13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FANTASTIC BOOK FOR THE BEGINNER, June 30, 2007
This review is from: Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist: How to Draw the New Streamlined Look of Action-Adventure Comics! (Paperback)
Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist is comic art instruction Guru Christopher Hart's latest book and one of his best yet. Hart has been doing comic art instruction books for many years with a long list of titles to his credit. In this latest book, Hart tackles the modern, more simplified, and streamlined comic book art. Inspired by recent animated series such as Batman, Teen Titans, and Justice League, we are seeing more and more comics today being produced in this more simplified, animated looking style. This modern style has done a couple of things for the comic industry. First, it's far less time consuming to produce this type of art than traditional comic art...less time means less money. Second, and no knock on those artists, but obviously you can get away with somewhat less talent with this style as there is a minimum of detail required. Finally, much of this art today is being produced on computer, again saving time and money. This certainly accounts for the recent popularity of this style of art.
Hart takes a step-by-step approach to his instructions. On one page he shows an example of a piece of art done in traditional style and next to it, the same piece done in the simplified style. Basically this is simply a matter of less definition being added to the character. Less muscle definition, fewer or no bone structure outlines to the face and body, hair designed as "one piece" as opposed to drawing several lines of hair and curls, etc...The examples are striking in their sheer minimalism.
Now, this isn't merely a matter of taking out lines, but rather a complexly different approach to drawing figures. There's a whole change in thinking about how to construct the anatomy in this approach. Remember, you're not going for realism anymore. Fully the first 50 pages are spent just on the head and facial features. Hart will show you how to simplify the look of the eyes, nose, and mouth with dozens of examples included along the way.
Next up is the body and it's the same process as before. Simple bone and skeletal structures, simple muscle definition... Again, Hart shows dozens of examples of body types from heroes to regular guys to mad scientists. In this style, bodies are more angular...the hips and knees often come to an exaggerated point as opposed to the rounder look of traditional comic art. In defining muscles, that standard six-pack now becomes a two-pack...the shoulders and chest exceedingly broad and triangle-shaped.
Hart rounds out the book with a look at forced perspective, getting your characters to look like they are virtually jumping out of the page at you. Honestly, I believe that this book and this style of art has opened up a lot of doors to artists who maybe were not quite good enough to make it with traditional comic art. It's also allows small press publishers to compete against the bigger publishers. Heck, you even see this style of artwork showing up at major publishers like Image and Dark Horse.
It's another well-done book by Hart and perfect for the aspiring comic book artist.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for simplifying the process, October 23, 2008
This review is from: Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist: How to Draw the New Streamlined Look of Action-Adventure Comics! (Paperback)
Although I don't stylize my characters quite as much (huge chin, pointy features, etc), the approach in this book makes drawing the human figure much simpler and easier to understand. The sections on the simplified bone structure and various muscle sets are quite useful.
Chris Hart has a great approach to teaching in his books and I'm constantly amazed by his ability to draw so well in so many styles!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of Hart's Books, August 4, 2008
This review is from: Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist: How to Draw the New Streamlined Look of Action-Adventure Comics! (Paperback)
This is by far my favorite of the series of drawing books produced by Chris Hart. It teaches exactly what the title says, except that I'd be tempted to say "for the cartoon artist" more than "comic artist." In response to some of the criticism I see in the reviews about this book... yes, if you lack a basic ability to draw, then this is a bad starting point. However, nothing about the book suggests that it is a good starting point. This is about drawing in a specific style, not drawing in general.
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