Rating: 
Summary: Jack Hamm approaches the student with respect...#1 book.
Review: "Drawing the Head & Figure" by Jack Hamm I rate #1 of the top four figure drawing books!
"Practice the rough"! Hamm writes. Jack Hamm's book is refreshingly straightforward. There's nothing here for the "drawing on the right side of my ambition"
crowd. Hamm's freehand illustrations are absolutely PACKED into this book, from 10 to 25 illustrations generally, on each and every page with brief but concise text.
Hamm's presentation does not overwhelm the beginner because he does not use a confusing style of teaching. It's as though he took Stephen Peck's "Atlas of Anatomy for the Artist" and reduced it to its bare essential text, while at the same time, increasing the number of illustrations in the book. I'm truly amazed at how much good basic instruction Hamm has packed into only 120 pages. He is to be complimented.
$11.95 is the list price, but Amazon discounts that down to $9.56, and with the many clunky HOW-TO-DRAW books are approaching $20 and $30, this is one of the best bargains on the market.
Want to know how to draw the shoulder, the "six-pack" (abdomen), the pectorals, upper body and the neck? Hamm shows how better than 95% of the drawing books on the market today.
Hamm devotes an entire page each, to show how to draw lips, nose, eyes, etc. Likewise, there is an entire page to show closed hands, and another entire page to show the open hand. The Nose page shows 21 different styles of noses. And on page 41, Hamm shows the SIMPLIFIED FIGURETTE, with an Egg-shaped head, egg-shaped chest, egg-shaped pelvis, a couple of stick legs and arms, and illustrates its use in dynamic action poses. BRAVO!
Another feature I like about Hamm is that he has acheived clear mental focus. When he offers a book on "drawing" there's nothing in there on Working With Color, or Painting, or Composition, or worse, attempts to burden the student by imposing metaphysical ideas. Hamm approaches the student with respect. When he titles his book "DRAWING" then drawing is exactly the subject he treats, and not other complicated and non-essential matters. By the way, Hamm does offer separate books on the subjects of:
"Still-Life Drawing and Painting" "How to Draw Animals"
"Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes" etc. all at bargain prices.
Hamm reminds me of the working draftsmen of the Rennaissance era with his uncomplicated teaching method, and he's a teacher for the working day. If I could rate it higher, I certainly would. Jack Hamm's book belongs #1 of all beginner figure drawing drawing books.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Hamm approaches the student with respect...#1 book
Review: "Drawing the Head & Figure" by Jack Hamm 'Practice the "rough"! Hamm writes. Jack Hamm's book is refreshingly straightforward. There's nothing here for the "drawing on the right side of my ambition"
crowd. Hamm's freehand illustrations are absolutely PACKED into this book, from 10 to 25 illustrations generally, on each and every page with brief but concise text. Hamm's presentation does not overwhelm the beginner because he does not use a confusing style of teaching. It's as though he took Stephen Peck's "Atlas of Anatomy for the Artist" and reduced it to its bare essential text, while at the same time, increasing the number of illustrations in the book. I'm truly amazed at how much good basic instruction Hamm has packed into only 120 pages. He is to be complimented. $11.95 is the list price, but Amazon discounts that down to $9.56, and with the many clunky HOW-TO-DRAW books are approaching $20 and $30, this is one of the best bargains on the market. Want to know how to draw the shoulder, the "six-pack" (abdomen), the pectorals, upper body and the neck? Hamm shows how better than 95% of the drawing books on the market today. Hamm devotes an entire page each, to show how to draw lips, nose, eyes, etc. Likewise, there is an entire page to show closed hands, and another entire page to show the open hand. The Nose page shows 21 different styles of noses. And on page 41, Hamm shows the SIMPLIFIED FIGURETTE, with an Egg-shaped head, egg-shaped chest, egg-shaped pelvis, a couple of stick legs and arms, and illustrates its use in dynamic action poses. BRAVO! Another feature I like about Hamm is that he has acheived clear mental focus. That is to say, when he offers a book on "drawing" there's nothing in there on Working With Color, or Painting, or Composition, or worse, attempts to burden the student by imposing metaphysical ideas. Hamm approaches the student with respect. When he titles his book "DRAWING" then drawing is exactly the subject he treats, and not other complicated and non-essential matters. By the way, Hamm does offer separate books on the subjects of: "Still-Life Drawing and Painting" "How to Draw Animals"
"Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes" etc. all at bargain prices. Hamm reminds me of the working draftsmen of the Rennaissance era with his uncomplicated teaching method, and he's a teacher for the working day. If I could rate it higher, I certainly would. Jack Hamm's book belongs #1 of all beginner drawing books.
