George Bridgman Life Drawing Pdf Download
Gifford Brickley
Life Drawing is not so much a unique system of drawing the human form as it is a new way of conceptualizing it. To draw the figure, the artist must "have an idea of what the figure to be drawn is doing" -- he must "sense the nature and condition of the action, or inaction." In this book, Mr. Bridgman, who for nearly 50 years lectured and taught at the Art Students League of New York, explains in non-technical terms and illustrations in hundreds of finely rendered anatomical drawings how best to find the vitalizing forces in human forms and how best to realize them in drawing.
Mr. Bridgman begins by examining movement. After abstracting the main masses of the body -- head, chest, and hips -- into their rough geometrical equivalents, he gives complete instructions for building a simple model which mounts these masses on wire. By manipulating this scale model, the student may observe how these masses move in space and into what relationships such movement brings them.
Once the student understands how the human form moves, the author tackles the actual problems of drawing the human figure in motion. He first covers simple drawing and building of the figure, then balance, rhythm, turning or twisting, wedging, passing and locking, and the more complex relationship of the masses -- distribution, light and shade, mouldings (concave and convex), proportion and how to measure it, and movable masses. From here instruction turns to specific areas of the anatomy; the head and features, including the neck; the torso, front and back views; the abdominal arch; the shoulder girdle; the upper limbs, hands, and fingers; and the lower limbs, thigh and leg, knee, and finally foot. Every point of instruction and principle is illustrated in one of nearly 500 of Mr. Bridgman's own "life" drawings.
There is no student nor serious artist, either amateur or professional, who cannot profit greatly from Bridgman's instruction. Like his famous anatomy course at the Art Students League, it is likely to vitalize your work with the human form.
Canadian artist George Brandt Bridgman (1865-1943) studied at the cole des Beaux Arts in Paris and taught at New York City's Art Students League. Generations of students have learned the principles of anatomy and figure drawing from his books, which rank among Dover's most popular art instruction texts.
I have heard that Edgar Payne's "Composition of Outdoor Painting" is good but I have not found a copy to look through yet. Also, although not 50 years old yet, "The Artist's Guide to Sketching" has a special place on my bookshelf.
I have found Loomis' instruction on perspective in Successful Drawing to be the most helpful, complete treatment of linear perspective that I have read. All of Loomis' books are great, but his way with breaking down the various problems of perspective really stand out for me. What he did with perspective for me, Famous Artists Course (1960 version is the one I've got) did with understanding how to draw clothing and draperies, in breaking down and simplifying the reason behind how and why certain folds occur as they do.
Loomis books are my favorites too. "Successful drawing" has a really enlightening treatment of perspective. Another one I love is "Creative Illustration" - the simple and effective way to explain composition and value in that book makes it quite unique.
The main thing I dislike about older art books, especially the ones on drawing humans, is a lack of diversity. All the "example humans" tend to be white and European. Not that more modern books are that much better.
James helped me find Earnest Norling's "Perspective Drawing". I'd been given it as a child and I'd forgotten both Title and Author. Since buying an old copy online I've found it just as comprehensive and useful as I'd remembered. As you progress through the book the charmingly vintage American illustration style walks you gently through everything you need to know in a very efficient manner. An infant would find the early pages understandable and a professional might find the final pages challenging. It really is a book that can serve you well for a lifetime in art.
Thanks for this post on books. Dover is wonderful. I like very much the book : On Drawing Trees And Nature: A Classic Victorian Manual With Lessons And Examples by James Duffield Harding (Dover publications). It's mostly text but what a text, very rich in the explanations on the structure of trees. The Encyclopdie Diderot are old and very good (in french). A very good book on composition : The basis of successful art -Concept and Composition by Fritz Henning (1983). There are books too like "Cours et Leons l'Acadmie de la Grande Chaumire" 1909-1929 by Antoine Bourdelle which a very good read to learn to see (french). I love the book "Treasury of American pen and ink illustration 1881 to 1938 (dover)...
When I first started college in January 1990, I was starting a bit late and had to take the second drawing class first. Our professor had us use "The Natural Way to Draw" by Nicolaides. That class was the equivalent of figure drawing boot camp...but by the end absolutely every one of us was better for it. I loved it for MAKING us pay attention to weight and form.
- "Hawthorne on painting"
- "The classic point of view" by Kenyon Cox. Not "art-instructional" like the others but a great read nonetheless.
