Anatomy For Sculptors Books
I don’t buy a lot of books. I do enjoy them, especially the art books, and anatomy reference books are essential in my line of work, but I find I buy them, flick through them and then they sit on my shelf.
I think the problem I have is most reference books are geared more towards traditional art and for the most part, the ratio between text and illustrations is usually tipped in the wrong direction. There is a lot of theory involved and I can appreciate that, but when you’ve read it all numerous times already it’s just a chunk of the book that is skipped because at the end of the day, I just want some informative pictures and illustrations to study.
Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth
Some of the first books I bought were by Burne Hogarth and I’m sure you’ve heard of them. If you look at the Dynamic Anatomy book for example the first sixty or so pages are all theory and history. There are lots of images, but they are almost crowded by the descriptions.
Anatomy for Artists by Sarah Simblet
The next book I bought was Anatomy for Artists by Sarah Simblet and this is more focused on sharing photographs rather than diagrams. There are some nice sketches but again it seems to suffer from feeling like it needs lots of explanation, plus like Hogarths book, the first section is dedicated to theory and art history.
As good as these books are, and I did use them a lot, they are meant for a more traditional artist and when you’re working in 3D you need a different perspective.
Anatomy for 3D Artists by 3D Total
When 3D Total announced its Anatomy for 3D Artists book I preorederd it straight away. This was the kind of reference book I was after, something that would explore the human form in a more sculpted way.
When I received it, it was like a breath of fresh air, a book geared towards working in a virtual space, but it again relied on a lot of explanation and in places was more text heavy. Plus, some of the images do get a little small.
So, I basically relied on Google and Pinterest like many people. If I want reference of facial muscles, I would just look at the board I’d compiled from online images, and it will give me something to use. It’s not always perfect but it was enough to get by.
The Books
Let’s get on track and discuss the Anatomy For Sculptors series of books and if you like what you hear about them you’re in luck, I have been provided with a set to give away, so stick around to find out how you could win them.
The first book, Understanding the Human Figure by Uldis Zarins, started life as a Kickstarter campaign back in 2013 and has become hugely popular, so much so that since then two more books have joined it. Anatomy of Facial Expression and Form of the Head and Neck.
Anatomy For Sculptors and Form of the Head and Neck seem more geared towards 3D artists and digital sculptors as there are more of the wireframe type diagrams which are perfect to refer to while you’re building. Anatomy of Facial Expression is a slightly different book because it looks more at how the face moves as we form expressions, so there is less about its construction and more about how everything works together, so this could be more useful to animators or technical animators who are building facial rigs.
Let’s focus on the first for a minute and what I love about this book is that it keeps the descriptions to a minimum and focuses more on the illustrations, photos and diagrams. Even those are expertly done with each being divided into sections to make them easier to follow.
Take the torso for example. We are given a photo, and then over the top of that are the muscles, each colour coded. Finally, we have what is almost a 3D wireframe so I can visualise the contours of the body too which is so important when sculpting or even modeling.
The same with the back, if I were to just use the photo I’d quickly get lost but the addition of the illustrations helps me get a better grasp of the shapes and forms.
I also love how later in the book more complicated areas like the facial features and the ear are broken down into components. Using this will make it much easier to model or sculpt, especially if you’re not that confident when it comes to anatomy.
The Cost
There are lots of options available when purchasing these books, you can buy them separately or as part of a bundle, plus there’s a hardback version too if you prefer. You can also download the cheaper e-book versions too.
The prices are below, but range from $55 dollars per paperback book up to $100 dollars for the hardcover book, or you could do what I did and wait for a sale.
Paperback - $54.95
Hardcover - $99.95
E-Book - $44.95
$149 – Paperback Bundle
$270 – Hardback Bundle
The bundles are the most cost effective but if you could only buy one book then I would recommend the first.
If we compare that which is around £45 with the 3D Total book at £30, it is more expensive, but I feel like personally, I will get a lot more use out of it and it will help guide me more.
Other Available Tools
If you didn’t already know, the Anatomy For Sculptors website also hosts a 3D viewer featuring models stripped down to the muscles for you to refer too.
They also have a human height calculator too, all free.
The team are also constantly uploading tips and more reference materials to their various social media accounts so I would also suggest you follow them too.
Should You Invest?
The Anatomy for Sculptors books have been on my radar for a long time now and I always put off buying them because I thought, yes, they are expensive, but also that they would end up on my shelf, collecting dust like the rest of my books.
Now I have them, and I must stress that I bought these myself, I can see that I will be using them constantly, in fact, they haven’t made it to my shelf yet.
Win a Bundle!
Ok, time to find out how you can win your own Anatomy For Sculptors bundle!
To be in with a chance of winning simply comment below this post and tell us how these books could help you with your anatomy and which area you struggle with the most. Also leave your name and where you are located.
The winner will be announced on my Instagram channel, so make sure to also leave your Instagram handles so if you win you can be tagged.
Good luck!
The competition closes on 31st March 2023 and the winner will be announced on that date. Due to shipping costs we will only be able to ship to those in the UK.