Customer Reviews

Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist: How to Draw the New Streamlined Look of Action-Adventure Comics!

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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

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!

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.

If you have never drawn comics and are not much of an artist then this book is not for you. Being someone that does not draw very well this book did not help me much. After consulting with someone who is a beginning comic artist this book is very helpful. They were able to gain new perspective in anatomy and body stylization that they were not aware of before. So if you have been drawing a little while and want to advance your style technique then this book could be for you.

This is a GOOD solid book that addresses surface anatomy.
I recommend this book for seasoned artists having a rough time
transitioning from fine art to comic art. Plus this is a good reference
for budding and intermediate artists as well.
I think artists that want to explore making web-comics
and desire to create clean, crisp, deleniated fiures/ faces
will benefit from a book like this.

This one of the BETTER books by Hart.

The only bad thing about this book is consistency due to the many different artists that worked on it. With that in mind this book is well worth having and a good resource about the adventure or Bruce Timm style of drawing.

If you're into drawing animated cartoons or comics, this is the book for you. It teaches on how to draw heroes & heroines with simple tutorials,and sample artworks. Basically only 35% teaches on how to draw, the rest are explaining the concepts,body structures,postures & angles.
Overall,this book Rocks! I've learnt alot in this simplified books, rather than those how to draw Manga books. This book is the best!

For starters, this book is by Christopher Hart, so naturally it's a great buy for people interested in the subject.
This is a great book for people who prefer a more cartoony style to the graphic novel detail; I myself love drawing cartoons (including many Disney ones) and this book is wonderful in teaching you how to do your own, as well as be a most excellent reference guide for muscles, bones, and character ideas.
A TOTAL recommendation if you want to try the more cartoony style.

But if you're more into the hard-core graphic novels (like the newer X-Men series), I totally recommend Christopher Hart's "Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy: The Ultimate Reference for Comic Book Artists."

The title says it all.
With its simple to follow instructions accompanied by the related illustrations, anyone with the love of drawing comic figures ought to get this book. Every one of the dozens of character begins with the simple lines, angles, various views, simplified skeleton and moves into heavier lines and more details to compose a perfect figure. Special chapters touching on specific muscle groups for the male and female comic figure, body parts such as hands, feet, and hips, poses, modes etc.
I highly recommend this book as it is educating, fun and challenging all in one.

This book called "SIMPLIFIED ANATOMY FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST"
by Christopher Hart certainly lives up to its title. It really shows
the most simple way to draw women and men. It shows the easy way to
draw faces and bodies, and it especially shows HOW to draw a muscle
hero. It is an art instruction book really worth having and studying.
The only fault I found with it, is that the cartoon women's legs were
too long!---- But otherwise, it is an excellent book that all cartoonists
should have. Do not miss out on this book, it really teaches.---- Luisa Felix, FelixHoboken@aol.com