- "Creative perspective for artists and illutrators" by Ernest W. Watson
Great list.
I have almost all them.
I have the Loomis books as well and
Rex Vicat Cole' book on perspective.
Between Cole and Loomis everything one wants to know about perspective is there. I know the Ernst Norling book and it's a good book on this subject. Definitely simpler to grasp than Cole' book.
I would add Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy, Peck's Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist, and Human Anatomy for Artist: The Elements of From by Elliot Goldfinger.
Great post, thanks! I also want to mention Bruno Lucchesi's "Modeling the figure in clay". It helped me a lot learning digital sculpture. It's not Dover but a great process reference, even if the photos are a bit underexposed.
@Craig Wilson: thanks for sharing the link on human types!!
My favorite book for reference, not only for it's photo-real illustrations of the muscles and skeleton, but also for it's simplified and symbolic sketches is Stephen Peck's Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist:
-Human-Anatomy-Artist-Galaxy/dp/0195030958
Also, this is an excellent reference for "athletic" bodies. It has a very diverse range of people, all Olympic or professional athletes:
-body-diversity-reference-for-artists/
It's a great way to see that not every fit body must look like a superhero.
I found this post to be useful for me in compiling a wish list! I also appreciate the recommendations in the comments section.
I was helped by the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and for drawing with children -- I highly recommend "Drawing with Children" by Mona Brooks.
If you can find it, Jack Faragasso's The Student's Guide to Oil Painting is a GREAT book to have if you want to learn more about the Reilly system of painting. Oddly enough, the biggest piece of information I came away with from my first reading was how to achieve the different edges in a painting, I like the method he presents.
Sadly, as far as I know the book is out of print, so it's hard to find.
I love dover books and buy one any chance I get, and I'll definitely check these out.
They also have a few books on medieval painting techniques, like the Practice of Tempera Painting by Daniel Thompson. Since I don't tolerate solvents really well and don't like the plastic look of acrylics, I tried out egg tempera. Without this book I wouldn't have gotten very far with it.
Thanks for posting your list!
Thank you for this, James. Fantastic. I'll look into the perspective book and the tree book. I have some of the others. My recommendation would be, even though it's not old, and not a Dover book, is Robert Beverly Hale's "Master Class in Figure Drawing."
I own or at least have read most of all the books mentioned in your post and the comments. Not a bad one in the bunch. I refer back to them often. But, I don't do anything without having a copy of Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing nearby. This book got me into drawing and keeps me drawing. My copies of Harold Speed and George Bridgemans books are just as dogeared!
"Animation" by Preston Blair, published by Walter Foster, and republished in different formats. Aimed at cartoonists, but very basic info on weight, seeing a character in 3-D, and making use of the "line of action." First saw this when I was 13 and have been drawing ever since!
I second the Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst book ("The Painter in Oil") - it's fairly interesting, although it covers will trodden ground. Also, there's an interesting book called "The Twilight of Painting." It is not instructional; rather it is a polemic written by an academically trained painter (R.H. Ives Gammell), who was mortified by the rise of modern art. His analysis of how this happened and what it will mean (and what should be done about it) is fairly interesting, in that it basically all came true. Unfortunately the book is out of print now and used copies are fairly expensive.
I am selftaught and i practiced art since for a few years so far.
"Fun with a Pencil" by Andrew Loomis. Just for beginners, it has a very slooow learning curve and a very low starting point. By following the book it's possible to learn to draw figures and environments without any unnecessary stress, which in my opinion may be fatal at the beginning.
"Figure Drawing For all it's worth" by Andrew Loomis is my favourite text. I read it many times, It's very easy to follow and every phrase in it is gold.
Plus, it covers a very large variety of fields. Just like with the other Andrew Loomis books, alongside every truth is given an explanation, alongside every technique is given a reason to learn it.
"Constructive Anatomy" by Brigdman is the first anatomy book which i found easy enough to follow. Since there's not any hint on how to study, I have found it a little difficult at the beginning. When i turned back to it after a while, i just knew what I wanted to know, so it might be considered a reference book , more than an instructional one.
"Dynamic Anatomy for the Artist" by Burne Hogarth. I have the italian version of this. Very bad image quality, translation, paper. The plates are hard to read, but maybe it's just because of the poor transposition.