Here Are Some Good Figure Drawing Books to Learn From!

While there are a million different figure drawing books available right now, to mention all of them would take forever.

Not only that, but it differs from each person to person based on their own learning styles.

The books I am going to mention here are books which cater best to my inquisitive nature of learning. That is not to say that these books are the best at what they cover (having gone through hundreds in my spare time, I can tell there are others worth mentioning).

Instead, these books contain one or two aspects of teaching that I find are critical to building a good artistic foundation.

Furthermore, as some of the authors mentioned here have created multiple figure drawing books, please discover whatever books are available if you like his or her style of teaching.

It's always a good idea to try and broaden the resources you have available.

Jack Hamm - Drawing the Head and Figure

Figure drawing books of this nature offer more than just a good overview of the head and the figure, this book also goes into a lot of depth concerning the proportions and movements of the head and body.

Starting with the female head, the author goes into a lot of details about female heads from different perspective angles as well as each individual part of the face like the nose, eyes, and the mouth (also in perspective).

Once the author explains what is necessary for the female form, the book will then split up the second half dealing with the male form. At of the end of it, he touches on clothing as well.

It is definitely a good beginners' book for drawing the human form since it not only teaches you proportions, but how the body will look in different postures and perspective settings.

Gary Faigin – The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expressions

Figure drawing books that deal with specific human emotions are hard to find. Fortunately, in this book, Gary walks us through the six different expressions we all exhibit: sadness, joy, disgust, anger, fear, and surprise.

Of course, the book will also teach you variations within these prime expressions such as the many different mouth positions for a saddened face.

While the book goes into a little bit about each individual facial feature and head perspectives, you should always come prepare knowing the anatomy of the head anyway to make your learning easier (since there will be better books that will explain these aspects).

Other than that, it is a great reference source to learn from and to come back to from time to time. It is definitely one of my favorite books about the human face you can find on the market today.

Burne Hogarth - Drawing Dynamic Hands

Perhaps one of the best resource on drawing hands out there, figure drawing books of this caliber covers it all you can imaging about the hand. It is quite a complicated book so make sure you already have a good artistic foundation for drawing so you can keep up.

It starts off easy explaining about proportions of the hands. Then, it goes on to explain the range of movements available. Near the end, the book illustrates as many hand positions as possible ranging from a open palm, a closed fist, ways of holding different objects, and finger gestures.

Aside from what I have mentioned, what else I really like about this book is the details that goes in each visual explanation.

Almost all the drawings show the intricate muscles of the hand and in some parts, all the way up to the arm, so you are constantly reminded of the muscle structures and how it changes in each hand gesture.

Burne Hogarth – Dynamic Figure Drawing

I like figure drawing books that make you think. Get ready for a book that is no exception to this rule! There are no shortcuts or tricks to drawing the body in dynamic positions. This book is all about getting you to think and create dynamic drawings on your own.

That means you should already be familiar with form, muscles groups, and proportions of the human body before you even consider reading this book. This is because there will be no explanation of those fundamental principles inside.

Most of the content found inside shows movement of all the major body groups and how it interacts with one another to create harmony in the movements.

Just like all of Burne Hogarth's books, a lot of the illustrations are very detailed. That means you are constantly reminded of all the muscle groups so you get an idea of how it all works together in synergy.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Use this search feature to find it.

Tweet