I loved this book. It is brilliant in design and structure and should be an asset to anyone who deals with the artistic task of human anatomy. From experience I can tell you that this is an area that is almost comic in its failures. When reading medical textbooks we far too often find ridiculous designs explaining the medical science. This book goes a long way to helping us overcome this deficiency so generally found.

Beautiful illustrations and instructions. Goldman's anatomy for artists is extremely helpful isolating different parts of the body in chapters to focus on specifics of anatomy. A classic.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Essential Human Anatomy for Artists: A Complete Visual Guide to Drawing the Structures of the Living Form by Ken Goldman is a treasure trove for artists seeking to deepen their understanding of the human form. Goldman’s work is not just a book; it’s a comprehensive course that guides readers through the intricate details of human anatomy with a clear and educational lens.

The book’s strength lies in its ability to bridge the gap between scientific accuracy and artistic interpretation. Each page is a testament to the author’s expertise and dedication to the craft of drawing. The illustrations are not only precise but also imbued with an artistic flair that inspires readers to see beyond the lines and shapes into the essence of the living form.

Goldman’s approach is methodical yet intuitive, offering tools and techniques that encourage artists to work confidently and freely with the human figure. The book delves into the connections between exterior forms and underlying structures, providing a solid foundation for creating lifelike and dynamic drawings.

What sets this book apart is its accessibility to artists at all levels. Whether you’re a beginner looking to grasp the basics or an experienced artist aiming to refine your skills, Goldman’s guide serves as an invaluable resource. The book’s layout is thoughtfully designed, making it easy to follow along and absorb the wealth of knowledge contained within its pages.

In summary, Essential Human Anatomy for Artists is a must-have for anyone serious about mastering the art of drawing the human body.

Essential Human Anatomy for Artists is a useful guide but brings nothing new to the table.

As an amateur who has had this passion for drawing since an early age, but not an academic background to ground my practice, books related to arts are really interesting cause you never know when you'll find something useful to incorporate into your repertory. That explains my interest in this title in particular, cause I find this specific part of art complicated. So, a new perspective I welcomed.

Was objectively speaking a good reference book? I think so.
Did I find it useful? No.
This kind of guide, and I think I should blame myself for this, is not targeted at any kind of artist. To learn Anatomy as an artist is a challenge and to learn it by yourself it's even harder and this book, as the title says, it's for artists.
If you have an academic background, already some knowledge, or some kind of external support, this book could work great as a reference to guide yourself through your artistic process.
Sadly just in the same way other anatomical guides for artists might. Ken Goldman doesn't bring a different approach to his Essential Human Anatomy for Artist. It just brings that...the essential that has been pointed out over and over.

In conclusion, I would say this is a solid book for a specific audience that wants to have their first reference work to consult while practicing.

Excellent and thorough book on each facet of human anatomy. While the drawing examples themselves aren't as refined and beautifully executed as other similar books on the subject, this is definitely more functional. The focus is very much on human anatomy and how different areas function in great detail, focus and depth.

Essential Human Anatomy for Artists
4.5 Stars

Being a nurse with artistic flair myself, I have seen many anatomy books over the years. I don't believe my anatomy and physiology book from college had this much detail. In so many ways, it's too overwhelming. I felt more comfortable choosing to break this book down to sections and practice. This is a great book for reference. There's a variety of POVs, to go along with instructions. I especially love the diverse and wide range of images. I highly recommend it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group, for providing me with a digital ARC for an honest review.

I think anyone whose art work incorporates figures should read this book, even if your figures are abstract Perspectives and lighting are the essences of a painting,and human anatomy uses these to great advantage.
After an introduction this book is divided into Skeleton, Head and Neck, Torso and Pelvis, Upper and Lower limbs and finally there are chapters on Movement and Lighting. An absolutely fabulous book, one of the best I have seen for awhile. Thanks you NetGalley and the publishers for the DR.

Anatomy is one of the hardest things to draw, but this book explains everything clearly and simply. A must-have for artists at any stage. Highly recommend.

Definitely not a beginners' book on portraiture. But also not all about that anatomy? I can only assume the manuscript hat to be stretched out a bit, because there is only so much to be said about anatomy in a non-medical, non-anthropological way and in a small format, but the introduction held itself up with drawing materials while the book ended - very briefly - on portrait composition/lighting and backgrounds. There are a few art tips strewn in that mainly concern anatomical "landmarks" which can be strategically accentuated in drawings, and I learned something new at least, but not much more than I already carried away from pre-med. The step-by-step examples on how to approach life drawing, including photos of references, could have been more numerous. My main advice remains the same: Use references, children.

Essential Human Anatomy for Artists is a must-have guide, I already have it on my wishlist because I know it’s something I’ll want to come
back to over and over again. It dives into all parts of the body and discusses bone structure, along with muscle. Anatomy is never fun, but this book truly breaks it down for you.

This book's anatomy descriptions were easy to understand but thorough with beautiful illustrations throughout. As someone who is exploring drawing people in different positions, wanting to depict them in a more realistic way, this book is a masterpiece.

This book is very indepth and detailed, almost like a catalogue for human anatomy. Its illustrated with lots of sketches and paintings of the artist and he included many examples, diagrams and other study material. Also it showed simplifications of several body parts, which I always appreciate.
I would say for a beginner artist, this book might be a little overwhelming, because it doesn't really start from the very simple building blocks, but you are thrown into this pool of information.
Even though this is a very solid and detailed book on anatomy, I will probably stick to my go to books on the subject like bridgman, hampton and so on.

This reference book is right up there with my other favorite anatomy books (Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton) and Jung-Gi Kim's Stonehouse's Anatomy. Extremely detailed, exceptionally well researched and laid out. Truly deserves to be in every artist's home library!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's been 30 years since I last held charcoal, so I got this book to help me brush up on my sketching. It was exactly what I expected it to be. It helped remind me of the proportions of the human body, and helped me get excited about drawing again!

Wonderfully illustrated as well informative anatomy drawing guide suitable for beginners. Clear, color -coded and precise illustrations of anatomy with labels will help to guide any beginner beginning to end in learning about line, shape and form. A comprehensive but concise exploration of anatomy for artists.

A very helpful and fun resource. It was cool to read this as an anatomy student and a hopeful artist and learn a lot applicable to both.

Ken Goldman began teaching anatomical figure drawing 40 years ago and so surely knows what he is talking about. In “Essential Human Anatomy for Artists,” he goes through the skeleton and main parts of the human body with pages full of illustrations and information for the artist who wants to start getting serious about figure drawing. I draw and paint humans and animals but am glad that I don’t have to look at their muscles and bones but anyone wanting to will find this book useful and helpful as a jumpstart.

5 stars.

A nice look into anatomical mechanics and a great way to introduce it into your work. While there is some filler material there is a lot of good knowledge in this book !

Beautiful illustrations and easy to follow instructions and guidelines. I'm looking forward to applying the lessons to my own work and studies. I hope to reference other books by this series.

WOW! Beautifully done with exceptional sketching--this is a phenomenal art book! Being an artist myself, I have looked through many anatomy books over the years, and can truly says this is the best anatomy for artists I've seen. I especially love the diverse variety of images and representation, which makes it nice for different types of learners to see the same concept in a variety of ways. The tremendous amount of research and imagery that went into this book is amazing. I reviewed a digital copy of this book, but would absolutely love to have a hard copy in my art library. The use of color to describe the subject really helps emphasize the concepts to the reader. I highly recommend this book to any artist but also to non-artists who simply love and appreciate human form.