Atlas of Foreshortening: The Human Figure in Deep Perspective

by John Cody

Book Overview

A unique visual encyclopedia for artists and illustrators Like its acclaimed predecessor, the Second Edition of this outstanding photographic reference offers illustrators, fine artists, and animators... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0442215959
• ISBN13: 9780442215958
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 10.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Exellent!

This is the book I've been searching for for years! Most art photo reference books will either give you very standard standing, lying, walking poses or very artistic poses(ie unclear) . This book has clear photos of the body in unusual positions. There's a wide variety of poses and sections. Both male and female models. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's a must for those who can't afford to hire a model everyday.

Very useful

There are lots of visual reference books out there. It would be easy to populate a bookshelf with them. After a while, though, they start to look the same. Not this one. Heavily foreshortened poses are the hardest (for me at least), so this book devotes itself to genuinely distinctive views. It may sound like distortion to describe an arm or leg as being a third length of the other. In fact, it is distortion if they are the same length, when viewed from some angles. This book gives an uncommon perspective - it has earned its place on my shelves. [review of first edition] //wiredweird

Wonderful Reference Book

I have been using Mark Edward Smith's two excellent photographic references as a source for practicing figure drawing over the last year or so. I was a bit hesitant to buy this book - afraid that it might just be duplicating what I already have - but once it arrived in the mail I was really glad that I did. The quality of the photography is *fantastic* and it's printed on a glossy stock which preserves the halftones and detail which unfortunately sometimes get 'washed out' in Smith's books. The range of poses is great too - from some very classical poses to some really "out-there" angles and poses which border on contortionism. Some of the most beautiful poses in this book are ones which a live model couldn't hold for more than 2-5 minutes, so having it captured on paper is a real bonus. All in all, I wuold say that the combination of poses and camera angles provides a fantastic reference work for studying the muscles of the body in various states of tension and compression. I think I'm going to be spending lot of time drawing from this book.

Bad for Illustrators looking for reference!!

This book like It's title clearly indicates is not an illustration reference book.It's extremely useful to students and practitioners of the fine art of figure drawing ,it provides poses which are very diffrent from what we are used to seeing in normal life thus forcing us to see how many familiar shapes change when viewed at an unfamiliar angle,for a figure artist struggling with foreshortening a book like this one and Burne Hogarths Dynamic Figure Drawing used in tandem could work wonders.This is the only book of its kind and is in one word "BRILLIANT" .

Excellent Book

If you are an artist looking for dynamic poses this is the book for you. It is a great guide to help you get some very interesting perspectives of humans. I highly recommend it.