Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist

This book was required reading for me in art college. It is very detailed and accurate, but like most artistic human anatomy books it falls into the category of being too detailed and does not address the human skeleton as a figure in motion or as a series of counterweights.

It is a fantastic anatomy book that I breeze through for extra support every now and then, but I find myself going to "Bridgman's Drawing from Life" more often.

All the drawings are basically from Bridgman though there are photos of models, accurate skeletons and other elements that make up for it. For the price I got it for, it's pretty good though I don't use it much compared to my other Anatomy books so it's not required material. Save your duckets for a better volume.

This book was requested by my daughter for Christmas this year. She is a freshman art student at college and will love having this book for her collection. I want to give a personal thank you to Olivia for including a note in the book. Again, my daughter will not be disappointed.

This book is well illustrated, thorough, and a great reference for any artist. I especially love it for including views of the body that are often overlooked by other anatomy books, such as shoulders and movement of the scapula.

I have been looking for this kind of classical anatomy book for artists. Ever since I got sick, I haven't been practicing my drawing skills and gotten rusty. With this book, I hope I could refresh my old lessons from college through its pages. :)

Good for a quick references, but would prefer something less... outdated. The faces of the pencil illustrations look like they're straight out of a 50's sears catalog. Charming but style isn't needed in an anatomy reference book. Another outdated but less charming thing is the racial distinctions section. Reads like creepy nazi science and darwinian classification. There are even racial caricatures that are extremely offensive. I'd feel embarrassed showing this book to other artists, since artists are generally a very progressive and socially aware crowd. Me included.

The pencil illustrations are terrible quality. Half of them are washed out and difficult to make out. They really need to darken them. I also wish the drawings of the muscles had more contrast. This book really needs a lot of work. But I liked how it managed to be both simple and packed with information. Pretty well organized, but the pencil drawings need to be organized better, currently they're just smashed on the pages. Really annoying format and hard to tell if this page is what you need or not. The packed pencil pages coupled with how light they are... it hurts my eyes to look through haha.

This text is old, and the anatomy sections are okay but basic and the text and drawings are very male- and white-centric. Every other type of person's body type was in the back in a small separate section. I thought the anatomy was going to be in more detail; it is more generally gone over. Some of the terms are very outdated.

There are better anatomy books for artists.

If you are an artist looking for anatomy help, this is NOT the book for you, it even literally says this within the first few pages. This book uses many medical terms for bones and structures, unless you plan to have google open to continuously look up medical words in every single sentence, this is not the book for you and I would highly recommended Andrew Loomis' book, "Figure Drawing, For All Its Worth", significantly better in all ways possible for an artist.

As for the quality of the used copy I received, there is this gross poop like smear on the back cover and overall front and back was slimey, I absolutely felt the need to sanitize my hands after initially handling it and had to gently bathe my book in said sanitizer. Didn't bother returning the book because the shipping fee would have been more than what I spent to purchase it, maybe a good addition to my local library.

This is an okay anatomical reference book, it does a good job covering skeletal construction and isolated body parts but I found it lacking in the areas of musculature and the human form as a whole. While not without merit, there are better references out there.

Has all the anatomy and visuals you need for a figure drawing class, but was shocked to see the terms used for asian and black people in the sections about different racial features, like hair and body sizes and whatnot. I guess this was written in the 50s. Go figure.

As an artist looking to enhance my skill set I was looking for a book that would bridge the gap. This book however, fell pretty flat. For one the majority (over 60%) of the diagrams are very lack luster and rudimentary pencil sketches that will not help anyone with even a remote drawing ability. It doesn't help anyone who wishes to see how the muscle groups and joint actually move either. I would suggest you pay a little more money and get the professional anatomy books that are available.

I bought this book as required reading for a college live figure drawing class I happened to pick up, and after class I had the option to sell it back. I probably would have bit someone for trying to trade it for mere green paper with funny old men drawn on them! This book is invaluable to anyone who needs good easy reference of the human form. As an artist trying to get away from anime style, which is engrained in how I draw, this thing is invaluable.

