| Title | : | Figure Drawing for All Its Worth (How to draw and paint) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 067031255X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780670312559 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 204 |
| Publication | : | First published June 1, 1943 |
Figure Drawing for All Its Worth (How to draw and paint) Reviews
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This is awesome. Okay, it's from the 50s, includes its share of -isms from the day and some of that overexburance of mine comes from the fact that this is available free of charge online (and what's better for a wanna-be struggling artist?). But the mathematician in me is also just bowled over by the attention to proportion ratios and visual guides for such (is it a freudian slip that I kept accidentally writing the letter k instead of h in the word such?). I am quite sure that there are many other books that will delve into the fine details of ratios and proportions and tell you the magic numbers you need to make you hero look...heroic and everyone else dumpy, fashionable or whatever fits your fancy. However, I stopped looking for a basic art textbook after I found this. My characters may not all need to look like the 50s pin-up women or Arian comic book men, but as long as you have a great foundation, you can go anywhere/draw anything. Afterall, no book is going to teach you to be creative and think outide the box/book.
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I love this book. It's old fashioned but that's okay, especially when it comes to a book on drawing. I can't think of anything that would stop being relevant fifty years from now... The figures may be a little idealized in proportions but you can learn just as much from it. Andrew Loomis writes to the reader like a friend. This book is perfect for reading with a cup of coffee and your sketchbook nearby.
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This will only make some small sense if you have a basic grasp of perspective drawing. It seems to be 90% Mr Loomis showing us what nice things he drew. We get it, he can draw things. There is almost no actual instruction that can help you when you draw something on your own instead of copying examples. I'd strongly recommend "Figure Drawing: Design and Invention" by Michael Hampton instead.
Loomis' "Successful drawing" was much more informative. -
Enticing contours that will stir up your desire to try drawing few lines to see if you can replicate the shape of the woman or man you might like. Drawing is nothing else than a dance of the couple hand- pencil on a piece of paper- a mesmerizing one if you take your time and do not rush. The book has good explanations, and you never know, if you like how your combined lines look at the end, you might try few more times and eventually develop a new skill or advance the ones that you are already pretty good at. Inside the book you will find pictures with so many examples for the proportions to be used in drawing, face and limbs' muscles (p 60-65), projections in space of a body's mechanics. There is lots of very good help.
Here is the link.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/compressed.p...
Drawing is to me a way of having good time. I hope you'll feel the same. This book is a wonderful collection of drawings of the human body in the context of statics and dynamics! -
My manga illustration teacher introduced me to this book for basic human figure drawing and i’ve been using it ever since. Although this book is very old (first published in 1943), it is still a great reference book for figure drawing in my opinion. Check out my full reference books collection here:
http://korpannita.wordpress.com/2013/... -
As an intermediate artist I found it overwhelming. I was hoping for more how-to's and less actual complete drawings. Also the ideal human figure got tiring after 50 pages. You definitely won't learn how fat works here. He spends a page talking about complicated subjects like the dreadful Box and a page on something trivial like advertisements.
I definitely loved the style and some of the things were explained pretty well, but there must be better books out there. -
It's been 70 years since Loomis's books were published, but still, no one has written better guides to drawing and anatomy. If you want to study the human form but don't have the time or money for art school, get this book. It's basically The Manual.
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Comic book & animation proffesionals seem to bring up the same names when they recommend books that are essential for an artist's library and those names are George Bridgeman, Burne Hogarth, & Andrew Loomis.
Alex Ross was made famous for his life like paintings depicting iconic comic book heroes and has stated that Andrew Loomis was his biggest influence in art. The influence on Alex Ross was so much that not only is he an alumni of the art school in which Loomis was once an instructor he was also involved in adding text, producing, and printing Andrew Loomis' unfinished 5th and final book "I'd Love to Draw".
"Drawing For All It's Worth" is filled with beautiful drawings and detailed instruction on both the male and female form which include mannequin frames, proportions, foreshortening, movement, bones & muscles, light & shadow, weight & balance and clothing & drapery.
Highly recommended. -
This guy is amazing- if you want to be able to draw the figure, either from life, or purely constructed from line and imagination- then this is the guy to read.
This is a sumptuous re-print of the original classic and well-worth buying- however all his books a brilliant and are readily available as downloads because they are out of copy-write
This book and 'Drawing on the Right side of the Brain' are the best books for any one contemplating figure drawing -
Good book to learn to draw appealing/ "commercial" figures. The book is very 40s that way. The biggest downfall of this is that there is one type of male figure (a husky tall man) and one type of female figure (slender and usually wearing heels). It doesn't reach you how to draw different types of people which is limiting. However you can learn a lot from the way Loomis constructs his figures and renders them.
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This book would teach you how to draw advertisements for the 1950s, but perhaps we have lost something of the diligence required. Photoshop has helped to even the playing field, but one cannot but wonder what a man of Loomis's drive and knowledge would be doing today.
