Recommended by Art Krummel
This book is essential reading for the serious student of the human
form. Though the title says "drawing lessons" all of the lessons are
based on the human form with the exception of one donkey. The author has written easy to understand lessons based on a master's drawing that illustrates the point he is trying to make. The book will take the reader through the whole gamut of the process of drawing beginning with chapter one - Learning to Draw. Other chapters include chapter 2 - Line, or chapter 5 - Position, Thrust, or Direction. The final chapter, chapter 7 - Driving All the Horses at Once, puts all of the previously mentioned skills together to show how they all work together to produce wonderful art. The 272 pages contain 200 illustrations done by the greatest artists in history. I return to this book time and time again to review techniques or drawing processes that I feel I've lost touch with. Add this to your library.

Recommended by Art Krummel
This is a book of Anatomy Lessons that begins where normal anatomy books leave off. Co-author Terence Coyle used his notes collected from years of lectures on human anatomy given by Robert Beverly Hale. With Hale's blessing he paired the notes up with 100 master drawings and thus "Anatomy Lessons . . ." was born. The book is broken down into 8 chapters, each on a major area of the body. The first chapter is on the rib cage, which is subdivided into titles like "Rib cage lateral aspect" or "Rectus Abdominus". The titles give the impression of more dry anatomy but the accompanying text is anything but dry. The muscle shapes are described with easy to understand terms like "elongated diamond shaped muscle" in referring to the trapezius. Each major body area is covered in detail with seperate chapters including ones for the foot, the hand, and the neck and head. The final chapter contains numerous anatomical reference plates. If you only can bring yourself to read one anatomy book, this is the one to read. It is a must for the serious student of figure drawing.

Recommended by Art Krummel
This book is structured using the same order of topics as is "Anatomy Lessons. . .". Again the lectures are paired with master's drawings that best illustrate the lecture's topic. Most of the main topics are broken down into five sub-topics: massing, planes and values, landmarks, muscles and finally bones.This book differs from the first two in that the text appears to be the actual lectures as presented by Mr. Hale. As is the case with most good art teachers Hale has a way of using simple analogies and descriptive phrases to convey the complex topic in an entertaining and easy to understand way. The lectures make me wish that I'd known about this man while he was still teaching. Now I have to settle for his lectures in a written form. There are invaluable little treasures of information that won't be found elsewhere. I feel my figure drawing library is complete now. Take a look at this book yourself, you won't put it down.