Anatomy Drawing School: Human, Animal, Comparative Anatomy

by András Szunyoghy

With more than 1,200 detailed illustrations by the Hungarian master artist Andras Szunyoghy, Anatomy Drawing School offers an in-depth view into the anatomy of human beings and selected mammals. For the student, the volume's remarkably precise depiction of the skeleton and muscles will open the door to the true-to-life reproduction of the various parts of the body and their movements - a critical step on the road to artistic mastery.

Genres: Drawing, Art, Nonfiction

604 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Camila Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente libro. Util para estudiantes tanto de medicina como de dibujo. Todos los dias fui practicando los consejos de una pagina distinta, y en definitiva, contribuyó a un significativo progreso como dibujante para mi.

[Paulegu · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an illustrator myself, I find this book very helpful for reference drawing. It contains anatomy of a few certain animals, but most importantly, amazing human anatomy illustrations, bones and muscles.

[Naava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selailin ja piirsin mikä inspiroi. Loistava teos.

[Camilla Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Great for learning anatomy!

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

Actually the copy I have on hand is the German edition of Anatomy Drawing School: Human, Animal, Comparative Anatomy. It's Anatomische Zeichenschule: Mensch. Tier. Vergleichende Anatomie in German. I bought it because I couldn't resist the price of Euro 9.30 (without any taxes for me). And it still is at that price as I'm writing this review. It's either a pricing error or a seriously good bargain - if you don't mind German text.

This book is by the same authors Andras Szunyoghy and György Feher, who also wrote another very similar book called Human Anatomy for Artists, which I also have. This book is thicker at 604 pages and focuses about 200 pages on human anatomy.

If you already have Human Anatomy for Artists and not interested in the drawings of animal bones and muscles, you can skip this book. Most of the illustrations inside have actually appeared in the other book. The only additional part I see is some additional drawings of drapery. The main difference is the other focuses on every single muscle with many different views, this book also has those muscles but in lesser but the basic view — front and back. Bones still have as many views and come with muscle attachment points.

Illustrations of bones and muscles are very big and clear. The animals featured are horse, dog, cat, pig, monkey, sheep, bear, deer, cow, camel and lion. A big bulk is on horses. It's really interesting to see how different the bone and muscle structures are in different animals. I don't have any other animal anatomy books to compare from but this one's pretty good.

I notice that bones in German are named completely different from English while muscles still have somewhat recognisable names. Since the animals have slightly different bones and muscle names, learning them might be a problem.

Overall, it's a pretty useful anatomy reference book. Depending on your preference, you might want to get the English book, or the less dear German edition.

[M. P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but far too medical for my tastes to be used as the sole go-to guide.

The drawings are very detailed, very true to reality, very polished, and very static. Hence, the guide often felt as though it was lacking soul. I'd say it'd be best used alongside another guide, one that's more concerned on giving guidelines on how to execute, for example, that sense of speed on a drawing of a running horse. The detailed drawings of Szunyoghy provide a good reference point for detailed anatomical correctness, but don't do much beyond that.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a FABULOUS drawing reference. It not only has understandable representations of the human body, but has large sections devoted to certain animals. Perhaps one of the best things about this book is it's comparative anatomy.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not find the exact book that I have, so I had to take this one with the same cover. I have the Norwegian version of this book, and it's very good. Covers everything in anatomy. Neatly and easy.

[Caperuza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble, muy completo y lleno de detalles, te ayuda a comprender el esqueleto y cómo los músculos reaccionan, es una muy buena herramienta, la calidad de las guías con mucho detalle, los textos son muy claros y técnicos.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, detailed drawings which are good for reference but not much verbal explanation. Best to make your own version of this book by drawing from life.