuilders as his prime models for this subject. Yes, men and women do have the same basic muscular system, with the skeletal structure accounting for the greater differences. However, in a treatise on the human muscular system in motion, I feel that using a more traditional approach with the male physique as the primary example would be more appropriate for the subject, while using to a lesser degree,female examples to show the similarities.The female form is absolutely beautiful, but using drawings of the female form in its muscular extreme to illustrate muscular motion in general, I find quite atypical for the subject matter.Had I been able to see an excerpt from this book first, I would not have been interested.

This was not what I expected. There is no instruction provided as to anatomy or musculature, just many sketches mostly from a female workout tape. The "muscles" were non-descript. Also, if you're considering this for a younger artist, several of the sketches have annotation that they were drawn from a "stripper" tape and are somewhat provocative both in content and "clever quips" as commentary by the artist; inappropriate to my way of thinking. I've returned the book to amazon.com despite having to eat the postage.

the artist is a good sketcher ... No more, this book is useless for any comics fan or artists ... for me it was a wast of money ...

Note: it's about female sketching ... some are porn poses ...

I am an aspiring comic artist. True, my style runs more along the popular manga techniques, but that doesn't mean I don't want to or cannot reproduce true to life human forms. Besides, an understanding of anatomy is important to any artist. Therefore, after looking through all the books pertaining to "anatomy" and "movement" and the like, I chose Muscles In Motion by Glenn Fabry. Dissapointment would be too nice of a word when describing this book. I don't mean to be so harsh, forgive me. Honestly, if you WANT a book filled with tiny sketches of muscle-building women and some men - buy this book. If you like reading his margin commentary and speech bubbles - go for it. If you were hoping for step-by-step or helpful hints - sorry pal. Nada. He even admits in the Foreword that his sketches were never meant for publication - and yet here they are. This book can only REALLY prove useful to those who commonly do or hope to draw "super" heros or super human forms. Bulky muscles and little clothing. I wish I would have known this sooner.
A break down? 95% sketches and 5% type. No photos no step by step.

What a big error to buy this if you are looking to learn anything about anatomy or anything about drawing period. The entire book consist of little tiny sketches he did while watching an exercise tape.

I am a practicing artist and college instructor who specializes in human anatomy and composition that involves the human figure. I own many artistic anatomy books and have surveyed most. I am saddened by the average review one encounters on Amazon.com. Always a common fault with aspiring artists: "Send me a book that will impart INSTANT and DETAILED knowledge." Needless to say: NO SUCH THING EXISTS. Do serious artists expect a mere text to transform them into capable artists overnight?? Please -- Allow a text to be an aid; not a nursemaid. Muscles In Motion was never meant to achieve either -- the author himself admits this. BUT -- for serious artists, this book is an invaluable in FIGURE INVENTION. It is of great help in AIDING one to visualize the body in various positions. As an artist who is greatly interested in COMPOSITION, I find Fabry's illustrations joyful and stimulating. IF you want a text to teach you ANATOMY 1A and show "detailed musculature" -- then ... get with the program ... and buy Franz Schilder or Bridgeman or any of a dozen books with this in mind. Give Fabry a break and save puerile comments for the truly useless. End of sermon.

This book remember to me Muybridge's plates. It's focus is mainly female figure aerobic routines, so if you want some feminine models in that kind of actions this book is for you. On the other hand, this book only contain draws and sketches, so you are not going to learn how to drawing. I recomended as reference to draw the female figure in motion.

Fabry, famous for his highly (sometimes grotesquely) detailed comic book covers, in "Muscles in Motion" has basically laid bare an interesting process for learning how to draw the human body. The problem with the book is that it has a misleading title, and I think that's where most of the criticism for it lies.

Before reading any farther, be warned: this is not a "drawing" book with traditional, step-by-step instructions. Instead, this book is, essentially, published sections of Fabry's personal sketchbooks, wherein he displays sketches of people drawn in sequential action (essentially, he watched a video - usually of a bodybuilding or fitness competition - and paused it, drew the pose, and then advanced it by one frame, drawing the pose as it has advanced, then repeats the process). What the reader gets is a feel for the subtlety of human movement. This is more of a resource of poses and methods to capture them on paper than a real, intensive "How to Draw" book.

So, be warned that this may not be exactly what you're looking for. However, for those more advanced artists looking for a resource to help add that certain believability to their drawn figures, this could be the book for you.

DONT BUY THIS BOOK. No, Im not being funny. Im trying to save you money. I bought this book used, once arrived, the condition was poor. Not sure if it was the sender, or the post office, but it looked bad. Normally Id just toss a book that looked this bad. One way trip to the recycle bin.

I thought it would be helpful, so it stayed longer. Once I flipped through the book, I found it had VERY little to actually help me. The instruction portion of the book is non existent. It seemed to me, like the book should be sold as a sketchbook for fans of Fabry's work. The drawings are great, but are all of the same female figure, fairly muscular in all kinds of dancing and athletic poses. Perspective, angles, types of poses, and gender of the model should have changed more than it did. I found the unorganized layout, and nervous scribblings of text distracting and removing EVEN MORE from the usefulness of the book.

I wont use this book for anything other than an addition to the paper recycling bin on Friday. I would donate it, but I would only donate a book that might help and establishing artist, NOT this one.