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If you're an artist and you want a great book on life drawing, this is it. Thankfully it's back in print too. Highly recommended.
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So much useful information here it's crazy. Some is outdated: you no longer need to keep a filing cabinet full of photographs and magazine clippings to use as reference; we have the interwebs now. Selfies with a smart phone can be used where a mirror is recommended. The layering feature of digital art software means you do not need to create 20 thumbnails with different colour schemes to see what will work before you get started. Erasing mistakes will not muddy your image when done using art software as it would on paper. But these outdated nitpicks are about 1 percent of the book. The other 99 percent is still useful. Really glad I read this.
I chose to ignore the authors advice on page 100 that I should not continue with the book until I had memorised the name and location of about 100 muscles important for the artist. I have bookmarked the page though, and I will learn it. On page 60 the artist gets pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi mixed up, so keep an eye out for that. Most people know what pecs are though so it's clearly a typo, and not a huge issue. -
A useful step by step guide for beginners
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"Everything about your pictures is, and should be, a little of you. They will be a reflection of your knowledge, your experience, your observation, and your thinking."
Considered a classic in the field of figure drawing, this was a great and exciting thing to lay my hands on. Andrew Loomis was an American illustrator who is still considered relevant amongst artists even today, as the knowledge he shared in his instructional books is outstanding.
What Loomis postulates above anything else is the understanding of the human figure. You can't draw what you don't know, so it's essential to take your time to actually study your subject. Where are the muscles, why do certain body parts move the way they do? What do shadows look like and how does it affect the figure if you change perspectives?
The book covers a variety of subjects related to the human figure, from basic anatomy to perspective (briefly) from the reclining and moving figure to specific body parts like eyes and hands. The chapters are all introduced with explanatory texts and the drawings themselves, with which the reader is encouraged to practice, are annotated. I thoroughly enjoyed Loomis's approach and how though this book he encouraged paying attention above anything else.
The book is directed at people who work in the creative field and want to make a living off art and while Loomis's does give insights into the industry, these have been long outdated. As someone who works as an illustrator, this was fun to read, as it made me realise how much has actually changed over the course of the last few decades, especially through digitalisation, but it was still enjoyable reading the according passages, even though they now feel more like history lessons than actual industry insight.
As with any skill, the more time you spend practicing and nourishing it, the better you will get. Reading this alone won't make you a master of the subject, but picking up a pencil alongside will at least be a start. This book was, surprisingly, motivating as well as helpful. I will keep this one close. -
An essential book for the artist! Really helped a lot of my rookie-drawings.
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The definitive work on figure drawing, in my opinion. The book is old, but everything that relates to art itself (and that's 98% of the book) is as relevant as ever.
Loomis doesn't go into great technical on any one subject, but delves into the fundamentals across the board and speaks with a maturity and insight that's lacking in most how-to art books. What's more, he speaks directly to you in a very personal voice.
I read this years ago, and it was amazing how much it helped me focus on improving my craft. In retrospect, I don't agree with absolutely everything in the book—his ideas on line quality don't jive with me anymore—but his manner is so light-handed that you don't feel you're being forced to agree. -
This book by Andrew Loomis is brilliant and clearly worth studying. And while the text is dated, the instruction and illustrations are still highly relevant. Recommended for anyone interested in studying/drawing the human form.
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Really enjoyed this, even with the sexism of the time. Think I might pick up more of his books.
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Recommended for all levels, old but still relevant and helpful.
Of course, given when it was written, the poses for women are less of your everyday natural posing, still worth having. -
Andrew Loomis. If you've ever looked into studying how to draw or improve your skills, odds are, this name came up, and for good reason. This guy is one of the masters, and it's a privilege to be able to be instructed by him, albeit, indirectly, but still, I'm grateful that he opted to share his knowledge.
To that end, I would argue that this book is not necessarily for beginners, but be mindful I'm quite biased as to where one should start with art. If you've NEVER drawn before, never picked up a pencil, never created anything art related, this book isn't for you. However, if you've dabbled a bit, found an interest in the figure, and want to expand that knowledge, then this book could be great for you!
Important note: this is NOT a "how to draw" book in the sense of step-by-step instruction. Rather, this is a REFERENCE book, for the purpose of study. (Just another reason why this isn't a 'beginner' book.)
Some of the content, for me at least, are addressing things I might know, but with a new perspective or wording, or perhaps work as great reminders. Other things in this book are new and fantastic to study. He really does break things down, and I appreciate the level of detail he goes into.
With that said, however, there are things lacking in this book. In more complicated sections, he doesn't give as much information as I'd like. I feel a little left hanging at parts, but luckily that was rather rare. (To be fair, again, my prior knowledge might bias me here.)
