About this project
Masters Of Anatomy
CA$ 532,614
6,974
"The book I wish I had when I was trying to learn about drawing comic-books" -Humberto Ramos
"This project is one of the coolest things on earth!" -John Timms
"I am beyond humbled - I'm a fan of so many of the people on this project" -Sean "Cheeks" Galloway
The Book
Andrew Loomis created the Ideal Male and Female references over 70 years ago and since then generations of artists have used them to understand the complex proportions of human anatomy. But while the art world has evolved dramatically, these classic references have remained unchanged. We believe it's time for a refresh.
Master of Anatomy: The Ideal Male and Female, is a one-of-a-kind collection of artistic anatomy bringing together the work over 100 artists from different industries. Each artist recreates the Ideal Male and Female illustrated in their own signature style and without the aid of external reference. Each angle is neutral, symmetrical and un-posed showing the front, side and 3/4 front angles as a classic animation turn-around. The goal: to translate a decades-old sketch into something more relevant to a modern aesthetic. The result is a volume unlike anything that exists today. A must have for any aspiring artist; digital or traditional.
*NOTE: The 3 angles presented will be Front, Side and 3/4 front. Each Artist will draw the figures in their own signature style to best of their ability in a completely finished, detailed Black & White render. The above picture depicts the poses only - it will not influence the style or look of the final concept.
The Problem with Anatomy Books
The biggest problem with most artistic anatomy books is that there is only one contributing artist. He or she is trying to appeal to the broadest market possible which makes "popular" or "experimental" anatomy too financially risky to publish. This diminishes the concept of inventive design and it makes it impossible to compare the work of various artists. In the end your left with a heavy volume where only a handful of pages are of any real use. That's why we hired 100 artists to produce over 200 unique characters in the 3 most helpful angles - there is something new and beautiful ON EACH PAGE!!!
The Artists
Over 100 popular Animators, Illustrators, Comic-Book artists and Video-Game Designers!!! We solicited work from artists all over the world even children's books. Each artist was carefully chosen for their style, appeal and underlying knowledge of anatomy. Together they have produced over 200 unique male and female anatomies with over 600 angles all beautifully drawn for you to examine and explore.
Artist Portfolios
- Joe Madureira (Joe Mad)
- J. Scott Campbell
- Terry Dodson
- Ryan Woodward
- Humberto Ramos
- Francisco Herrera
- Patricio Betteo
- Warren Louw
- Florian Satzinger
- Denis Zilber
- Kenneth Anderson
- Matthew Boismier
- Martin Wittig
- Creepy Sheep Studio
- Chase Conley
- Ivan Oviedo
- Milenko Tunjic
- Mathieu Reynes
- Eugenia Nobati
- Mathieu Beaulieu
- Corey Smith
- Dave Malan
- Coran Kizer Stone
- Ben Li
- Francisco Rico
- Loopydave
- Mattias Adolfsson
- Minoh Kim
- Otoritopoit & Subwaycat
- Joe Olson
- Emilie Decrock
- Ying Chen
- Marcio Takara
- Dan Panosian
- Luis Gadea
- Chuck Pires
- Daniel Araya
- Gorrem
- Dan Howard
- Cushart Krenz
- REIQ
- XAV
- RobbVision
- Ryan David Jones
- Studio Qube
- t-wei
- Jeff Wamester
- couscousteam
- Rob Laro
- Andrew Robinson
- Erin Humiston
- Dan Seddon
- Guilherme D'Arezzo
- Michael Bills
- Roger Cruz
- Ben Fiquet
- Ein Lee
- Pascal Campion
- Pedro Delgado
- Joslin
- Tori Davis (ToriCat)
- Kevin Keele
- Alessandro Micelli
- Alessandra Sorrentino
- Ingrid Liman
- Loish
- John Timms
- Rad Sechrist
- Juarez Ricci
- Eddie Nunez (MiaCabrera)
- Guillaume Poux (El Gunto)
- Simone Kesterton (DawnElaineDarkwood)
- Chhuy-ing
- Sam Nielson
- Jerome K. Moore
- Eric Guzman
- Jon Diesta
- Flaviano Armentaro
- Phil Bourassa
- Karioks
- Joel Jurion
- Mike Butkus
- Raul Trevino
- Sergi Brosa
- David Rosel
- Rene Cordova
- Jace Wallace
- Sean Healey (Endling)
- Volta Ilustracion
- Francis Vallejo
- Mel Milton
- Jae Hong Kim (tincan21)
- Sarah Mensinga
- Anna Cattish
- Robert Porter (Robaato)
- maitaboris
- Michael Buffington Jr.
