Book Review: Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists

This book actually came about when Joseph Sheppard was trying to teach anatomy to his life drawing class. The original edition was published in 1975 by Watson-Guptill but now by Dover.

There are over 250 halftone illustrations and 180 line drawings detailing the bones and muscles of the human body.
For the most part, the halftone illustrations work really well, being able to show off the form clearly with shadings and highlights. The line drawings with ink aren't as clear by comparison, but doesn't really present much of a problem anyway. Joseph Sheppard is an artist so this book doesn't feel like a medical anatomy book.

In additional to the usual anatomy illustrations, also included is a section that focuses on surface anatomy, basically landmarks on the body like where bones are near the skin, useful for placing other landmarks.

One minor issue is the use of handwriting font to label the parts. They aren't easy to read. But luckily not all illustrations are labeled with handwriting font.

It's a very decent anatomy reference book, not that expensive either.

If you like his style of drawing, you can also check out his life drawing book, Drawing the Living Figure.

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