{Book Review; Figure It Out, By. Chris Hart

{Book Review; Figure It Out, By. Chris Hart

This will be The Factoid Firefly's first official book review!- The book is "Figure It Out" By. Chris Hart. - Due to copyright I will not post anything other than the book cover, if you want to sample pages you can go here to see preview images.

Note: I like this book at lot, although I will seem to be ripping it apart I'm not! I'm just saying how I see it from my point of view, some or all of what I say might not matter to you or it might be helpful, I hope it's just that: Helpful. - I'd also like to thank my brother who bought me the book for my 15^th birthday going on almost 3 years ago!

Announcement: This is the 60th published post of "The Factoid Firefly". 

About Artist/Author:

Chris Hart - Image from Book Lounge

Christopher Hart is one of, it not the biggest “How to draw” instructors in the book area, and I see why he covers nearly everything! He's written well over 25 “How to Draw” books; I'm not going to say a positive number because I don't know it but I know it's a lot! He studied in California at the

“California School of the Arts” , “Paier School of Art”, and the “Silvermine School of Art”. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from New York University. He's skilled and gives information that is generally helpful. Other information would be he's from The United States, and Lives in Connecticut with his wife and other family.

More about him can be read at his “About” page on his official website which can be found here.

Links:

Chris Hart deviantART

Chris Hart Official Website

Book Overview:

• Title: Figure It Out – A Beginner's Guide to Drawing People
• Author: Christopher “Chris” Hart
• Subject: Drawing moderately realistic figures and basic anatomy tips.
• Pages: 144
• Size: 8.5 x 11 inches
• Chapters: 6
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: Chris Hart Books; 1st edition (August 4, 2009)

Official Cover of "Figure it Out, By. Chris Hart" (No Copyright Infringement Intended)

Figure It Out is a 139 paged book based off of primarily realistic human anatomy but the figures themselves drawn are much like an uncolored western comic character, all figures are clothed over the areas that would be considered “personal” so even when learning the basic anatomy tips within the book parents can be assured their children won't be looking at naked people; All the examples are of young adults no children, middle aged or elderly adults.

Figure it out has 6 chapters and are as follows:

1. Start At The Top! – Male and Female faces, basic facial anatomy and expressions.
2. Break It Down! – Fully to Semi detailed tutorials on drawing both male and female faces.
3. Get Back To Basics! - Drawing the body in basic angels (front, three quarter, and side) along with some anatomy structure.
4. Express Yourself! - Breaking down expression in body language and basic figures.
5. Strike A Pose! - Drawing women in 16 different poses from start to finish.
6. Get In Position! - Drawing Men in 14 different poses.

The faces are generally realistic although in this book there is no real shading it's all in outlines, think of it like a comic-book realism; in the first chapter the face is broken down a bit to show the different elements, my only complaint would be the expressions seem to be more masculine than feminine, which is fine for males, but for some can be a bit confusing!

The poses for women are generally “Model” poses, I personally find most of the poses fine, but my mother (listen any parents reading this!) found a few poses awkward, notably the pose on page 104, and page 110; The women are both clothed but how they are sitting my mother found a bit awkward so that might be something to keep in mind, and to check out in the bookstore if you don't buy online, even if you do buy generally online it can't hurt to go to your library and see if the book is there for free and check it out before buying.

The poses for men are split between “Strong” or “heroic” poses and some general poses, like standing, sitting and the like, only 2 poses can I say personally look like a normal average person not a super-star as in extra buff or extra pleasing to the eye.

My Review:

Art from 2012 - Referenced Pg. 84

“Figure It Out” is aimed at kids I'd say between 9-12, but really it's good for anyone with enough comprehension to take instructions that they understand, or if an adult draws with the child using this book. If you are an older person like say 14 and up this book is still useful for drawing people's bodily forms, even if you draw in a cartoon style the more realistic anatomy is good to know and will help you, again,think realistic comic-book.