Rating: 
Summary: Gets you going...right away.
Review: --
This is an excellent book for the beginner to get started on drawing the human body right away. Pick up a pencil, charcoal or whatever (ballpoint pen is a real tool too!) and start drawing what Jack says. In no time you will be amazed at what you can draw. The lessons are profusely illustrated but the text is very concise and hence one has to focus on what he says carefully. It begins with the head, moves to the body , details the hand and goes on to clothing, dealing both the female and the male equally well. There are hundreds of *tips* that one can learn in this book. For example the author talks about the 'T' technique. Using this very simple observational method one can capture the realism of an object in terms of how the edges of the objects are all made of different forms of the letter 'T'. And using this technique one can depict the 3 dimensional illusion on paper. Especially this helps is drawing the human body. (if you are wondering what the hell this is, pls take a look inside the book) There are countless number of such practical tips, using which one can, not only start drawing right away, but also learn how to approach drawing the body on their own. The secret of using Jack's book is to pick up a lesson, one at a time, follow the tips and practice that lesson until one can draw that particular piece without seeing. Also 'Read what he says very carefully', 'Pay attention to every word'. A more personal approach and continuity in the conversation with the student as one progresses thru the pages and more 'exercises' and a note on how to use the book, which one takes a while to figure out would have earned it 5 stars. But.. it has *practical* tips and techniques to make anybody with the desire, to draw a human body with ease and confidence......Right away!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty solid, but I needed more practical exercises ...
Review: ... and his style is somewhat 'spare' for what I want to do with graphite and charcoal. I came into art from drafting/design and have been struggling with 'too much technique and not enough drawing'. While this book hasn't cured me yet it's a start (for life drawing) and appears so far to be better than most figure texts costing twice as much. Most life drawing books I've looked thru are presented more as anatomy studies or figure studies without what I call true instruction. This approach is probably great for more advanced hobbiests but for a beginner (and someone not very talented ... like me) practical exercises would seem to work better and Mr. Hamm doesn't really present alot of them, so I copy ALL the explanatory sketches for practice. If anyone has suggestions for a better instruction manual for life drawing I'd really liketo hear them. Until then, I'll work thru this one and keep looking.
Rating:
Summary: LOVE This Book!
Review: Can't really say too much that hasn't already been said! This is a wonderfully detailed and informative book. Although over 40 years old...these techniques are timeles. Kinda like Mozart. What I like most about this book (and Jack Hamm books in general) is although the book is instructional, it doesn't teach you how to draw it teaches you techniques to improve your drawing. Too often (especially in the past couple of years) art instructional books tell you what to. Line here, cirle there, shade a bit after--this book provides the information and allows you to work it into your style. Every artist's work is like a signature and this book nurtures that.
Rating:
Summary: LOVE This Book!
Review: Can't really say too much that hasn't already been said! This is a wonderfully detailed and informative book. Although over 40 years old...these techniques are timeles. Kinda like Mozart. What I like most about this book (and Jack Hamm books in general) is although the book is instructional, it doesn't teach you how to draw it teaches you techniques to improve your drawing. Too often (especially in the past couple of years) art instructional books tell you what to. Line here, cirle there, shade a bit after--this book provides the information and allows you to work it into your style. Every artist's work is like a signature and this book nurtures that.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book-Thank you Jack!
Review: Drawing the Human body may be perhaps the most commercial aspect of drawing and may also be the most aesthetically pleasing as well. Moreover, it is also perhaps the most difficult of subjects to draw as well. Jack Hamm has produced a commendable piece of work. He breaks down the drawing of the body into its constituent parts and does not rely on one technique alone to describe the basic building blocks of each part. He reviews the process of drawing the body in many different ways. Each of these ways will def. assist you in becoming more familiar with the body form and lead on to more confidence in drawing the body as well. Its will def assist you in drawing the human form. Thank you Jack for sharing your knowledge so clearly as well.
Rating:
Summary: If I could buy only one figure/portrait book. this is it.
Review: Every inch of every page is packed with easy to follow information
Rating:
Summary: Wish I had picked this up about a decade earlier
Review: Great book. Tons of reference pictures. Simple enough drawings to follow, not so simple as to leave you hanging. Highly recommend to anyone wanting to improve their figure drawing.
Rating:
Summary: This book will teach you something!!!
Review: I have been illustrating for 16 years and all I did was browse through this book and I learned something! That's how good this book is! Detailed and easy, this book has something for every one. That goes for all of Jack Hamm's books.
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