Art Anatomy Simplified

Book excerpt: This is the most entertaining and easy-to-use anatomy text you'll ever see. The author — a practiced artist, teacher, and cartoonist — delivers the keys to figure construction in a direct, easy-to-follow, and highly visual manner. Students of fine arts and commercial illustration alike will find this manual a practical foundation upon which to build their knowledge of anatomy— the background essential to anyone wishing to draw easily and with confidence. This concise guide covers all of the most important functions and actions. Stressing the concept that figure drawing begins with a thorough understanding of muscles and skeletal framework, the author employs the methods first mastered by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Dürer. More than 350 drawings illustrate these lessons, which advance from simple anatomy studies to more complex tutorials on action sketches, perspective drawings, the use of charcoal, and other techniques and approaches.