www.artist-reference.com

My Review:

I Got about 15 tutorial DVDs from Gnomon, I believe they are the top producer of such a content at the moment. This review will be about the most recent and favorite video tutorial I bought. I already had 2 penciling video from Gnomon, one from Alvin Lee (I plan to write a review about his online course) and one from J.P. Targette. While both will teach you lot of interesting things about creating a comic page this one is the first that actually deals with drawing anatomy. And as you know I am real Anatomy freak so I got to say  I love it. I don’t think there is a better anatomy drawing video on the market at the moment. David Finch is an fantastic artist, not only his drawings looks great (the opposite is a common problem with many anatomy books) but he has a natural talent to explain things.

It is possible to buy this movie either as an real DVD or download. Lately I prefer downloads as you can get it before the DVD is released and you don’t have to wait and pay for t he delivery (price of both products is  same). Download consists of 11 quicklime movies with overall playing time over 170 minutes. There are 2 additional DVDs in the Gnomon store  focusing separately on head and hands & feet from the same author. So here you got 170 minutes of drawing lectures focused primary on body. If you are familiar with the Andrew Loomis’s book “Anatomy for all its worth” you got pretty good idea what is this video tutorial about.

David provides tons of good advice  for drawing figures from head without reference. In the first 4 videos  he is constantly drawing and not going into any details, just the overall poses and shapes. Which is actually really good as I believe it is easy to fill these with individual muscles later. I agree with him that once you can draw the correct pose and outline of the figure you are 90% done. Next here is one 25 min. video where he goes into individual muscles and another 15 minutes on differences between female and male anatomy focused on drawing good looking females.

Another hour about rendering the muscle shadows on several figures with additional 15 min video about rendering female figures and the final one about modifying anatomy to draw monsters and “non standard figures”. Overall its very interesting to watch and you can definitely see this guy knows what is he talking about. He is also really fast so you get a several figures drawn every few minutes.  I think for 39 bucks this is a great value.

PS: I already mentioned in my review of Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth that I am part of Anatomy Dojo where we practice our anatomy drawing every day. Finch’s video is going to be my next source after I finish Hogart’s book.  If you are serious about improving your drawing skills be sure to join us on cgtalk .

Short summary:

+ great looking characters

- I am having hard time finding one

My opinion:

Best comic anatomy drawing DVD out there.

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Price:

Last time I checked it cost $39 you can buy it at:

www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/823/Dynamic-Figure-Drawing:-The-Body

Product Description:

In this DVD, David Finch reveals his step-by-step process for drawing the human body. He starts with simple tube form shapes, and then covers the placement of muscle throughout both the male and female bodies. David demonstrates how to pose a simple tube form effectively, allowing you to block-in and draw a figure in perspective and in a variety of poses. He discusses balance, posture and presentation, emphasizing line weight and lighting. Finally, David puts everything together and draws fully realized bodies with a variety of intricate poses, and a variety of proportions and details. This constructive drawing process teaches you to draw convincing human bodies without the need for tracing or using reference.

About The Artist:

David Finch began his comic book career at the age of 22 at Top Cow Productions, part of Image Comics. There he created Ascension and Aphrodite IX, both of which were top sellers in the business, with Aphrodite IX debuting as the number one comic book in the industry. In 2001 he made the move to Marvel comics where his catalog of work included Call of Duty,Ultimate X-Men, Avengers Disassembled and The New Avengers. His run on Moon Knight skyrocketed this title into the main Marvel universe and landed him a top-five book which sold more than five times the title’s previous release. David then turned his attention to working with Lost, Heroes and Smallville executive producer, Jeph Loeb, on Marvel’s smash hitUltimatum. 2010 saw another major change in David’s career as his made the transition from Marvel Comics to DC Comics and the Warner Brothers banner. His artwork will be featured on the covers for the upcoming follow up to Darkest Night, entitled Brightest Day. In addition to his comic career, David has also worked in video games, music and film.

Popularity: 54% [?]

I should probably be up front with you about my involvement with this site before you continue reading, just so you don’t think I’m purposefully giving a glowing review to make some cash. But since I own a part of the site under review I thought you should know. However, because I know what I want from this site and because I’ve had a hand in choosing the content for this site I can say with confidence that it’s exactly the kind of site that when I started my artistic career I found wanting. I’ll try to be as objective as possible and you’ll have to be the judge.

