Giovanni Civardi

This is the first book of the trilogy by Giovanni Civardi on figure drawing. Not the most exciting in terms of getting down to the practical bit of actually doing life drawing yourself, but if you ever expect to flourish as a competent artist you really need what this book is trying to teach you.

Read this book cover to cover, then...
Read it again till some of it starts to soak in, then...
Read it again till it sticks!

Medically too, you'll learn a lot of the terminology that will serve you in show more the future when an academic knowledge of anatomy will enable you to better relate to any treatments you may undergo later in life. Your friends might end up referring to you as 'The Doctor'. Basically, it's a win-win!
Next time you see a nude, you'll start to notice what's going on beneath the skin. Then you'll understand what some of those pleasing lumps of bumps are about. Then you'll even be able to do without the model entirely if you wish.

The only thing you don't need to worry about are the Sacrococcygeus: These are rudimentary muscle bundles on the ventral side of the sacrum and coccyx, and are irrelevant both to action and to art. ;)
I joke, there are others (lumbricals, interossei, etc.) show less

This book is really the third book in a series, following directly from Drawing the Male Nude which in tern followed Drawing Human Anatomy. This book references the previous books and although it can certainly be used stand alone, you will get the best out of having read all three in order. Initially I failed to do this, and had to stop and go back to the other books before continuing, because I felt that I needed to fully understand what was being taught. In other words; I found what I was show more reading of such value, that I invested (time and money) in the whole course!
Worth it!

I have owned the books for twenty years, but the last time I opened either of them was probably back then, and I had forgotten a lot of valuable information (having not done any life drawing for ten years).

For reasons of clarity, the life drawings represented throughout this book have been done in the 'academic' style, without personal style, favouring a more clinical interpretation of the subject matter. This style is not recommended by the author who strongly advises more artistic interpretations, further removed from a photographic depiction be used by the student.
Good examples of the same figure drawn in a tonal, line, constructive, and structural drawing are given.
It is a very easy book to get through since the images speak for themselves with only minor text to guide the reader on what they should be looking at in the images. It is a very good place to start or for young adults with limited attention spans, or who are impatient and understandably just want to get on with drawing. You can get away with not understanding all the medical termanology used and ignore the other two books, but this will be to your disadvantage in the long run. Take it from personal experience. show less

Excellent drawings but uses unhelpful anatomical terms without equivalent common terms. Does not relate to drawing and fails to explain how structures move and how they change shape accordingly. Not particularly useful.

Slightly disappointed with this book, although all the elements of portrait drawing are there it didn't engage me as much as other books.