Ruggels' Supplies Recommendations

Here are all the books I found useful while working on getting better at my craft. I love books... can you tell? :-) They're categorized like so:

• Beginning to Advanced Figure Drawing
• Intermediate Anatomy
• Animation
• Nature
• Perspective
• Industrial Design & Marker Techniques

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Beginning to Advanced Figure Drawing

• Jack Hamm does excellent beginner's books, and I recommend any of them. To start with I recommend "Cartooning the Head and Figure" and "Drawing the Head and Figure"

• This one's a classic: "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" by Stan Lee and John Buscema

• This book is a favorite too. The Amazon page has Joe's last name typoed, and clipped the title, but I corrected it here. "Superheroes! Joe Kubert's Wonderful World of Comics"

Intermediate Anatomy

The detailed instruction of anatomy and the figure is beyond the scope of this site. However, it is an extremely important foundation for successful artists to learn, for both 2D and 3D art. As it is so vital, I have provided links to books and instructional videos on the topic.

• The Vilppu Studio puts out very good books on the Instruction by Glen Vilppu page of the site.

• Andrew Loomis is another excellent source, although unfortunately his books are long out of print. I'll keep trying to link to sites which have his works available. Let me know if this link goes down too.

• "Bridgman's Life Drawing" by George Brant Bridgman

• "Constructive Anatomy" by George Brant Bridgman

• "Heads, Features, and Faces" by George Brant Bridgman

• "The Book of a Hundred Hands" by George Brant Bridgman

• "Bridgman's: Complete Guide to Drawing From Life" by George Brant Bridgman

• "Drawing the Draped Figure: The Seven Laws of Folds" by George Brant Bridgman

• "The Human Machine: The Anatomical Structure and Mechanism of the Human Body" by George Brant Bridgman

• Oh, and how could I forget the best book ever on drawing the head, face, and human expression? You know why I can do faces, and differentiate them? It's because of this book! "The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression" by Gary Faigin

Animation

• "Cartoon Animation" by Preston Blair

• "Digital Character Animation 2: Essential Techniques" by George Maestri

• "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams

• "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" by Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston

Nature

• Jack Hamm's "How to Draw Animals" is an old favorite I think everyone should have a copy of. Jack Hamm should almost be his own section -- his superb beginners books cover a wide range of subjects, and are all excellent.

• This book's really an intermediate level text: "Wildlife Painting Basics: Wolves, Foxes, & Coyotes" by Jan Martin McGuire

• "Painting Wildlife Textures: Step by Step" by Rod Lawrence

• "The Artistic Anatomy of Trees, Their Structure and Treatment in Painting" by Rex Vicat Cole. It was written in the teens, but is a solid classic

Perspective

• This book covers perspective, and is the best comprehensive book I've found so far: "Perspective! for Comic Book Artists" by David Chelsea

• The complete scholarly work: "Perspective for Artists: The Practice and Theory of Perspective As Applied to Pictures With a Section Dealing With Its Application to Architecture," by Rex Vicat Cole

Industrial Design & Marker Techniques

• "Marker Magic: The Rendering Problem Solver for Designers," by Richard M. McGarry & Greg Madsen

• "How to Draw Cars Like a Pro" by Thom Taylor, Kathy Berghoff, & Lisa Hallett

• "Creative Marker Techniques: In Combination With Mixed Media" by Yoshiharu Shimizu. Also anything else by Shimizu, but I can't find anything of his in print any more, though I have a pretty complete selection of his work. All my really good marker books are in storage, and probably out of print... *sigh*