And, do I really need to say it for a book that came out in the 1920s? It's...kind of sexist. You, as the artist he addresses in this book, and the general "artist", is always referred to as a male. The entire book is also based around the stereotypical Western ideal of what a man and woman should look like. Men are all super fit, tall, etc. And he goes out of his way to state that when drawing women, to always make sure the they are shorter than the men. (And in almost all of the examples of women drawn, they are wearing high heels!, which affects their height, muscles, posture, and how they are drawn. Men are barefoot, to compare.) Little nit-picks, for sure, but still irk-some.
Along with the ideal body types, that's basically all that's shown in this book. No variation in body weights, race, heights, musculature, etc. The same male and female throughout the entire book. (There are bits at the end with one or two age variations, but no detailed instruction like the ideal forms.) Don't get me wrong, you can certainly apply what you learned to other forms, but it does still leave you feeling restricted, especially for newer artists, who might not have a greater understanding of how to do that.
Granted, he is aware of that issue:Slimness in figure drawing has become almost a cult. What the artists of the Middle Ages considered voluptuous appeal would be plain fat today. Nothing will kill a sale so quickly as fatness or shortness. [...] If my figures seem absurdly tall, remember that I am giving you the conception accepted as a standard.
While he mentions other body types, it's quite clear he designed this book to go for what best sold at the time of publication. In fact, he does toss in some information of the business end for the time period (which, of course, is less relevant for nowadays). Even still, I would've appreciated at least a single depiction of something different. :/
Another nit-pick of mine was the ratio of male to female artworks. There were a large number more female figures in this than male, and as an artist who enjoys drawing both, it was unfortunate to see fewer more completed/finished studies/figures of men.
All-in-all, this book is easily accessible, so for sure it's an easy addition to your collection, and despite these complaints, one worth getting. (Plus, if you combine this book with other resources, I think it's a really valuable asset.) Having gone through this book, I can definitely say that my art has improved because of it, so I definitely advocate getting your hands on it!The term "talent" needs clarifying. To any[one] who has slaved to acquire skill in [their] art, it is most irritating to have [their] ability referred to as a "gift." Perhaps there is one genius in a hundred years or more who can achieve perfection by "divine inspiration." I have never met such a [person], and I do not know any successful artist who did not get there by the sweat of [their] brow. Again, I do not know of a single successful artist who does not continue to work hard.
[...] Talent, in its underclothes, is a capacity for a certain kind of learning. Talent is an urge, an insatiable desire to excel, coupled with idefatigable powers of concentration and production. Talent and ability are like sunlight and a truck garden. The sun must be there to begin with, but, added to it, there must be plowing, planting, weeding, howing, destroying of parasites--all have to be done before your garden will yield produce.
Preach. -
This is a classic. Even if nowadays you can find all kinds of books about figure drawing, many of them simplify it too much in order to make the subject seem easier and give you the impression that you will learn faster and without effort. Wrong. Andrew Loomis gives full and clear explanation of everything that needs to be learned for those pursuing an artistic career. However, if you just want to know how to imitate figure drawings as a hobby or out of curiosity and don't plan to invest time for further developing your skills and prefer instant gratification, then this might not be the book for you. This book is for those serious about drawing and willing to spend many hours practicing and doing the exercises suggested by Loomis. Great for self-taught artists.
If you find this book too challenging but want to get at this level of good, I recommend you to first check Loomis'
Fun with a Pencil -
This is awesome. Okay, it's from the 50s, includes its share of -isms from the day and some of that overexburance of mine comes from the fact that this is available free of charge online (and what's better for a wanna-be struggling artist?). But the mathematician in me is also just bowled over by the attention to proportion ratios and visual guides for such (is it a freudian slip that I kept accidentally writing the letter k instead of h in the word such?). I am quite sure that there are many other books that will delve into the fine details of ratios and proportions and tell you the magic numbers you need to make you hero look...heroic and everyone else dumpy, fashionable or whatever fits your fancy. However, I stopped looking for a basic art textbook after I found this. My characters may not all need to look like the 50s pin-up women or Arian comic book men, but as long as you have a great foundation, you can go anywhere/draw anything. Afterall, no book is going to teach you to be creative and think outide the box/book.
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I LOVE THIS BOOK. I just discovered this book today at my library because someone put it on hold! I flipped it opened and realized the drawings in this book were the drawings my art teacher, Mr. Susin, used for our drawing class in high school! We drew from this book! We had a packet of certain pages from this book that we had to try to copy (not trace). It was a Catholic high school so no naked people were allowed, but the drawings examples are great and I can't wait to actually read the book in the near future!
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I see why he is admired and beloved. His drawings are beautiful, and his writing is like a friend who is sharing his ideas and experience to help you learn to draw. I'll always remember his closing thoughts. Quite a guy. Thanks to Titan and Viking publishing and all their hardworking staff and the bookstores who keep his work going.
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el inicio es bastante util de hecho lo mejor del libro porque despues tiene esto de problemas comunes en el trabajo lo cual creo que al dia de hoy esa parte es inservible y mucho de este libro es el mostrando sus ilustraciones sin explicar como lo hace.
asi que recomiendo este libro si pero solo por el principio.