This book, in my opinion is very helpful if you are in need of help with drawing bodies, but like many other guides, the author seems to assume that because you're this deep in to the book you have read and mastered everything else in it and he doesn't have to show as much detail when he draws a figure or face in each of the steps as the book progresses. -What if I saw a pose I liked or needed and just happened to see it there and didn't read every page before it? I don't know about you but I don't generally read a how to draw book from cover to cover, I go to where it looks interesting; For others this might not be a big deal, for me it is, it just depends on the person.

One thing I really like is the random tips within the book, it will say how to contradict a mistake that people make when drawing something, or express why he said or showed something he was teaching, that's very lovely part!

The bodies of the men and women are a bit “ideal”, the women are all the world's standard of beautiful with perfect bodies (although not very “top heavy”) and nearly every man is ideally that “strong and handsome” type, it's basically a how to draw a “model” book. - There is nothing wrong with people like that don't get me wrong, but what about the average person? We all can't look like Angelina Jolie or a toned down version of Ronnie Coleman. - I have no real problem with this, I'm just pointing it out; I, like most other people, want my drawings to be “perfect”.

The male section isn't as useful as the female section (for me, maybe for you it's perfect!) because the men don't seem to do much but stand at different angles besides the one where a man is kneeling and the one where another man is stretching leaning to one side; And there is virtually nothing on hands in this book, if you're looking for hand guides this isn't going to give it to you at all. Shading is barley covered, maybe a page or two and it's all drawing and nearly no written content.

Art from 2011 - Referenced Pg. 78

Chapter 4; “Express yourself!” Is a very helpful guide for your drawings, if nothing else that is a great resource to have; I teaches how the body balances and the different body languages like “relaxed” or “impatient” using “stick figures”, or pre-detailed outlines of bodies to get the point across, when I first started using this book this section helped me most! 

This Indian woman is an example of me using this section as a reference.  - The drawing is going on 2 years old don't hate it too much!!

 In general the book is good, sturdy and useful for bodies minus hands, there are plenty of books on shading and this is ideal for teaching young viewers or people who don't like naked models how to draw bodies and enough anatomy to get going and draw pretty good bodies. My female bodies have improved so much using this book, it's wonderful! I don't really draw males because I have a hard time so this isn't an indictment against the book in this case, it's and indictment on me.

Pros and Cons:

Image not made by me.

I know normally pros go first, but I think if I tell you all the "bad" things before the good you'll see the good better instead of it being weight down by the cons. - Remember pros and cons are up for opinion.

Cons:

• No Hands .
• Men aren't as varied in poses as women are.
• Nearly nothing on shading. - Granted it's “how to draw figures” not “how to shade figures” but after I draw it what do I do with it? Look at it, or finish it??
• Some of the guides seem a bit presumptuous that you know how to place every single line because of where it's placed in the book.
• It only expresses one age group, there are no children of any age group, teens, middle aged or elderly adults.- Only young adults.

Pros:

• Reasonably detailed on body shape and differences between men and women
• If you're in to or need help withdrawing women this is a great start with many poses to choose from.
• Great reference guide for trying to draw poses, even it doesn't have the exact pose you want it tells enough to be able to draw a new pose using other poses and combining them.
• Although seemingly presumptuous, the guides are reasonably well done, some authors do horrible jobs, I can still follow along with him.
• All Figures are clothed where it's most needed, I don't like naked models in art lessons and it's good for younger readers that they are clothed. 
  
  

  

  Pages 45, 57, and 90 used as a reference for this drawing.

Okay lets take a vote.

Rating in General:

4.5 /5stars – Teaches a lot, but doesn't include hands and seems to assume a bit much for me.

Parental Rating:

4/5 stars – Might be hard for younger readers from say 5-10 without help but  it's still alright and best with an older helper walking with them in the pages; also a few poses might cause a bit of oddness depending on the household standards. - All in all it's very clean and informative.


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I hope this was helpful! Remember my review is based on my preference and opinion everybody's standards differ, I'm just trying to help! Nothing I say in my review is Gospel, it's very fluid depending on people's preferences. With that I bid you all adieu !

Thank you Chris Hart for helping my bodies get better with your book!

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friend; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, Friends, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly

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