Every time I touch this book I end up wanting to draw, itching to carve a human form gracefully like the sketches show. And the best part is, there's little sketches with jokes and such to help you remember anatomy, like an angry crying face in the knee, or a totem pole for a neck. It makes it easy to remember form and structure and I can say with straight up sincerity that this book has heavily increased my abilities. I've been using this book almost steadily for 5-6 years, and while the cover is loose, I bought it used, so there's canvas ripping, and corners completely rubbed off from rough handling and bookbags, but it's still one of my more precious books.

The biggest problem is a lack of female models, but bodies are pretty similar, and the writer makes notes how it might differ between the sexes. There's a few female pictures, and live photos of people all over the book (with tiny little white sheets to protect modesty, something not there in drawn form leaving everyone starkers. Enjoy your mother cackling at the soft drawn penises everywhere.) but honestly I'd just love to skip all the words, and simply have this man sketch hundreds of details and pad out an entire book with only that. Simply looking at how his sketches work has taught me so much.

It's worth it, grab it. It'll help you, it'll inspire you, it'll make you laugh.

Pretty good book for anatomy. However if you are new to drawing the figure go attend a class. The best way to learn drawing is to get a great mentor in a class, a great teacher. Attend one session of his/her class with a live figure model and you will learn a lot. For a beginner a book is not the right way to go because you are basically interpreting things yourself with no teacher to guide you. So you may learn things all wrong. There are techniques out there that show you how to start drawing a figure. For e.g. some start with a basic line that divides the figure into a few parts and then the details are fit in. Go to the nearest art school and sit in one of the art sessions.

This book is definitely a classic when it comes to anatomy books. Its very detailed, with lots and lots of information and text to read. It goes through everything including body shapes and weight, including the aging of the body. The photos are a bit dated from the 1950's, but still usable as a source of reference. If there's one drawback to this book (the reason I only gave 4 stars) is that its very boring, not really very inspiring, sometimes I find myself making an effort to get into it. Its also good for the beginner if they can get past those facts. Though for the low price its a really good value.

PROS:
-lots of diagrams and information
-very complete anatomy manual
-very detailed
-can be used by beginner and advanced
-really good value for the money

CONS:
-old and dated
-boring and uninspiring

This book is fantastic. I have not seen (ever) a better description of human anatomy, bodily motion and the methodology for capturing both in artistic media. This book describes every detail of the human anatomy from multiple angles.
In the section describing the bones, it shows you how the bones look for all ages and each sex. It shows you how the bones move, and work together. It shows you what the bones look like from the underside.
In the sections covering muscles, it shows you how fat is stored in the muscle, how the the muscles move, how blood vessles show through the muscle and how the muscles layer.
There are detailed portrayals of proportion, motion, emotion and prospective, all in photos and drawn graphics - not just in words.
As I said, I've never seen a better book for describing the human body to an artist, and I've been on the look-out for more than 20 years.

I've never actually seen a five-star anatomy book; each is different and has its own strengths and weaknesses, but this is the best and most balanced book I've found.
The muscle and bone diagrams are good, but seem very stiff. Fortunately, he supplements them with his own soft pencil drawings on other pages, and he includes detailed (and surprisingly readable and relevant) descriptions of how different bones and muscles connect. He does give the proper names for muscles and bones, but he doesn't bore us with overly scientific discussion.
The few photographs don't illustrate much, but they serve as fair examples for differing body types and positions. Peck puts uncommon effort into facial features and expressions: he doesn't just draw the muscles on the face, but he indicates the directions they pull and how they work to express temperament.
A previous reviewer expressed dislike for the racial comparisons - but I liked them. I don't think Peck means to say "all white people look like this, all black people look like this, etc." but he gives the artist characteristics to watch for when drawing from life (to base your own drawings off of his descriptions, well, yes, that would be silly).
He also describes proportions and motion in good detail. If you're going to buy one anatomy book, make it this one.

