Constructive Anatomy: Includes Nearly 500 Illustrations (Dover Anatomy for Artists) Paperback – June 1, 1973

In fact, I can safely say that this really is the most important book on artistic anatomy one can learn from. Many seem put off at first glance (I know I was) and say one of or all of the following...1 - "the drawings look sketchy sometimes"2 - "the anatomy seems exaggerated"3 - "the look might "cramp" your style"4 - "will copying the drawings really teach me anatomy?"Well, after having gone through the book once, reading how others go through it, working on form & exercises, and since I'm going through it again, I'll address these points.----------1: The "sketchiness" isn't there for the sake of being rough. Those lines & curves are there to show the rhythm and flow of how this part leads into that part. Keep in mind that not every drawing in the book is like this.2: The anatomy isn't really exaggerated. Consider that Bridgman's approach is on how muscles wedge into one another. If you study form, can analyze it, and can combine verious forms with overlapping, and then look at the drawings, things will click. The forms of various muscles stand out to show how the wedging works and sometimes the muscles happen to look flexed, that's all.3: This was an odd comment I read at [...], and there's no way that going through this will "cramp your style." If this is the first anatomy book you're considering, and if you've never gone through a drawing book at all, then you don't have a style. Don't worry about finding your style if you're just starting out - take the time to learn foundational principles & techniques, and make that your goal.4: I imagine that alot of people would think of copying like this: "Draw this line, put that curve right here, draw the line next to it, now move the pencil over here and draw this curve, repeat." Don't do that. It wasn't until I had a better grasp on form & the "classical approach" when things began to click. Once you learn the fundamentals of rhythm & gesture, observing angles, form, and "sculpting in the paper," use that understanding to analyze not only subjects for life drawing, but also drawings. As Glenn Vilppu says, "Don't copy the model, analyze it."---With that said, this book will show you anatomy as a set of forms, how they look from different views & actions, and, overall, how everything fits together. It's the perfect book to pull out once you can draw those geometric skeletons. Take your time and understand the text as Bridgman will explain what you're looking at. Analyzing the drawings is one thing, but the text does mention a lot of aspects on how the anatomy works.There is one flaw in the book, and that is the layout. I found myself having to flip between a few pages to look at the right drawing with the appropriately labeled parts so I could flip back to the text and better understand the stuff. This got a little frustrating but if you're patient, you can pick up alot of things from this. Like I said, take your time.

a good reference book

I am very, very pleased with this purchase. The content is sublime; it is exactly what I was looking for in an anatomy book. I came to Bridgman's books because a comic book artist from DC Comics recommended one of Bridgman's works in a video I watched. I was debating between getting his "Complete Guide to Drawing From Life" and this book. Ultimately, from looking at examples from this book on Google Images, I decided to get this one. Suffice it to say, I am blown away. The drawings are amazing, perfectly quality and fabulously suited to my needs. Now, please be aware if you are reading this that I am a Fine Arts student and that I have been drawing for 10-15 years already and that in recent years I've gotten considerably better at drawing the human figure. This book, then, is exactly what I need to be able to draw accurately, with correct muscle placement and shape, and to be able to use the anatomy tools in this book in combination with pose references I have found online. So if you are a beginner, I would not recommend this book. The images are very advanced and the labeling uses the scientific/official names for the bones and muscles involved.Overall, I am extremely pleased! This is an excellent find and at a wonderful price! :)

As an art student, I've perused quite a few instructive anatomy books. I was suggested Bridgman by a teacher who ranked him as simply the best. A lot of the reviews here seem to focus on quality of reproduction, so I'm going to focus on the original product. By the way, get Dover.Pros:As stated universally. Bridgman runs through the all the major body masses ranging from something as large as the trunk, to something as minuscule as the septum of the nose.He shows the human form in various stages of muscular undress, ranging from skeletal to fully skinned. There are often numerous angles and perspectives from which to study as well, and proportions are helpfully laid out in block form for the larger masses.Speaking plainly, I haven't found a book that does better than what Constructive Anatomy does.Cons:Formatting is a little awkward. Text that pertains to a whole section appears on the first page of the section, and the following pages are wordless. This makes it mildly frustrating to follow the words of wisdom that Bridgman is no doubt divulging. Which brings me to another drawback.The vocabulary matches the book's age. Expect a great deal of Latin nouns. Despite having a pretty firm grasp on bone and muscle names, I found myself lost on numerous occasions. Consider the following text, describing the armpit:"Its rear wall is deeper, since the latissimus attaches farther down the back; thicker because made of two muscles (latissimus and teres major), and rounder because its fibres turn on themselves before attaching to the arm bone."This would be an extremely minor annoyance if not for the complaint mentioned above. Much of the text is disassociated with the illustrations, forcing you to either flip back and forth, or try to follow along in your head.My final con is what irked me the most. There is no female anatomy to speak of, and neither does Bridgman speak of it. For an anatomy book, this is a severe drawback. I understand the age of the book may have made such depictions taboo, but we're talking about half the population here. Bridgman's men are patently bony. Not as a synonym for thin, as they are exceedingly thick, but his bones have a tendency to protrude and take the shape of geometric objects. This is of course very beneficial to students, and his drawings are pure joy to duplicate, but you can imagine how hard it is to transfer this knowledge to the neglected sex. Anatomy books have a tendency to prioritize subjects approximately in the following order: the Male figure, the Female figure, the effects of age and finally, the child. Bridgman focuses solely on the first of the queue.My conclusion is thus: Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy is an excellent manual for building men of young to middle age. The description applied to it most often seems to be "it's a great starter book." I would contend that the male and female figures are so different as that one cannot "start" with a male figure, and end up with a female figure. Consequently, Constructive Anatomy is not a great starter book for understanding the female structure.Despite the cons I have stated, I have given the book 4/5 stars. Why? Because I knew of these drawbacks before I purchased the books, and purchased it anyway. The score is not some form of self-punishment for making a mistake, but a rating of the material I knew and wanted. I only list the cons so that future purchasers may know them as well, and make a more evaluative judgment.

I use this all of the time when I am in class and to carry around to study. It is a smaller-sized book, so it fits easily into my bag. It is concise and well-written, making it easy to connect the writing to the many illustrations. It is a great book for any artist interested in anatomy to have.