Drawing the Head and Figure: A How-To Handbook That Makes Drawing Easy

Okay, first it should be made clear that this book is great for a very specific reason and is not, as its title might suggest, a procedural book on the physical act of drawing itself.This book is about figure construction, and all the rules and formulas that will assist you (greatly) in drawing a figure from your imagination, as well as help you make sense of what you're seeing when a model or photo reference is present. Although there is one very illuminating step by step procedure showing how to draw a woman in 3/4 view with her weight heavily on one leg (which is quite impressive in the way it makes it look easy to get everything right in such a complex asymmetrical pose) this is for the most part a catalog of rules of thumb regarding proportion and anatomical landmarks.I've never seen a book so densely packed with so many useful little tips and tricks. For example Hamm has the best simplification of the pelvis I've ever seen (why didn't I think of that? Why didn't Loomis or Bridgman??) and there is a two page spread on shoulders and collar bones that is almost as enlightening as seeing for the first time that a long skirt has legs under it. For instance there is a brief schematic of a woman's shoulders in3/4 view that shows that although "By the simple laws of perspective one would expect...." the collar bone nearest the viewer to be longer, the farther one is in fact longer. He demonstrates this counterintuitive result with "correct" and "incorrect" drawings in such a way that had me slapping my forehead.As well as countless construction guides and perceptive anatomical simplifications, there are sections on more "literal" anatomy that are as good as I've ever seen in something so brief. (He shows six different kinds of kneecaps.) Think the best of Goldfinger distilled to a few pages.The last eight pages are on clothing and wrinkles, and this alone is worth the cost of the book. In fact it's far better than any stand alone book on the subject I know of, but that's partly because all such books I know of are next to worthless.There is considerable overlap with Loomis, and I think the two are roughly contemporary Hamm has a much better pelvis simplification than Loomis' two disks, and he a has a surprisingly useful two-trapezoid mannequin that although basically a stick figure, is so incisive that it looks professionally drawn. I wouldn't suggest Loomis or Hamm as a substitute for the other but rather would enthusiastically recommend both.A note on the illustrations: most of them appear to have been done in lithographic crayon rather than charcoal or carbon pencil, because they're extremely clear for the time the book was first printed. They don't look as though they've been xeroxed multiple times as Bridgman's drawings do.If I had to sum up this book in one word, it would probably be "concision". It's exactly 120 pages long and physically thinner than most magazines, but every time I thumb through it, it *feels* as though I've gone through a book several hundred pages long. The clarity of the schematic drawings means many can fit on one page without it looking confused or cluttered (many of the heads are only an inch-and-a-half high) and in my opinion there is exactly as much text as there should be. Almost all of it appears immediately under the relevant illustrations, in no more than two or three sentence paragraphs.The closet thing I can come to a negative criticism is the dated, kitschy Rex Morgan MD style of some of the head illustrations, but that's pretty irrelevant even in the sections on hair.I payed just under four dollars for this book used, and considering how much I got for how little, I don't think it would be hyperbole to say this just might be the best purchase I've ever made.

When reading this review, be sure to keep in mind that the best way to learn to draw varies between people. In my case, I find it best to have a step-by-step visual guide with some text. Other folks do better with more text, while some just need to see a few steps from the start to the finished work.Hamm's book contains clear and detailed guides to drawing (as the title say) the head and figure. While the book does contain numerous finished illustrations, it also contains an abundance of step-by-step tutorials, including a moderate amount of text to guide the reader through the steps. The author is also careful to show the reader general skills, rather than simply showing how to draw a specific figure.The book is not aimed specifically at utter beginners and some basic familiarity with drawing is useful. That said, the book is useful for those who are learning to draw. It should also prove useful to more experience artists by providing an excellent guide to the human body.Some reviewers have commented that the hairstyles and clothing are dated. This is true-they are clearly 1950s/1960s styles. As such, the book is not a great guide to drawing contemporary hairstyles. But, given how rapidly fashion and style changes, this is hardly surprising. Fortunately, human anatomy has not changed since the dawn of humanity-so the book is still an excellent guide to drawing the head and figure. Artists who want to include contemporary hairstyles will need to look at the latest styles-but even then the book does provide a solid guide to drawing hair in general.If you want to learn to draw the human head and figure or improve your ability, this book is an excellent choice-especially given its relatively low price. Look past the outdated hair styles and you will be rewarded.

I Love me some ham. He Just put so much Info on every page, You'll be reading his little side notes on each page.Some of his techniques like the eye wheel can be made digital in photoshop or which ever program you use. It's a great way to see how a charter/charters,face/faces will look if you are making a character for a comic book,or story,you can do this with other features as well. Like hair and others. Not only is this packed with drawing the head and figure. He also included a few pages on putting feet,yes feet that are sweet into a shoe and clothes folds. The folds part is a good starter to drawing folds. The fold's part would go good with another pure folds books. so you can count it as a intro into folds as some sort. Putting feet into shoe/soles is very good. Although you can tell by the clothing and shoes of the time period being drawn.Might just put some people into what the heck I don't wanna draw the 50's mind set. Well It's not showing you to draw the 50's fashion. It's showing you How to put a foot into a shoe Of your choice Like a Nike shoe or any other brand you may choose. take what you learn and apply your style to it. Same goes for the clothing.

Wow, the "old school" illustrators really knew what they were doing! Jack Hamm's book belongs right up there with Andrew Loomis, although it is not nearly as comprehensive as the latter. That is, the textual explanation is really brief. (On this score, Loomis deserves extra credit for his outstanding prose.) Still, it does have a lot of "neat tricks" for rendering difficult poses, angles, features, etc. with accuracy. Hamm's work epitomizes the era of classical American illustration. If you are an aspiring comic book artist and like comic book realism (like Alex Ross, for example), I highly recommend this book. The only thing that would improve it would a newer edition, slightly larger than the 8 x 10 format of this softback version.