The Best Art Books

Feb 13, 2025, 11:49:59 PM

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis

Art Books

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $31 USD, Hardcover
I like Andrew Loomis. I learned how to draw a head from his instruction when I was younger. These books are definitely worth getting to help you with drawing figures in space.

Drawing the Head and Hands & Figure Drawing (Box Set) - Andrew Loomis

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $44 USD, Hardcover set
A whole box set of Loomis books if you want them all. I only have Figure Drawing for All It's Worth.

Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $16 USD, Paperback
This book primarily teaches you how to draw the figure in space from imagination. Burne's method has you start from the torso and build limbs off of that and then the head last.

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $16 USD, Paperback
This feels like one definitive book for comic creators. McCloud explores how to use paneling, dialogue, white space, etc., to tell a story.

Extreme Perspective! For Artists by David Chelesa

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $18 USD, Paperback
I don't have this book, but I have another one by David Chelesa about perspective. I like it because he uses comic paneling to explain perspective.

How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $11 USD, Paperback
This is a book I had since I was a kid. It covers fundamentals for drawing figures, props, and scenes.

Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $13 USD, Kindle
I use this book when sculpting in 3D or drawing unfamiliar parts of the figure to get muscles and structure right.

The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) - $22, Paperback
A great book on animation principles.

Writing

Story by Robert McKee

Buy Book on Amazon (Affiliate Link), Price: $24 USD, hardcover

Buy Audio Book on Amazon (Affiliate Link), Price: $15 USD (looks like they want you to sign up for Audible to listen to it)

In the first few chapters of his book, McKee breaks down story in such a way that it appealed to my engineering brain. A beat it an exchange of action or dialogue in a scene. A scene is a change in fortune that is built up beat by beat. An act is a group of scenes that change a character's fortune in a fundamental way that can't be undone. A story is three or more acts where the character(s) experience an overall change to their lives. There's a lot of great advice beyond that in his book. It's worth reading or listening through once.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Buy on Amazon (Affiliate Link) Price: $13, Paperback In this book Lamott gives you permission to write a shitty first draft. It doesn't mean to write badly. It means you need to start somewhere to get somewhere.

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Lolita Fashion Coloring Book

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And as always have a great weekend!