Dynamic Anatomy

by Burne Hogarth

Provides the student with an aesthetic view of human form and structure

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference, Art Design, 20th Century

232 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1980

About the author

Burne Hogarth started young. Born in 1911, he was enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute at the age of 12 and an assistant cartoonist at Associated Editors' Syndicate at 15. At the age of 26, he was chosen from a pool of a dozen applicants as Hal Foster's successor on the United Features Syndicate strip, "Tarzan". His first strip, very much in Foster's style, appeared May 9, 1937. It wasn't long before he abandoned the attempt to maintain the original look of the strip and brought his own dynamic style to the Sunday comics page.

In 1947, Hogarth co-founded (with Silas Rhodes) the School of Visual Arts which became his new direction in life. He was able to pass his unique methods on illustration to his students in the classroom and, in 1958, to the readers of his first book, Dynamic Anatomy.

Hogarth retired from the SVA in 1970 but continued to teach at The Parsons School of Design and, after a move to Los Angeles, The Otis School and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. During his years teaching, Hogarth authored a number of anatomy and drawing books that have become standard references for artists of every sort, including computer animators. Dynamic Anatomy (1958) and Drawing the Human Head (1965) were followed by further investigations of the human form. Dynamic Figure Drawing (1970) and Drawing Dynamic Hands (1977) completed the figure cycle. Dynamic Light and Shade (1981) and Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery (1995) explored other aspects relative to rendering the figure.

After more than 20 years away from strip work and being hailed in Europe as "the Michelangelo of the comic strip," Hogarth returned to sequential art in 1972 with his groundbreaking Tarzan of the Apes, a large format hardbound book published by Watson Guptill in 11 languages. It marks the beginning of the sober volume of integrated pictorial fiction, what is currently understood to be a graphic novel.

Burne Hogarth passed away in 1996 at the age of 84.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on learning human anatomy for all artists. One that you will refer back to for years to come. Hogarth is one of the best drawing teachers in the world.

[Averill · Rating 2 out of 5]

So Eurocentric, Burne's "Dynamic Anatomy" boarders on the imbecilic. Starting his thoughts off in Europe, he introduces the works of older cultures as a side note. He then goes on to state this comical bit of info that made me laugh out loud. "The transition from the dynastic authoritarian civilizations ( Egypt and Mesopotamia) to the socially and culturally more advanced civilizations of Greece and Rome rest on the emerging relative importance of the individual, the persona, in society" this nonsense keep at a constant for the majority of his so call history of art. Setting that blight aside for a moment, I would like to bring to light he concept that the amateur artist was in someway hindering the process of art itself for the professional. I didn't get this book 1 star but it was one star worthy.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely essential book for any art student wishing to further their skills with anatomy whether or not you think it fits into your "style". This is a book you will keep going back to for likely your whole life, as is to be expected from anything produced by Burne Hogarth; although it should not be relied on as though it is an encyclopaedia of exactly how everything should be done. Like any artist, Hogarth puts his own style into his work; Hogarth himself has recommended the reader to do their own research and not simply rely entirely on his way of doing things.

I would definitely recommend that if you are just starting out drawing the human figure in depth you read his "Dynamic Figure Drawing" before this as the forms are broken down much better for beginners.

[Michael Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy is a wonderful introductory and intermediate course to drawing humans. In its strict technical sense, the book covers five aspects: proportions of the human body, anatomical details, the surface (light planes), foreshortening, and movement. The drawing style is powerful, dynamic, perhaps more often found in action-hero comics and computer games than in traditional figure drawing. The book also covers some of the philosophy and evolution of drawing. The writing style is perhaps the book's negative side; it is terse and sometimes obscure. Overall, though, a great read for wannabe artists. Highly recommended.

[Ralph Zoontjens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good book on anatomy drawing, and an efficient learning aid. The author has an own style but in my opinion too much emphasis is put on showing all the muscles, so the drawings look a bit overly constructed. For most applicatoins you have to be careful to also convey the right mood/emotion/value and not only draw people anatomically correct.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BOOK - when I was starting out. Amazing studies and drawings. This was the book that introduced me to the names of all the muscles and such.

