The Artists Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Master Reveals the Secrets of Drawing the Human Form by Anthony Ryder

The Artists Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Master Reveals the Secrets of Drawing the Human Form Reviews

• 
  Heidi

  I enjoyed the overall tone of the book -- friendly and helpful. The discussions on rendering and pencil-hatching techniques were highlights for me, and I intend to do some studies from his example drawings.
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  Castles

  I don’t have anything bad to say about this book, but I must admit I grew impatient with it somewhere in the middle, and yet still I’ve finished reading it.
  
  While I’m not sure the author’s method can be called “classic”, his approach is interesting and as a proof, the drawings are amazing. But like many many other figure drawing books, the endless, exhausting examples which try to put in words what you should really do with your eyes, could benefit much more if it was put in a video instead of a book.
  
  
• 
  Molly Lackey

  Extremely "theory"-heavy (i.e.: more techniques on seeing/perceiving than really hands-on step-by-step drawing methods), but really good. Pretty much revolutionized the way I think about drawing and "Seeing" for drawing.
• 
  Denise

  I'm reading and reviewing this book this week for a blog post next weekend.
  
  Preface and Introduction: Getting to know the artist and what to expect from the book. Pretty basic stuff.
  
  Chapter 1&2: The Materials, Technique, and Blocking In. Chapter one starts with a discussion of paper types, weight, texture, and tone. Also gives an excellent recommendation to use acid-free papers with rag content. The chapter ends with some basic information on pencils, pastels, and erasers and how to use a pencil for cross hatching. Chapter two is about layout and conceptualizing a finished piece. It is important to get a feel for seeing models as they appear and not with preconceived ideas on how the body should look. From here, various tips and techniques are given to reach that end.
  
  Chapter 3&4: The Gestures and Contour. "This isn't called life drawing for nothing." It is common in drawing books for the author to lay out the eight heads model and basic muscle anatomy, in chapter three the author chooses to focus on active and passive sides of the human form. When a person is in a pose, some muscles are engaged and active while others are relaxed and stretched, this will give the gesture of the body and give the drawing life. The chapter ends with showing the dominant curves of the body, forget stick figures, the body curves. Chapter four starts fine tuning the drawing by bringing in the envelope and body curves with the contour.
  
  Chapter 5&6: The Shadow and Form. To get a realistic drawing, gradations of tone are highly important. Chapter five is about tonal progression and shading. Mr. Ryder stresses that light has shape and form and to bring shine and life to a drawing, it is important to understand how to "draw" light. For me, this is the most useful chapter in the book and something I continue to practice. Chapter six can be nicely summarized by saying "No part of the body is flat." This chapter is about skin texture, curves, and the continuous form that is the human body.
  
  Chapter 7&Epilogue:
• 
  Katharine

  The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing is a step-by-step instructional manual describing one particular approach to drawing the figure. The author's drawings are lovely and I could probably never do anything as polished and masterful. But I also think his approach may need to be modified for each person's style. The book might have been a little more helpful if he'd included other drawings (by his students perhaps) as examples, rather than illustrating only with his own work. As a result of the narrow focus, I did not feel this book was quite as approachable as Classical Painting Atelier.
• 
  Xavier

  Dense with information but a little too dense in my opinion. There's a lot of theory and you won't get to the actual practical lessons until about 3/4ths of the way into the book. If you're an absolute beginner, I would search elsewhere. Preferably Loomis.
  
  There's no doubt the author is an accomplished artist, but their writing is a bit off. There are so many strange smilies throughout the book. Check my highlights for my absolute favorites.
• 
  Lila

  Beautiful drawings, great conceptual thoughts. I think there could have been more demonstrations (i.e. when talking about exercises, show it). Great explanations on thought process behind drawings.
  
  My opinion on this book might change with future revisits. I think this may serve as a good reference tool.
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  Charleston Ducote

  Highly technical approach and very helpful, particularly with breaking down light and shadow.
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  Arjun Khode

  For the first time I believe you can watch Ryder's videos here:
  renaissancelifenow.com
• 
  Antonella Vigliarolo

  Excellent and inspiring
• 
  Fonsu

  Line compass was useful
• 
  Mar

  3.5
• 
  Madison

  Simple figure drawing book that covers the art of figure drawing very well. Good refresher for the seasoned artist and a great beginners book.
• 
  Hayley

  The writing is perfectly serviceable, though without any distinguishing characteristics. It's like those MFA bores all are.
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  Nathan

  This book presents a specific method of figure drawing that one can incorporate in part or in whole.
  For my part, I was made aware of some powerful concepts that will definitely immediately improve my work. In particular, the concept of the "terminus" between light and shadow being used as a central point to define form. It's clearly present in many great drawings and paintings, but it's something I had never fully understood or internalized. Feels like I've found a missing puzzle piece.
  
  This has made me want to take up figure drawing and work on improving my craft for its own sake, which I haven't really done since college.
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  jdbartone

  This loses a star only because of its misleading title. This is not a compete guide to figure drawing. It is a complete guide to one particular method of figure drawing. It's a method I find very appealing and the end result is quite beautiful, but it is by no means the only way to draw a figure. That being said, for what it is this book is an exceptional instructional tool: a well-written, lucid, gorgeously and lavishly illustrated description of a traditional, painstaking, unhurried approach to figure drawing.
• 
  Serge Pierro

  Anthony Ryder presents a book on figure drawing that will leave you breathless. His artwork is amazing, and he is able to clearly present his thoughts to the serious student. Although there are sections with step by step instruction, due to the nature of his "pencil washes", this material would be better off being presented in a video format, so that the techniques could be demonstrated in action. And as I mentioned earlier... the included examples of the artwork are amazing!
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  James

  A very philosophical approach to an analysis of drawing the figure. Not a step by step book, although the approach is in there if you dig; envelope, refine, render. The author is both a great teacher and artist.
  
  
• 
  Martha Smith

  This book is easily one of the very best textbooks on how to do charcoal figure drawing. The book has numerous drawings that illustrate all of the principles in each lesson clearly and precisely. I highly recommend this book to beginning, intermediate and advanced drawing students.
• 
  Anderson Gonzalez

  If you are into figure drawing, this is the most amazing book I have found. It has inspired me in a great way. Anthony Ryder is a realistic/classical artist, simply amazing.
• 
  Jedkimball

  Very tight drawings... tough act to follow
• 
  Badis

  fuk