- Luigi Lucarelli (Luigi L)
- Lene Chavez (BezerroBizarro)
- Mister Hope
- Dave Bardin
- D.J. "Dark Kenjie" Welch
- Charlie Bowater
- Sean "Cheeks" Galloway
- Raul Moreno
- Ryan Stegman
- Meghan Hetrick
- Joshua Covey
- Randy Bishop
- Joe Madureira
- Mark Crilley
- Olga Zavershinskaya
- Pedro Perez
- Rachel Saunders
- Mike Bowden
- Stanley Lau (Artgerm)
- Mike Henry (Zatransis)
How It Came to Be
The idea for this book took root years ago in Paris while filming a sculpting tutorial for our parent company Miniature Mentor. There we met a young concept artist named Edouard Guitton who was working as a lead designer for the famous Rackham Studios. It's was his designs that made Rackham miniatures an international sensation. Watching him sketch in the studio below was like magic! He explained to us why the sculpts based on his drawings were so appealing. "sculpting and drawing is the same - it's all about the silhouette. Details and realism are secondary, they only get in the way; the silhouette is what really matters." It was a revelation!
Those words floated around in our minds for the next few years until we began working on a video tutorial about anatomy (yet to be released). We wanted to provide our sculptors with an in-depth level of instruction but we felt the video by itself was too much of an instructional tool; too rigid. We needed something to stoke the creative fires, something that could embody Edouard's ideas about the silhouette. Thus, was Masters of Anatomy born.
Why Commission New Work?
It became evident in the early stages of research that well-drawn examples of neutral anatomy turnarounds like Loomis's were rare and difficult to find. What we did manage to scrape together was of generally poor quality. What we became aware of instead, browsing hundreds of art blogs, was the huge number of brilliant artists out there. But even among their work there were few examples of neutral anatomy turnarounds. We then understood why so many amateur sculptors and 3D artists were having a difficult time making unique figures - a lack of well-drawn reference art.
Who is This Book For?
This book is for any artist interested in human anatomy and proportions. By examining the subtle differences between similar drawings you will strengthen your knowledge of the human anatomy and begin to recognize which areas contain the majority of changes. We believe that a single reference is limiting and counter-intuitive to creative minds. It makes the learning curve rigid and inflexible. We believe multiple references are needed to examine the true definition of an "ideal". And since the drawings appear in the same place on each page it makes side-by-side comparison much easier and more fun. The end goal is to help artists develop their own unique style and voice.
Why Kickstarter?
Because hiring over 100 well-known artists costs money: A LOT OF MONEY! But we think our book has a place in this world as a source of inspiration. If we can make it easier for artists to achieve their goals then it's cause worth doing. That's why we need Kickstarter - it's one of the only places where you, the customer, can help bring out-of-the-box ideas to life.
Why Help Us?
If you're reading this far down into the page, chances are you're intrigued by our project, which is good. So here's the bottom line - We need you. Plain and simple. If we fail to raise our funding goal we lose the enormous investment we have sunk into this project. So, if you like what you see and you have faith we can deliver then pledge away. Or help us by spreading the word, telling your artist friends/husbands/colleagues, Facebook liking us or giving us a shout-out on national TV. You'll give us a tremendous shot of confidence at this critical point and hopefully fund a whole wave of similar books from us down the road.
Who Are We?
Masters of Anatomy is a brand-new publishing company devoted to producing extraordinary, one-of-a-kind anatomy books to help artists discover their own unique style. We are located in Toronto, Canada.
What You're Buying...
Why You Won't Regret It!
We are working daily with many of the world's most popular artists to ensure you get the greatest Art Book you've ever owned! Unlike some things you may have regretted buying in the past...
Pledge Levels
Below is a breakdown of all the pledge levels available and how we priced out the shipping. Shipping rates listed are for one copy of the book only. We also offer a Hard-Cover/Soft-Cover Combo (please check the reward tiers in the right column).
US and International Backers
This is one of the first Canadian Kickstater campaigns to collect in Canadian Dollars ($CAD). Please don’t let this prevent you from pledging. The Canadian dollar is lower than the $USD making the reward slightly cheaper if you are paying in US funds and much cheaper if you are paying in £GBP or €EUR.
WE SHIP WORLD WIDE WITH TRACKING. International shipping is included in all pledge prices. Please allow for greater shipping times if your destination is outside of North America.
Shipping to Russia, South America, Africa, Asia, Central America, Middle-East, Iceland is $50.00CAD.
Do You Accept PayPal?
We have set-up an external PayPal option for backers who don't have credit cards. Visit the page here - it's on our main website page. We'll do our best to keep everyone posted about the funding there.
Christmas Gifts
We've got you covered. Even though, the book won't be in their hands until February, we bet they'd be willing to wait. In the meantime you can forward this link to them or send them to this page. We'll also send out a special email to them on Christmas day - just let us know. Cheers!
Risks and challenges
The real challenge will be to ensure that you love every single page of this book! We've given all the artists very strict guidelines for their drawings and we are working closely with them EVERYDAY to ensure their drawings meet the highest standard of artistic integrity. We will work with the artists until the job is done right but if we feel in the end it doesn't deliver to our expectations, we will re-commission the work.
Our books are being printed locally in Canada by an enthusiastic team of professionals - not in China. So, there will be no timely customs delays or books that don't print or look 100% right.
Our biggest risk is sinking so much money into this book. We started with a goal of 40 artists and it ballooned to over 100! Making the decision to continue adding artists wasn't done lightly, but we wanted to produce the best book possible so we all made some major sacrifices to make it happen.
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