[Tech Nossomy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought two years after the author's passing and have reverted to this book countless times, even more so after seeing other books purporting to teach anatomical drawing or portrait drawing. To date no book expounds the material as well as this one.

The first four chapters as well as the preface can be skipped without serious loss to the subject matter. Moreover, I frequently had difficulty understanding the accompanying text to some of the drawings to the degree that it was even unclear what the text was trying to convey at all, let alone which text belonged to which image.

The author has many more books to his name, and graphical artistry is all the better for it.

[Yaser Ammar · Rating 3 out of 5]

too wordy, which is a shame cuz its full of awsome knowledge. but instead of presenting these facts and stories in a simple and digestible manner, it complicates them by using unnecessary big words like "chiaroscuro"! now i like to learn new words but when its so many it makes it hard to read and a little dry..

[Debra Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for studying or for reference to the human body for art students.
Debra H.

[Warren Nast · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a classic for a reason. I wish I could master this book. Great insights and diagrams for a lifetime of drawing. If you are interested in the human form this is a great resource.

[Madhav Vijay · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible, i still learn something new every time i study it

[EJ Hinton · Rating 2 out of 5]

great anatomical art with a side of weird eurocentric views and condescension

[Sindre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book if you want to delve deep into anatomy, however it is not for everybody. Comic book artists or specialized illustrators will benefit a lot more I think. You don't have to learn every single muscle and how everything connects if you wanna draw character illustrations.
Though, I do think the book has good surface level explanations which will help you understand the basic anatomy. Just make sure you dont think this is a "must have" just because it's really popular. I personally enjoy books that focus more on the big picture and simplifies the anatomy visually. Nonetheless, still a great book, and has interesting art history and amazing references. Good guide if you ever wonder how things are connected in the human body.

[StrangeBedfellows · Rating 5 out of 5]

��This is an incredible resource for artists, especially illustrators and drawers. There is a full range of angles and views provided; anything you're looking for help with, you'll find. Not only is there an abundance of images to reference (some even listing the names of each individual muscle) but there are guides that actually teach you the way to draw body forms 'from scratch'. The quality of my drawing significantly improved once I started referencing this book, and I've used it extensively -- both for art and for my anatomy class!

[Martha Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of illustrations and diagrams which are very helpful for artists. Art is a discipline that requires a lot of visual learning tools. This book was widely recommended to me on several artist's blogs. It is not the best book on anatomy I have seen or read to date. This would probably help beginning art students more than it helped me. I am glad that I borrowed it from the library. But I would not purchase this book because it does not suit my skill level. That is not to say that others would not benefit from the book.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful. The hands! I mean, everything was great - a brief history of anatomical drawing, the progression from blocky shapes to fluid musculature in dramatic poses with foreshortening, the volume of every shape ... but omajesus - the HANDS! I have several anatomy books, and they are all very helpful and great in their own way, but this is a leveling up book which approaches the body in motion fantastically. I wish I had it years ago.

So wonderful.

[Amy M · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems that I thought this was Hogarth's other book, Dynamic Figure Drawing, which I've been recommended so this wasn't what I was expecting. I don't think this particular book would be useful for me at all. I don't like the round, muscly style to the figures. I will keeping hunting for the other book, though, and see if that better suits my purposes.

[Ingrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very essential book for art student. This book encourages and prepares the student to develop his direction and shape his creative objective providing an abundance of images with understandable explanations.

[Bernard Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This answers all kinds of questions that I never knew needed to be asked, and is such a good reference book that I'm going to be referring back to it endlessly.

[Leisa Corbett · Rating 4 out of 5]

great instructional drawngs for my students who are learning about shape, proportion, and foreshortening. Hogarth's overly articulated hands and feet really help.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good!