Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life

I scoured and searched for a life drawing book and Bridgman's was the perfect book for me. At first I was reluctant to buy this book because of some mixed reviews but after reading I saw that most of the negative reviews were in regards to the pdf version of the book. So I decided to check it out and sure enough the digital version is hard to read and the pictures are difficult to follow with the words, you would be reading about a hand that would be on the next page. It wasn't an effective way to learn. If you're going to learn get the actual book it's the only way to learn in my opinion, you get the words and the references side by side as intended. Digital books get you by, but nothing is better than the real thing. With that said lets get into the review. It is a great book for anyone who has some knowledge of anatomy and wants to learn more comprehensively about the human body. I haven't taken a drawing class in years and wanted to refresh myself on some life drawing. From this book I was able to create dynamic poses for humanoid characters. It teaches all about movement of joints, rotations, and muscle placement. The books that this complete guide is comprised of are a bit older but still relevant and have great examples and can be used as a source of reference. If you are interested in any of the Bridgman's books I would suggest starting with this one and then see what book you would like a more in depth review on, there are many to chose from.

Bridgman is one of those go-to artist's reference books that can be very insightful when trying to get the head around drawing the shapes in the human body. There are other books that are also helpful and it is best to look at ideas from multiple perspectives, however, Bridgman is one of the more important contributors to our understanding of drawing the figure. He learned his skills from Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and subsequently taught life drawing at the Art Students League of New York for 45 years. The twentieth century was a golden age for life drawing techniques and we are very lucky that teachers like Bridgman chose to share their great experience. He was famously a hard task-master who expected great things in his students and apparently his students adored him. His students included some some artists who went on to become very famous names. Norman Rockwell wrote glowingly of his studies with George Bridgman. Other famous students were Robert Beverly Hale and Kimon Nicolaïdes, both of whom went on to produce life drawing books that have become standard references. Jackson Pollock's sketchbooks include many drawings made from studying Bridgman's book. I have been an art teacher for many years and Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life has always been one of those books I highly recommend for all art students.

I found this book very helpful for learning structure and anatomy for figure drawing. The book outlines the various structures of the body, as well as their shapes and proportions. The book also explains how to draw the various body parts in different positions and lighting conditions. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn how to realistically draw the human figure.

This book has almost everything you need to know about anatomy, however it is over 400 pages. You would need to go through whole chapters just to master one part of the body such as the hand or arms. That being said it is a good book, but it is not for someone looking to learn anatomy quickly. It would take you a long time to go through all the material in the book let alone digest it. Another gripe I have with the book is that sometimes it references muscles by their latin name and you have no idea what muscle the author is talking about. That tends to confuse you and you have to spend time to find out which muscles Bridgman is actually talking about. If you are serious about portraying anatomy realistically then this is the book for you- however if you want to learn the basics of anatomy quickly, another book will probably benefit you better.

After a thorough anatomical knowledge is gained, one can benefit from Bridgman's lessons in anatomy to simplify, rectify, and artistically express the figure in many difficult view points and poses. This will aid in solving many problems in figure drawing whether form imagination or life: along with "Fifty Figure Drawings" as a great visual aid. I recommend to get an earlier copy of the complete guide and get as close as possible to the year 1952 as the printing then was much better. Beginner's would do well to go through his smaller books first including "Life Drawing" and "Constructive Anatomy". I suggest you start with "Life Drawing" for an understanding of the figure as a whole, then "Constructive Anatomy" for the smaller details. Those two books would be easier to follow and be a kind of a shorthand workaround from the complete guide. You also should find vintage copies of those books and avoid the Dover publications for them specifically. I will still recommend the "Complete Guide" at one point or another as it has all of the smaller books within it and is more geared in preparing you for properly portraying the figure more "completely".

It's hard to find any resource as in-depth and as high quality. Seriously, by the time you reach the end of this book you will have as much knowledge as any med student in regards to the human anatomy.

As good as new! thanks so much.

I found this book to be both informative and inspirational. Fine instruction, devotion to study, and hard work will transform your art. A valuable tool for "draftsman" of the human form.

人体を立体に把握する解説本です。 特に、手・指の図が、豊富。 足の指の図が、珍しい。 ドレープも、おもしろい。 この内容で、安価です。

Just open the book and read the short chapter on drawing the armpit. It reads like wonderful, slightly pornographic poetry... Apart from that, it is a very useful anatomy book.

Livro essencial para quem curte e ama desenho, muito explicativo, ilustrado e bem detalhado! tamanho muito bom também! vale o investimento

I just received the Bridgman's Guide in the post and I'm delighted with it! As a self-taught newbie entering the world of human form sketching, this book is perfect for giving me just the right amount of push for added inspiration and guidance. I am surprised at the size and weight of the volume ... I actually expected a thin little manual but it is actually quite a comprehensive book about sketching the human form and certainly belongs in every aspiring artist's literary collection. A word of complimentary advice for other self-taught doodlers out there: this book focuses on drawing the HUMAN FORM as a whole. If you are looking for details of a specific field like portraiture, do purchase an added and relatively contemporary book that focuses solely on, say, portraits, to give you that added detailed advice in modern language. For instance I am learning tremendously by combining information from Bridgman's Guide along with Lance Richlin's "Lifelike Heads." It's an endless joyride. Enjoy! :)

I bought this book just over a year ago. I heard all the hype about it and was excited to give it a shot. When it arrived, I quickly skimmed through it and set it aside. My initial thoughts were that it was too wordy and the drawings looked too loose and abstract for me to learn from. Recently, I decided to force myself to give it another chance and boy, am I ever glad I did! I almost made a huge mistake by dismissing this book. I've never read a book on anatomy that gave me so many "ah-ha" moments as this one. After completing this book, I finally feel like I've got the confidence to tackle the other drawing books I've bought and tried like Loomis and Hogarth that teach a tighter drawing mechanic. This book, though, was the key to understanding it all. I get so much more out of other books now that just kind of teach you how to draw by copying like How to Draw the Marvel Way and other books of that nature. This book isn't just a how to book. It tells you about the why, as well. The why will allow you to take all those art examples in How To books and employ them better. You'll understand the artistic choices, be able to pick out errors and even find it easier to remember dynamic poses. This book is not without its flaws. There are a few errors in it as well as print alignment issues on at least one of the pages that cuts off some of a drawing. There are also points where Bridgman will describe a numbered diagram but the diagram is not anywhere to be found or he'll have a numbered diagram with no corresponding description. Some chapters are also more thorough than others and you'll find yourself backtracking a lot to match up certain lessons. Overall, this is one of the best (if not the best) books I've ever read on drawing the human figure.