Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy: The Ultimate Reference for Comic Book Artists Paperback – October 1, 2004

If you are serious about drawing comic book characters, or any type artwork actually, then this is the FIRST book you should buy! It puts human anatomy into such a simple structure that just about anyone can learn it. From the layouts of the bone structure to the way veins pop out over muscles... This is a must have book!

Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy by Christopher Hart.As an established artist who is very familiar with rendering the human form I think this book will be very helpful to those seeking to create an anime/manga style for themselves. The illustration style is concise and dynamic utilizing a combination skeletal, muscular and contour drawings that very effectively help your mind's eye quickly visualize how to achieve realistic human forms with an anime style. I have purchased about half a dozen "how to draw anime" books and this one really helped me click into the mindset of the anime drawing process. I am very particular and have high expectations of my art books and I believe you will not be disappointed with Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy by Christopher Hart. It is very motivating and inspiring to look at as well which is critical when purchasing design oriented how to books. Its ability to demonstrate how bones, muscle and skin come together really helped me get into the groove. I am very please with this purchase.

For starters, this is written by Christopher Hart, so it's probably one of your best options if you are interested in the subject of the book...This is great for learning how muscle groups work, since it focuses on different parts of the body for both men and women, and how the skeleton structure is set up, not only in general, but in different positions, explaining how muscles move with the different poses, and which ones 'pop' depending on the pose. It's a great book for any beginning artist to start getting a sense of how the body is put together, and great for more advanced artists to make their pictures more and more realistic. Also gives great ideas for characters.A great buy even if you are not overly enthusiastic about the graphic novel; if you love drawing, you'll love this book!

The usefulness of this book to you depends on what kinds of drawing you do and your existing ability to draw people.This is not the book for you if you're just learning how to draw people or faces -- there are many better-suited books for that. Christopher Hart is quite prolific and has lots of great art books on many specific styles and subjects, and if this is your goal, you should look at either some more general cartooning/drawing books or ones specifically about drawing faces, shojo characters, etc. "Making Faces" is a good book on facial expressions.If you're looking to improve your skills, and you're interested in comic-book style art, this is an amazing book. There is no shortage of anatomy-for-artists books out there, but this is the only one I've seen that is aimed at comic-book artists. Most anatomy books are designed as life- or figure-drawing courses, with pencil drawings of models standing or sitting. This book is designed to show you how to draw people in action, like fighting or dancing. It is a perfect blend of technical and accessible, using the proper Latin names for muscle groups and bones on one page, while showing you how to simplify those lines for characters in comics on the next page. It's like an intermediate between "How To Draw Cartoons" and "Dynamic Figure Drawing". There are great examples of which muscles are being used in specific actions like lifting a heavy object, leaping over a hurdle, and winding up a punch. Not the purview of fine artists, perhaps, but indispensable for anyone making comics or cartoons involving action.The only downside is that there is not much time spent on individual parts, like the eyes or hands, and no in-depth discussion of hair or fabrics, but there are many other books out there that fill the gap fine. Not for the total novice.

I bought this for my 15 year old nephew who likes to doodle. His mother says he flips it open everyday. He loves it as it teaches him how to draw human or human-like forms accurately. He did not want the old-fashioned artist book which showed where human muscles and proportions were. He thought these "standard human form books for artists" were tedious (and so did I). When it is in this super-hero form, he loves it.

I’ve recently taken up drawing particularly muscular men, and this book is an absolute treasure for those artists whose style is geared towards a comic book/graphic aesthetic. The muscles are clearly outlined, and it’s been a great help in my work! A+++