[.ca] The Human Machine (ISBN 0486227073)

Great:
After purchasing too many sub-par reference books on anatomy for artists, I highly recommend the Bridgeman books. This one stresses the hinges and joints of the body and how their bending and twisting movements affect the external shape of a figure. Nobody has studied the figure as long or as intensely as George Bridgeman and it shows in the superb illustrations, many apparantly constructed from memory. For economy of line and accurate sence of under-structure, the illustrations can't be beat. Incidently, "Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life" incorperates much of the above book, along with several others, and is a better buy. (It's also a larger format book!) I also recommend "The Human Figure: An Anatomy for Artists" by David K. Rubins.

hmmm:
I haven't actually read the book fully yet, but as an (beginning) artist I was more interested in the illustrations anyway. I was shocked to see the awful quality of the illustrations in this book. Some are allright but most are either very faint, with very ugly and confusing lines, like very quick sketches with a piece of charcoal. And they all look like they were printed on my antique black and white inkjet printer. Okay so the book is cheap, but that's no excuse for image quality this bad. I gave it two stars since I'm sure the information on anatomy is good reference and you might get something out of some of the images despite the quality.

The best figure reference available:
I am a commercial artist and an illustrator in training, after coming across a lot of artistic anatomy books over the years I say honestly that this and all the George Bridgman books are the best available. A couple of reasons for this are 1) his clear and totally accurate drawings and 2) he shows us muscle groups that act together rather than just naming every single muscle and leaving it at that. Also, he uses a very visual teaching method, showing the shapes of the muscle masses that are easy to remember. I would suggest that every beginner start with Mr. Bridgman.

Superb!:
It's amazing, I haven't even begun to read it, I've only copied the pictures, and I'm already doing much, much better! Obviously, I intend to read the book, since it would make my work even better. This is one of the best anatomy books I've ever looked at. Even though I haven't read it yet, it's indespible. Five stars.

Complexe mais ça vaut la peine:
Si vous êtes vraiment interessé à comprendre le fonctionnement de l'anatomie humaine afin de mieux dessiner, c'est le livre qu'il vous faut. Amplement illustré avec des schémas simples, toutes les parties du corps y passent. Facile à comprendre, malgré la mise en forme discutable (voir p. 60 où un des dessins est carrément à l'envers!!!). On déplore que certains dessins manque de définition. Et le fait qu'il soit écrit en anglais (un très vieil anglais à la limite du compréhensible) peut en rebuter quelques uns. Je vous le suggère néanmoins, car c'est un excellent livre, comme la plupart des autres titres de Bridgman. Ce livre est un 'must' avec probablement "Constructive Anatomy" aussi de Bridgman. Une bonne alternative serait d'acheter "Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life: Over 1,000 Illustrations" disponible sur Amazon.com