Muscles in Motion
Figure Drawing for the Comic Book Artist
Glenn Fabry
ISBN: 0-8230-3145-4
(Paperback) $19.95
7 1/2 X 10 1/2
144 pages
800 black and white illustrations
June 2005
From the publisher:
Superhero comic books usually call for two things: muscles
and action. Comic book artists are constantly looking for sources for those
superhuman muscles, and now Muscles in Motion will heed their cry for
help. While most figure—drawing books focus on static poses, Muscles in Motion
analyzes the movement of bodybuilders and athletes, showing the flow of action
in step—by—step intervals. With 800 dynamic drawings taken directly from the
sketchbook of award—winning artist Glenn Fabry, plus Fabry's insightful
commentary on those drawings, this is the single most practical book on figure
drawing for comic book artists, beginning, intermediate, and advanced.
Glenn Fabry's work has been seen on the pages
of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, most notably in Hellblazer, The Authority,
and Preacher. He is the artist of Birds of Prey, written by Chuck
Dixon, and the best—selling Daredevil: Human Target, written by film director
Kevin Smith. Fabry is also the author of Anatomy for Fantasy Artists.
He lives in Brighton, England.
Our review:
Glenn Fabry, author of the book and comic book artist, like any other comic book artist often needs visual references for his work, especially when it comes to drawing the human figure. How do many comic book artists - and visual artists - get human figure reference? They sketch, take pictures, "Google" images, some buy fashion magazines and Playboys (for the pictures, not for the articles.... I'm talking about the fashion magazines); they hire models (if they can afford to), the most technically inclined use 3D software (the most common are Blender3D and Poser6). Over the years they end up with a large amount of files that they store in scrapbooks, sketchbooks or digitally (some call those folders "morgues") with thousands and thousands of images to be used as reference, or inspiration, when working on illustrations that require odd, sometimes weird, poses. But even with all those references sometimes, it's not enough. Comic book artists must be able to convey energy and motion on their drawings. So, what did Glenn Fabry do? He bought some Bodybuilders videos and used the "freeze-frame" button of his VHS player (during that process, over the months, he broke six tapes and two VHS players) sketched - frame after frame - sequences of images that show how muscles work when they are in movement. The bodybuilders in questions are mostly females - as Fabry explains in his introduction to the book - " since they're as muscular as men but also hurl themselves about a bit, integrating dance and gymnastics in their routines (while the men mostly do the same biceps-and-pecs poses over and over again). " He ended up with about 1000 figures, which he used as reference for his own work as comic book artist. He was later convinced by fellow artists but ultimately by Maria Cabardo to have these sketches published. The result is "Muscle in Motion - Figure Drawing for the Comic Book Artist" not your typical "How to Draw Muscles, Body, Anatomy..." manual, but a no-nonsense, well printed and well organized reference book that can be of invaluable assistance to both aspiring and professional artists.
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