Basic Human Anatomy: An Essential Visual Guide for Artists Hardcover – 18 Oct. 2016

This book is not only very informative and detailed, but a delight to read!The hardcover is an adequately large size so you can read all the text without difficulty and see the beautiful drawings without having to crack out a magnifying glass. As an artist learning anatomy this book has been invaluable and I have been working my way through it since purchasing, slowly trying to memorise all the wonderful information contained within its pages.Of all the anatomy books I’ve encountered this has to be the most concise and easy to understand one. The sections are placed in a logical order, and the drawings are thoroughly labelled which helps to avoid wasting time flicking to different pages to remind yourself. Although the subject matter itself is quite complex, the author’s descriptions are simple and therefore easy to memorise. The drawing exercises encourage to you to actively practice the shapes and proportions so you naturally memorise the information quickly.After seeing how high quality and beautiful presented this book is I will definitely be purchasing the next book in the series on dynamic anatomy as I am eager to continue learning from this wonderful teacher!

I purchased this book after buying another anatomy book rather recently. The previous one, though detailed, was confusing to use - not great for a beginner due to the lack of labelling and constant flicking to the appendices to check what's what. It also wouldn't stay open without holding it with one hand which I found a little frustrating.But this one - I absolutely love it! Overall, I prefer my books to have substance over style, but this really has both. It's printed onto beautiful paper which almost looks like ribbed Kraft, is hardback (and you can have kept open as reference without holding it), and not only does it have all the usual anatomy that you'd expect, but it has a huge section at the beginning in terms of understanding proportions, basic shapes, and so on. All the main views are presented, along with beautiful illustrations to show you the build up of muscle on bone.While it doesn't contain loads of action poses (for which one of the Morphos books would perhaps be a good accompaniment), that isn't a complaint by any stretch. The book is simple to follow and comprehensive.Another thing I especially like, which I've not seen elsewhere, is the exercises! Anatomy can be tough to learn, so the fact that the author recommends keeping an anatomy sketchbook to complete a number of exercises to commit the information to memory, really helps with a self-guided structured learning plan.I never thought I'd be that excited about anatomy since I'm predominantly a nature artist, but this has completely inspired me to start my own figure and anatomy sketchbook. Highly recommended!

The book is very clear and with detailed, high quality, drawings of the body structure by the author, a recognised guru of human anatomy drawing. Various exercises are also proposed by Roberto Osti to follow interactively the complex subject. The only thing that some reader can find missing is that there is not a wide set of poses; this is an introductory book that explains how is made and working the human body, not a 'Practical poses handbook'. I know that Osti is releasing in March 2021 another book, more focused on teaching how to draw different poses, having at disposal the knowledge of the first manual.

This is by far the best book on human anatomy here. The artist is absolutely fantastic, there is tons of information if you start like me from the beginning you will be amazed at the level your drawing will improve. This book is what I was looking for and the follow up book. I’m 100% satisfied and would definitely recommend to anybody interested in human anatomy. The pics are really beautiful and there are exercises. You will not be disappointed. 5/5.

I've been painting and drawing for over 15 years now, and been a professional illustrator and concept artist for 8 of those 15. This book is one of the best anatomy books I've seen, ever! Beautifully illustrated, fantastic paper quality, and very, very detailed. It explains all the layers of muscles in sequential pages, so you know exactly where all muscles start and end and how they overlap. The artworks are full page, unlike many other anatomy books, and they are full colour too. Simply sublime.I can't recommend this book enough!

Fast delivery, quality workmanship and nice paper in a suitable format, very useful and well presented information.Best anatomy book I have, considering I'm about 30...

A very nice anatomy book with a lot of the pictures drawn by the author with a draughtmans precision. I've not read much of the text which describes how to draw the human form but its the pictures which standout.

Lovely book, beautiful illustrations and lots of them. Great material for life drawing teachers and students alike.