This anatomy book covers areas of the body which other books of its type overlook. If you need to draw a knee, this book tells you how. It contains some photographs of models to give a visual reference from where the drawings were derived. If you are looking for photographs for reference, this may not be your book. The poses are straight forward and simple, giving a basic view at the human figure. It is an excellent book to have on the shelves. I own a large number of anatomy books, some sketck oriented, some photographic. This is by far the most used of my collection. I highly recommend it.

Originaly published in 1951, the Complete Atlas, while probably the best and most comprehensive anatomy book available for artists, betrays its age with what is now clearly objectionable racist and sexist content. Illustrations and photographs of male models and body structure outnumber those of women by at least ten to one. Incidentally, sexist prioritization places the female form in a small section toward the back of the book.
This sexist bias extends to the text, which describes the female body in less than glowing terms while lauding the ideal nature of the male form. An example from page 175 on the navel: "In the female a large deposit of fat, especially below the navel, causes the pit to be deep and obscure in detail. The navel of a lean, muscular male is distinct and firmly rimmed."
The short section on racial features contains perhaps even more offensive language, describing dark-skinned people as having a "muzzle"! I assumed that this must be a technical anatomical term applicable to all human beings but the only other reference to it in the book occurs in a note on genetic defects. As might be expected, illustration of racial types also starts with the Nordic male and whiter peoples first, in tacit hierarchy.
While the racism and sexism of Peck's book may be mild for its time, it seems that our enlightened sensibilites demand an updating of the text. I am not an individual who supports political correctness but I believe these issues need to be addressed in their own right and before giving the book a perfect five stars.

I've learned so much from this book and the only thing I wished from it were more of the hand drawings. The combinations of photos, hand sketches and detailed black and white illustrations give an immense look at each part of the body. From the first section of the book on bones, to the next on muscles, and finally to other details some books over-look like body structure by ethnics, emaciation and obesity, as well as superficial elements like veins and wrinkles, this book covers so much all at once. Also I admit I haven't 'read' much of the content in this book but really the pictures speak for them selves and are clearly labeled. It isn't one of those books that bombards you with needless text but it does have a more precise description in what text is there that serves to enhance rather then overwhelm. Out of the countless art books I have bought seeking answers to my proportion problems or to find out in best detail the actual structure beneath the skin (as well as a better understanding of how the skin layers over it) this book has been the best and most comprehensive thus far.

As a teenager, I bought this book to help me draw people better. Learning body and head proportions is key to drawing more realistic-looking people, and this book can help you along. Peck's illustrations show you different ways to look at the human body, sometimes using blocks, spheres, and other objects to represent how a certain muscle group works or looks to help you better understand how it should be drawn. He covers everything from musculoskeletal structure to facial expressions, emotions, and photos of faces from around the world. And for those who like to warm up their skills by sketching people but have no model to use, there are several human model pictures towards the back of the book to help you out. Before I took college courses and had real models to work with, I used these photos to do my many quick pencil or charcoal sketches as a warm-up for drawing. Having this book before those courses definitely helped me draw better and faster than some of the others who were learning to draw people for the first time. I have referenced it several times since then when drawing or painting people to make sure I'm getting the right idea of the muscle structure. I have used other books for learning to draw people that was more step-by-step, but this book has a lot of different detail other books don't have.
And I was surprised to find out it was from the 50's when I looked it up here on the store, since it doesn't really appear that way at all.

I bought this book on the account of the positive reviews here. A part of me regrets buying this book because I expected a figure drawing book. It isn't. It's a reference to human anatomy and I guess half if not most of the book is useful. I just can't give it 4 or 5 stars because Mr. Peck uses more words than visual diagrams to explain how the body moves and where fat develops. The section about fat is purely textual. It would have been better if there's a diagram of an average person overlaid with outlines where fat develops.

I still use it to supplement Joseph Sheppard's Drawing the Living Figure though.

