Bridgeman's complete guide drawing from life vs his individual books

[PeggyChung]

Hi all, i dont know if this belongs here but in the questions forum i dont get as many answers IMO. So i ask you guys, whoever has the bridgeman's complete guide to drawing from life and or bridgeman's individual smaller books on faces hands etc. which is better? because i have his complete guide one and i feel its sort of messy. I think the guy who arranged the book did not do a very good job. then again im not pro when it comes to art books -.-'' any opinions? thanks

edit: btw im meaning the messy part as in the area where he talks about the muscles of mastication then goes to depressions of the head then some 30 pages later goes back to the jaw but its listed under chin. ahh

[tinyhands]

If you already have the larger book, then you don't really need the smaller ones unless you want smaller versions to study from for conveniece like if you go somewhere or something. But also check out his book of one hundred hands and his drapery book, both are excellent.

-tiny

[PeggyChung]

yea what the complete one is, is every one of them in one! it does have the a hundred hands i think, because the area about the hands is long, which i dont mind :D the drapery at the end of the book is very vague though imo but i havent thouroughly read through it so i may be wrong.

[davi]

some of his stuff isn't covered in the complete book in depth.
the one about the mechincal body is something i strongly suggest getting seperate

[PeggyChung]

yea i thought so..hmmm thats why im thinking of returning the complete and just getting all the individual ones.

[lavhoes]

Originally posted by LadyLioness
yea i thought so..hmmm thats why im thinking of returning the complete and just getting all the individual ones.

Keep the Complete one, it's entirely comprehensive on a level that the individual ones can't attain, i.e it's a very cohesive book. The Mechanical Body book, the hand book, and the drapery book aren't covered completely (it doesn't even touch drapery), so get those seperate. But you should keep the Complete Guide.

In my opinion, at least.

[MrMojo]

I bought the complete guide to drawing, but didn't like it. I've gotten Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth instead. It helped me a lot more.

[threelegged_chicken]

i personally can't persuade myself to by his complete book because i find his drawings inside it too rough and sometimes, to me, incomprehendable. so i don't know how good it really is becaus i get automatically turned off from it by the pics. prehaps the text in it is what has made people here like it... i don't know.

i haven't seen any of his other books so i don't know about them.

3-leg

[PeggyChung]

hey threelegged_chicken, yes your right. especially for the head and torso drawings, they drove me bananas. i have no idea what he specifically is talking about. i still stand by that his feet, arms and hand drawings are good but the rest...they are a little confusing. btw there will be A LOT of text on something but 1-2 pix that i cant really relate to. mmmm thats why im going to loomis when it comes to heads.

[davi]

the reason his sketches a rough is because he actually didn't put the books together himselves, his studios put them together based on his notes, they are by bridgman but edited from notes.

[John]

Since this thread exists i'm just going to reuse it :D

I've got Bridgmans complete guide, and i think it's a great book. I want to get the three other books lavhoes and davi mentioned. I can find the drapery and hands book on amazon, but i'm not sure about the mechanical body. Is it "Constructive Anatomy" or "The Human Machine"? I'd figure it's the latter, but i want to be sure. Is there any other book by him i might want to get?

[PeggyChung]

ok i finally got it. if u look on the opposing page of TABLE OF CONTENTS in the book. it says it is based on the following: constructive anatomy, bridgemans life drawing, the human machine, heads, features and faces, the female form, the seven law of folds.

[John]

Well, ok, i think "the seven laws of folds" would be the same as "the draped figure". But i'd still like to know what is missing and what that "the mechanical body" book is really called.