The Human Figure

This is not a how-to manual and it's not an introductory course on figure drawing. Why I rated this with 5 stars? Well, I think the best of this book is that it shows clear and concisely some underlying principles to the figure drawing. You already know everybody looks different, but you also know everybody has some common features too. This book highlights those common features in an extensive way for the whole human body. If you are looking to start with figure drawing, maybe it will not be so helpful; but if you already have spent some time doing it, and you need to summarize your experience in concise tenets, this is the book for you.

This is a classic from a master teacher and a copy of this book should be in the personal library of every artist who works figuratively.

There are so many mixed reviews for figure drawing books. I can say without a doubt in my mind that Vanderpoel's "The Human Figure" is far superior to any book I've come across so far. Vanderpoel had an incredible grasp on the human figure. His drawings are perfect in their simplicity. I am always amazed when I look through this book; many of the sketches look like they were done in seconds but they capture the exact subtleties and fluctuations in both the female and male bodies and heads.

Other figure drawing books I've purchased or browsed pale in comparison. Sure, Vanderpoel's text is wordy, intellectual, and sometimes uninteresting, but you have to look at the time period and purpose of the text. Vanderpoel was interested in the anatomical dissection of each part of the body. His goal with this book was to show the reader what is "going on" beneath the surface so you can understand why there is a bulge in muscle here or cartilage there, etc. The book is broken into chapters that cover each part of the body, starting with the head, and more specifically--the eye, then nose, mouth, ear, etc. The text is accompanied by drawings of what Vanderpoel is describing. For instance, the first chapter--Eyes--begins with explanations of how the eye sits in the eye socket, and how the eye socket relates to the skull as a whole. Drawings include skulls in different positions so you can see the brow bone and eye socket from different angles, and how the eyeball might sit in the head at different angles. The text goes on to explain how far inside the socket the eyeball sits, how the eyelid covers the eye when the eye is looking up or down, how big the iris and pupil are in comparison to the whole eyeball, etc. Studying this text can help artists to understand how to dry eyes in portraits conceptually with practice and time.

This is how figure drawing was intended to be: a study of the anatomical goings-on below the skin. Figure and portrative artists should have at least a pretty good grasp on this to make sure their drawing relates to itself as a whole. Too many artists these days just copy pictures of things, or even trace! It's shameful, in my (very opinionated) opinion.

Vanderpoel was a master and I feel honored to have this publication as part of my collection. I was first given this book by an art teacher when I was 14 or 15 years old and many years later it is still the first (and one of the only) books I find myself going back to when I want to brush up on my figure drawing skills.

There's some good information here, but it reads like an old university lecture. It might actually be easier to absorb as an audiobook accompanied by the appropriate illustrations. Still a good reference for charcoal figure drawing.

This book was recommeded by William Maughan in his book The Artist's Complete Guide to Drawing the Head. I thought Maughan's book was great and was hoping this would be more of the same. Unfortunately not. Essentially all this book is is a written discripion of various parts of the body, written in very arcane language, with a few pencil sketches of body parts. The descriptions of the body parts do not even refer to the sketches. Definately not for beginners and experienced artists should not waste their time trying to parse the erudite language of this book.