I ordered Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain and I hope the high reviews of that book reflect its actual quality.

I guess it's true that there is no one-stop shop book on anatomy and figure drawing. An artist must have access to a library - personal or otherwise - to learn from.

Again, Mr. Peck's book in my opinion doesn't deserve 4 or 5 stars but if you do buy it, you won't regret it as much as let's say buying an anatomy book authored by Christopher Hart (blech).

This book is neither a tome of detailed anatomical examination or an attempt to encompass a politically correct set of social photography so as not to offend female teachers. (two reviews pointed to these issues as detractors to the book)
What it is, is a superb tool to aid the artist in understanding the complexity of human anatomy in a visual, easy to grasp manner.
It portrays the human form in ways that allow the artist to understand the underlying mass, weight and structure of the human body and gives answers to many questions most artists don't even realize they had until studying this book.
True, it hasn't been updated since its original debut, but it hasn't needed to be. As far as human anatomy is concerned, it hasn't been updated since my original debut either.
Get this book if you are serious about understanding human anatomy and how to portray it convincingly in your drawings, paintings or sculptures.

I have been drawing for years now, as a hobby. And i have to say this is one of my most beloved books.
i bought it 2 years ago, and it is AMAZING. As other stated it covers everything from knees to ankles, from eyes to noses. Whenever i have questions regarding anatomy i use this book. personally, I wish it covered female anatomy a little more, but it's still superb. I also have Bourne Hogarth's dynamic anatomy, which I wouldn't choose over this book, why? It feels a little more natural.

I'ts a good buy, that you wont regret.

This is apparently a standard in the art of human figure drawing, and has thus been mostly unchanged since its creation in the 1950's. Unfortunately, this also means many of the term and references are similarly dated. For instance, the word "Negro" is used to describe Africans and those of African descent.

I teach at a photography/art school in Ohio, and after reviewing and buying many anatomy for the artist books, this book is the best I've seen. The illustrations are top notch, the many views given leave nothing to doubt, and everything is clearly labelled. We're ordering several copies of this book for use in our Studio Techniques 2 class next quarter (Figure Drawing class). John [email protected]

It's a great reference for anyone doing figure drawing. I am currently taking a class and it has helped me tremendously. I like the different angles and small sketches he has of each part of the anatomy. I also liked the nude pictures in the back(not in a wierd way) - they're good to practice with when you don't have a live model. Really worth buying for any artist!

By far the best book on human anatomy for artists. Anatomy can be a dry subject, but Mr. Peck has a way of presenting the information so it can be remembered, applied and enjoyed. This is the one book EVERY artist should have on anatomy.

Almost outdated, this book is still one of my favorites. It's thorough enough to serve as a reference, but much of the book consists of drawings, rather than photography. This always makes me uneasy because I feel like I'm pilfering other artists' work. Regardless, the artist's renditions ARE beautiful, and well worth studying.

This book has everything and more as far as anatomy for artists goes. The book is complete with excellent illustrations from real pictures to life like illustrations that capture the essence and meaning in the human form as conceptualized by the artist. A definite must have for any artist intrested in the human form.

This book was purchased as required for class. The verbage in the textbook is reminiscent of the types of medical textbooks originating from the 50's. However, once you get past that, the diagrams and sketches are very in depth and descriptive.

J. C.

The positive comments about this book are true. It provides a very good breakdown of the male form. To fill in some information not found in the book's description, and perhaps easy to miss on a cursory preview, in a 259-page book the female figure doesn't enter into consideration till page 224, almost as a subset of the male form, suggesting an Adam's-rib mentality.
More specifically, pages 236 - 241 make up a section entitled "Distinctions of Race." The language used is, to put it mildly, archaic. (I don't know if the "Look Inside" option is randomized but I notice that page 238 is not available to preview.) Page 238 contains a "Table of Racial Stocks and Their Characteristics" and the terminology used is what a dictionary would refer to as "outdated or offensive".