My Review:

While female-anatomy-for-artist.com and human-anatomy-for-artist.com are sister sites this one is more like their younger and hipper cousin The main difference is that there is no nudity on this site or nude photo references so not only is it safe for kids it is also a great source of clothing, facial feature and wrinkle references. There are generally fewer angles for each pose but on the other hand every single picture counts and can be used for a frame in a comic. These photos are not intended for anatomy study (while some of them can certainly be used that way) but as a reference for comic drawing. There are a lot of crazy angles and perspectives and the photos are more dynamic in general. You can find photos of daily activities ranging from using a phone, drinking whisky or shooting people in the head from behind The clothing varies from casual t-shirts and jeans through gangsta leather jackets and business suits to military suits and uniforms.

There are also additional subjects like dogs attacking people, motorcycle driving, smoking,  you know, everything that might be useful in a good comic . You can of course suggest your own poses and subjects as long as it matches a comic theme.

There are currently about  10,000 (ten thousand) photos on the Website.

Quality:

Most of the photos are 3328×5047 pixels, which is about 16Mpx.  This is roughly twice the full HD resolution so more than enough for creating professional artworks or comic.  Be sure to save the photos in our gallery so you can see the full resolution. Click on the thumbnail and then right click on the full screen picture and choose “save as”.

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Price:

There are several pricing options to choose from, starting from 7 EUR per month for a hobby membership. There is a download limit of 250 photos per day so you will get 250×30 = 7500 photos for this price. Thats more than 1000 photos per 1 EUR. A good deal if you ask meJ

License:

A hobby license allows you to download and use the photos for your personal use, for example for study, and any non commercial art creation etc. You are allowed to showcase your works but not to sell them. A commercial membership allows you to use photos according to a royalty free stock license. So basically for anything else than reselling the original photo. You can use it for commercial illustration, art etc and sell your artworks. A commercial membership starts from 14 EUR per month.

Short summary:

+ Best value for comic photo references

- Only 10,000 photos at the moment

My opinion:

My favorite photo reference site at the moment

You can buy membership here:

www.photo-reference-for-comic-artists.com

Popularity: 80% [?]

Dynamic Anatomy Book Cover

Burne Hogart’s Dynamic Anatomy was my first anatomy book. I got it 20 years ago, at the age of 13. Since that time I have collected many more anatomy books and “how to” books, however when I recently decided to finally start drawing I chose this one.

The reason is that this book has the cleanest and easiest to read illustrations together with enough detail to draw perfect comic heroes. That’s probably the reason the latest updated edition has high praise from such comic artists as Todd McFarlane, the creator of Spawn.

It has 256 pages and 400 illustrations. The new version also has some previously unpublished pictures and several illustrations are re-done in color, which doesn’t really change anything but it looks nice

Overall I believe this is the best anatomy book to start with if not the absolute best in general if you want to learn male anatomy. On the other hand avoid it if your goal is to learn how to draw women. The few illustrations he has are not very flattering and kind of vague. Another con would be the 52 pages at the beginning about the art history of the human form. Its just my personal opinion but it’s a waste of paper. If I wanted to know something about history I would buy an art history book.

BTW: I am practicing my anatomy skills 2 hours per day and I started with this book. You are welcome to join me on CGtalk.com

Short summary:

+ probably the best anatomy book for comic book artists wanting to draw superheroes

- get another book if you want to learn how to draw women

My opinion:

Fantastic, highly recommended. 

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You can buy this book on Amazon.com:

www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Expanded-Burne-Hogarth/dp/0823015521

Last time I checked it cost $16.47

Product Description

Praised by critics and teachers alike for more than 40 years, Burne Hogarth’s Dynamic Anatomy is recognized worldwide as the classic, indispensable text on artistic anatomy. Now revised, expanded, and completely redesigned with 75 never-before-published drawings from the Hogarth archives and 24 pages of new material, this award-winning reference explores the expressive structure of the human form from the artist’s point of view.

The 400 remarkable illustrations explain the anatomical details of male and female figures in motion and at rest, always stressing the human form in space. Meticulous diagrams and fascinating action studies examine the rhythmic relationship of muscles and their effect upon surface forms. The captivating text is further enhanced by the magnificent figure drawings of such masters as Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Rodin, Picasso, and other great artists.

Dynamic Anatomy presents a comprehensive, detailed study of the human figure as artistic anatomy. This time-honored book goes far beyond the factual elements of anatomy, providing generations of new artists with the tools they need to make the human figure come alive on paper.

About the Author

Burne Hogarth’s (1911–1996) remarkable career spanned over 60 years. He wore many hats in the worlds of fine art, art education, and art publishing. He is most famous for his internationally syndicated Sunday newspaper color page feature “Tarzan” (1937–1950) and for his illustrated adaptations of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels Tarzan of the Apes and Jungle Tales of Tarzan. A co-founder of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Hogarth remains one of the most influential figures in art education today.

Popularity: 46% [?]