Comments on: Figure Drawing For All It's Worth: prized instructional art book by Andrew Loomis back in print

By: dougrogers

dougrogers — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hey, I was passed that book along by my father when I was twelve or so. Yes, I learned to draw from Andrew Loomis. And I learned to draw from that book that my father purchased when he was a student. Damn, I wonder where it is now?

By: Just Good Sense

Just Good Sense — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fantastic news! Now if they'll do Creative Illustration we'll be set. I think it goes for thousands. I own Loomis's cartooning book, Fun With a Pencil, which I've had since I can remember. I adopted it from my Mom's ownership when I was, like, 8. We also had Drawing the Head and Hands, but I'm afraid it went the yard sale route 25 years ago.

By: Gutierrez

Gutierrez — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This book is amazing. And to see a hardcover reprint for a reasonable price is great. I had the mentioned PDF's that were linked from my professor in figure drawing class. I would spend time just flipping through it for the sake of admiring the work within. Now the big question is will we see a reprint of the now poorly named "Fun With a Pencil" given the period poor racial stereotypes. It's really amazing instruction for a budding artist that leads nicely into figure drawing.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

According to the dust jacket of “Figure Drawing for All it’s Worth”, Titan Books also plans to reprint Creative Illustration.

By: Mark Frauenfelder

Mark Frauenfelder — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Titan is going to republish Fun With a Pencil, Creative Illustration, and Drawing the Head and Hands. You can bet I’ll get them!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Millions of grown men probably recall sweaty quick encounters with that book when the parents were out for a while…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Matisse? Bonnard? Freud? Rembrandt? Loomis?

By: benher

benher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This book is a de facto standard for anyone wishing to study figure drawing. Loomis is brilliant and treats figure drawing as the classical discipline that it is. The kind of stuff I wished they had taught us in “art” class but of course never did. Post says it all: $23 is a STEAL.

By: jaykinney

jaykinney — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the early ’70s, I tracked down copies of Loomis’s “Figure Drawing”, “Creative Illustration”, and “3-Dimensional Drawing” and learned much from them (though I can’t claim that I read through all the text). My still-prized copy of “Creative Illustration” shows that I paid $8.50 for it. “Figure Drawing” I might have paid the full listed price for: $8.95. I’m not sure what those prices are in 2011 dollars, but it sounds like the reprints will be relatively less expensive than used copies of the originals.

By: noen

noen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Anatomy and Drawing by Victor Perard is also quite good and still generally available. Though not quite on the level of Loomis.

Still… the best teacher is the human figure, charcoal, paper and your own personal struggle.

By: noen

noen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Admit it though… this is just an excuse to put up a pic of nekkid wimmins…. ;)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My cartooning teacher in college would always give us reference sheets pulled from pages in Loomis’ books for things like proportion and musculature, and to show the influences of artists like Alex Ross. A lot of my reference books for figure drawing and bodily proportion are either from Burne Hogarth (who is also quite outstanding) or generic photographic figure reference books, so I’m quite excited that this is going back into print.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Titan is going to republish Fun With a Pencil, Creative Illustration, and Drawing the Head and Hands. You can bet I’ll get them!

Thanks for the info mark! Could you keep us updated when these other titles are back in stock? Otherwise I’ll probably forget…

- druse

Btw, I couldn’t sign in. I just installed IE 9, might’ve something to do with it…

By: druse

druse — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ow, now I can…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There are at least 2 of Loomis’ books in print in Spanish. Printed in 2008 in Buenos Aires. In paperback but still nicely done.

By: travtastic

travtastic — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

God, I hope they’re not a subsidiary of Titan Media.

By: dark victoria

dark victoria — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i’ve been given numerous copies of his books over the years along with dessicated tubes of cheap oil paint by all the sunday painters who heard i was an artist. excuse me while i beat a hasty retreat to my parent’s storage shed for the books i hope are still there. finally i own something that’s worth money on eBay!

By: Meloncov

Meloncov — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fun With A Pencil is Loomis’s book most directly aimed at beginners, but Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth starts with fairly basic concepts.

By: knoxblox

knoxblox — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The price and easy availability beat Richard Schmid’s books by a longshot. Despite the different subject matter…I swear that guy doesn’t really give as much of a damn about teaching art as he does a dollar, the way he prices his books.

I know it sure would be nice to get some advice from some of the newer hotshot illustrators who draw just as well, like say, Steve Huston. C’mon Steve, whaddya say? Write us a book?

By: quinchoncho

quinchoncho — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I paid like $2 for an original in perfect condition about 5 years ago. Found it somehow browsing on a used bookstore in Venezuela (of all places). I felt like a pirate stumbling upon a pile of gold.

I learned to draw with the Loomis pdf’s. It’s great someone it’s getting them on print again. These books are ageless.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh my goodness!! I learned to figure draw from PDFs of his books, back when I was a teenager. I would study them religiously, at the insistence of one of my favorite online mentors. Being a teenager in the 90s meant I had long missed out on available print editions.

I’ll definitely buy a copy of all of his books when I get the chance. This is amazing! I’ve owned many art instruction books in my time, but none were the quality of Loomis’.

By: druse

druse — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks Mark!

Could you keep us updatd when the other titles arrive?

Btw, Ignore previous comment, something went wrong.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Another highly recommended book is Disney Animator Donald Graham’s book Composing Pictures. My used copy was about a hundred dollars, it was reprinted last year in paperback for $ 26.37 (Amazon.com).

By: Theismisacrime

Theismisacrime — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a link to all of his works in a handy .rar file.
http://alexhays.com/loomis/

By: Geoduck

Geoduck — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Blink. I have a copy of the original as well, which I inherited from my aunt. Had no idea it was worth anything..

By: Just Good Sense

Just Good Sense — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Woo-hoo! :-D

By: Peterzee

Peterzee — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve still got the copy my dad had; he was an illustrator, and said it was the best book ever on figure work. I spent hours hunched over that thing trying to master the fine art of drawing naked females.

By: narddogz

narddogz — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As a teenager I also probably would have studied it religiously too, but just ended up getting the pages all sticky.

Hey, there was no internet and we had to make do with stuff like this and National Geographic sometimes…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I dunno. A lot of these women are in heels, have model-like proportions, gorgeous hair. This reminds of of countless other figure books from the 50′s that were de facto pornography. This book is very good for the retired adult male who goes to figure drawing every thursday or feverish young boy.

Not that this guy is better, but note the difference:

http://www.gageacademy.org/artists/?page=instructors&i_id=79

By: mikesorgatz

mikesorgatz — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bridgman has some great figure drawing books, there’s a compilation of his work for $11 – http://www.amazon.com/Bridgmans-Complete-Guide-Drawing-Life/dp/1402766785/ref=pd_sim_b_5