Anatomy books

[Blazin0Glory]

are medical anatomy books better or artist anatomy books? or does it matter?

[Grief]

are medical anatomy books better or artist anatomy books? or does it matter?

the artist anatomy books are better.

here's why: they are designed with the artist in mind, meaning they explain how to depict the form rather than just showing it to you. the words are often more helpful than just the images. a medical book will have good illustrations, but they really do not break down the structure for the viewer into a process that allows you to replicate it on your own.

think of it like an instruction manual, theres a bajillion parts that all work together and arrows and diagrams showing you how to put it together, but its still easy to get confused as hell and overwhelmed. the instructions clearly guide you through the steps needed to construct the masterpiece.

i mean, yeah, you could learn everything about anatomy from a medical book, but you could also eat your food through your nose if you think about it.

also use the search feature if youre needing suggestions on books that you should look into.

[Flake]

Unless you need to be drawing a lot of kidneys, spleens or lower intestines, go with the artists anatomy books.

If you do find yourself needing to draw those I can only imagine something went terribly wrong in life drawing class that week..

[jotham_the_dark]

I personally own a lot of medical anatomy books. I think it is equally important to study the deep layers of muscle groups as it is important to know the surface layers of the muscle. Drawing certain poses alters the basic shape of a series of connecting muscles. Mentler (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26748) is a great artist here on C/A that is certainly worth going over. I always make it a point to recommend him to people. He has a significant knowledge of human anatomy and it all stems from knowledge of the way ALL of the parts function together as a whole organism.

So yeah. In order to -visually- understand the human body as a whole, I suggest at least a rudimentary study of medical anatomy. (To familiarize yourself with the true names of the muscle groups and also learn the proper shapes of the muscles so you don't second guess yourself) Other artists interpretation of the human body can actually take away from your art studies. So ultimately you'll want to obtain a deep knowledge of human anatomy.

Know your subject.

Then draw your subject.

[Gerulaitis]

When it comes to learning to depict visible anatomy - go for the artist's books.

When it comes to learning the mechanics of how it all works - medical anatomy may be better. (If there's a possibility, I recommend getting a hold of aclands human anatomy dvd's - the rotating views of a real cadaver dissection explain it well.)