The title of this might lead you to suppose that it offers more than it does. Although there are some sequential drawings near the end, it would be more accurate to say that the illustrations are of stress poses with muscle flexion. These figures may have moved into where they are, and may be about to get to somewhere else, but they are for the most part static. If they were photographs, they’d be still rather than motion pictures, although they give the sense of being posed rather than caught by a fast shutter.
That’s not to diminish the value of the book itself. As a guide to drawing the human form, it’s thorough and comprehensive – a phrase I’ve already used today in relation to another Watson Guptill title. There are plenty of studies of bone and muscle structure, of how that builds up into an external appearance, and of drawing techniques. Once again, it’s a book to read rather than work through.
If I’m honest, though, and I had to choose between this and Freehand Figure Drawing for Illustrators, I’d choose the latter.
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