Review of Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth.
Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth is a fully illustrated book on how to draw bodies in motion. It covers a new way of drawing bodies in "deep space" and how to foreshorten the moving body. The author says that his book shows, "How to fool the eye, how to depress, bend, and warp the two dimensional plane" of the drawing paper so that the figure seems three dimensional, even though it’s not.
If you have ever wanted to draw action figures, manga, or anime this is the book for you. Even if you’re just vaguely interested in anatomy you’ll find this book full of information that will make you human drawings better.
Unlike other how-to-draw humans books, this one show you how to use perspective in drawing limbs as the move. It sheds light on how the muscles effect the body as it moves and how that effects the three dimensional look with a result the author calls "three dimensional shape-mass."
Some may find Dynamic Figure Drawing a bit technical and wordy, though. It is a bit of a mental workout to trudge through the lengthy descriptions. It’s 174 pages is a textbook more than a simple how-to book. I wouldn’t recommend it for the feign of heart.
Alina
