Customer Reviews

The Nude Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist (Practical Art Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book as a freshman in college, it being my first artist's manual on the human figure. And because it was my first, and I hadn't really shopped around for any other manual, I believed at the time that this was the best I could get.

And it turns out that this book IS the best I could get, if I'm ever in a pinch for bonfire fuel.

And why such a harsh (and admittedly cheap) shot, you ask? Well, this book is just all-around awful. The photos are dull and grainy, with practically no contrast. How am I supposed to read muscle definition or the interaction of skin and bone? The models look as if they would REALLY rather be somewhere else, with their tired mien and sagging, unoriginal poses. I don't know if that was the fault of the photographer or the models themselves, but in the figure classes I've been in, the most successful models were the ones that were motivated, molding themselves into their own dynamic poses without inch-by-inch direction from the instructor. This is a sad, sorry, artless book -- downright ugly. If you have to spend your money, please buy Sarah Simblet's 'Anatomy for the Artist.' Simblet's book is a work of photographic art in itself, as well as a thoroughly informative resource. Do yourself a favor, and leave 'The Nude Figure' on the shelf.

Or, you could always set it aside for those unexpected bonfires.

If you are looking for a book with a vast array of different poses then this book is for you. But unfortunately, because of the number of different poses presented, they did not include different angles of the same pose. What I liked about this book was that many different models of somewhat varying body types were used. The fault that I find with this book is the relative lack of male reference photos. It seems that only about 10% of the pictures are of males. So, if you want a good reference book for the female figure with many different poses represented then this book is a very good choice. If you are looking for a good reference for the male figure then look elsewhere.

I was quite disappointed with the quality of the pictures in this book. They were very grainy, some without much contrast. As far as the poses go, there were only a handful that 'worked' in terms of composition. Also the models tended to be too similar in size, shape, and ethnicity. The point of figure drawing is to develop skills to draw ALL shapes and sizes!

There are other books on figure drawing that are much better in terms of skill development but I am still looking for a good book of photos to draw from. However, this one is not it.

The one thing this book contributes is variety, at least a little. As pointed out elsewhere, the models are all young. Still, there are a few different men and women with interesting differences between them. The fact of having a pregnant model at all is distinctive - pregnancy could be a topic for a whole pose book itself. Blacks, Asians, New World faces and others are also conspicuous by their absence, but that's true of most other pose books as well.

This book has some value, but isn't the hardest-working book on the shelf.

The author of the book said he wanted to go for aesthetically pleasing, but figured artists wanted more on visibility. He would've done so much better going with his first choice! I wanted a good book of poses, and have yet to get one picture out of the book! Most of the poses in this book weren't pleasing to the eye at all. The models are all young, thin people in ridiculous, often painful looking poses. A little variety would've been great, too, and the two photos of pregnant women in there don't count for much. There are no old people, fat people, or even normal sized people! There are, however, an archive of the worst poses I've seen to date. Do yourself a favor and go get a good book like Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet or Virtual Pose 2 by Mario Henri Chakkour. You'll actually get some use out of them.

The models presented within this book are models I would use in my own drawings. Excellent. The best collection of attractive yet realistic models I have seen to date. The only problem is each pose is restricted to one angle. But I believe the sheer number of poses definately makes up for this one problem.

First off, let me start off by saying that this is not a how-to guide for drawing the figure. It does not attempt to teach you, and it's not designed to do so. Also, don't expect this book to have great photos that will translate into beautiful, finished pieces of art--I don't think one should expect it to be. Instead, it is choke full of full figure poses with which a student can learn the human anatomy by repeated practice of drawing different poses.

The book is what it says it is--it is merely a visual reference. This book is designed to help those who are already familiar with drawing the figure, but needs to practice the full figure at home without the help of live models at their disposal. It is not a replacement for live models, so some may deem this inadequate--but note that this is probably the best book out there of this kind. Some of the reviewers complained about the homogeneity of the models and their poses--well, not everyone is looking to expand their figure drawing prowess by drawing ethnic, overweight, or innovative poses.

Speaking from personal experience, I feel that this book is helping me to develop familiarity with the figure, ultimately resulting in speed and better gestural expression. If this isn't what you're looking for, I don't recommend this book for you. As for Sarah Simblet's book, which this book is sometimes compared to, get it if you need to be taught how to draw the figure. Otherwise, I feel that book is useless, as most of the photos are of individual body parts, rather than the full human figure. It may be used to try to gain familiarity with individual body parts, but there aren't enough photos of each part to help become familiar with any of them. It does look pretty fancy though. Very glossy. Unlike this simple and functional book for those who believe in the value of repetition.

I was looking for a book with some good posing of just a natural figure for some sculpting and art work. The cover of this book looks like what i was looking for. When I opened the book i found several body types(some were older and some rather bony which wasn't so good) and very poor posing. There are both men and women in this book, however, some of the poses are so ridiculous that i have no clue how they could be used for anything constructive. I find about half the book useful. The other half is grainy photography and crazy "what are they doing?" poses. I must say that I still have not found exactly what i am looking for in one single book. And this one, i know isn't it.

As with most pose books, there is a severe lack of detail and contrast in the photos. The purpose of this book is to provide an alternative to life drawing, but fails in the very aspect of life drawing that makes it so effective. With such poor photography, it is extremely difficult to discern the surface features that are so important to learning artistic human anatomy. While the poses have a slightly more natural bend than most books in this genre, there is still an unnatural stiffness, or exaggeration of movement that is rarely every desired in figure references. In addition, all of the models are young college age people, with little or no ethnic diversity.
The overall direction of this book attempts to provide the artist with a holistic smattering of references in anatomy, movement and lighting, but fails in all three catagories, badly. I don't recommend this book to anyone with serious ambitions in learning to draw the human figure.

I find this book more varied--numerous models and poses--and easier to use than the Ruby book. There are not many books of photographs for students of the figure, and I find this one very useful.