wow! this is really good. i just learned a whole lot of things by watching 3 minutes of that link.
he said he looks at nerves and vessels though... i don't see how that's useful for the average drawing artist or illustrator, but it's interesting nonetheless and medical illustrators need the knowledge.

i've watched zombie movies lately, so i'm a bit creeped out... but luckily the body they're using isn't screaming and bleeding everywhere, so i can watch it.

It does look very educational, I imagine being able to actually see the fibers helps.

Wellm, from cursory observations~

*hopping from area to area (here is a muscle around the mouth, we'll deal with other mouth muscles later :D:D) is a less than ideal format when in illustration you'll mainly be dealing with the combined action of muscle groups

*It's easier to pause, flip and refer with a book rather than a video

*Visiting the library is sexy

*Extraneous detail. I'm not a smart dude, so when I gotsta learn something I prefer to have the specific information I need about the things I need to know about. There's a lot of great information here that is effectively useless for making drawings

*Similarly, these's quite a lot of info I can get from e.g. Bridgman about anatomy in action, asides about how to model shit (see above, I'm dumb) and so on that just isn't present here

*Presenter may be a nosferatu

*'Model' may be a nosferatu!?!?

*With our gangly, weak-muscled physiques and pale skin from staying indoors, people who draw are at a high risk from nosferatu attack

I think some of those issues might be alleviated somewhat by the chapter functions &c of DVDs but on the other hand, if you order a DVD you're probably giving your address to vampires.

These dvds are obviously geared towards medicine, not arts. When you want workarounds for drawing anatomy, you draw from anatomy for artists books and learn one instructors take on anatomy, when you want to understand anatomy, you consult medical material.
It's not for drawing. You don't draw the video (unless you really want to) (but even then, dead muscles look differently than live ones), you observe and try to get the 3d form and workings into your head, then draw from imagination. Rinse and repeate. So I wouldn't suggest them for beginners.
Most of the importance here lies in rotating views of bones/muscles/ligaments, explanations of where each muscle inserts (also clearly shown in rotation) and what does what.

If drawing stylised anatomy, rather than understang it, is what you're after, don't waste your money on these. Most anatomy books I've dealt with provide easy schemes for drawing anatomy, not for understanding how it works and why it is so, that's the problem I've had with them - they're second hand knowledge. And that's why one should learn from atleast 3 different books if one wants to learn anatomy.

Concerning jumping around - at the end of every chapter there's a summary, so it's not a problem.

Look at Bridgman's drawings... They're stylised and often hardly understandable - if you can accurately imagine the anatomy and its workings in 3d from his drawings, I envy you. I couldn't understand some of his scribbles at all.

I was mainly responding to the rhetorical question: "how the hell isn't this dvd set worshipped at every single art website/forum/blog yet?" i.e. "These dvds are obviously geared towards medicine, not arts". So Goldfinger's Anatomy for Artists books would probably be a better investment for an artist, right? I wouldn't count "useful once you know your shit" material as more valuable that "here: get to know your shit" material. I honestly can't speak for Bridgman's legibility off-hand because I've misplaced the .pdf :( though I recall his thoughts on lines of action and how to fellate Michelangelo's ghost are good.

Also, though it doesn't really need to be said, but anyone trying to learn about anything from less than three books is a terrible person and must go to prison.

That makes sense. I thought you were trying to de-value the holy grail of anatomy. My bad, sorry.

How valuable this material is depends on the artist. For a beginner it's not extremely valuable, but useful. Atleast I wish I had this when starting out, it would've been helpful - I'va always had the problem with anatomy books - the drawings rarely communicated good volumetric representation. Seeing stuff rotating just clicks way better, to me.
And beginners don't always remain beginners...

Yes, and concerning the internets, one should always read stuff from three different computers with three different browsers. Just in case...

I got a little queasy while watching that. It brought back memories of dissection, and having to rush home and take a shower each day because I smelled like formaldehyde. It's the smell...

Seems like a good investment for some people, though.

There are never enough resources to learn anatomy. I still haven't gotten into medical anatomy too much yet, but I'll keep your recommendation in mind!

Wow. I mean ... WOW. That's impressive. It looks real.

I ♥ sarcasm. :]

(if it wasn't intensional, I refuse to tell you it's a set of real dissections)

You just told me. *laughs*

You're kidding right?... holy shit. I had... no clue...


... I threw up dissecting a cat in Anatomy class last year... so naturally I'm a bit queasy...

I still can't believe I just watched this... hahha..... oh my god....

Ooops... O:)

I get the feeling everyone around here get the chance of dissecting things. Noone even talks about it over here, unless one's studying to become a vet or medic.

I used to faint on the sight of blood. I don't anymore, even more so after these videos. Though I do get a bit uncomfortable when they start explaining vessels and pulling and poking them around with pincers... Squishy squashy stretchy stuff, those vessels are... And they glitter! :]

Taking that into mind (Referring to what you said about the Medical occupations), I feel a bit conflicted, since right now, I'm actually studying to become a Veterinarian.

I've gone over this in my head several times; I know the criterion involved -- that doesn't stop me from retaining a tiny bit of hope that I can avoid surgical practices, however. I would love to aid animals from the sidelines... you know, prescriptions, intricate grooming and crap. Nothing too major. My heart couldn't take that.

Maybe I should just stop now, and pursue something in ... hell, I don't know. I write, draw, play piano.... I don't know what the hell to choose...




*laughs* Oh god, I'm sorry. I just went off the chain there. Let me shut up.

I understand. I think you should be able to find work as a vet non-surgeon - those kind of jobs are more abundant anyhow, imo. But I doubt you'll avoid dissections when studying. One of my friends studied veterinary - they had alot of dissections (he said horses and bovines were worse, because it took long to dissect such a large animal and by the end the stench was unbearable; the lecturers were sadistic too - they used to have an already smelly speciment for exams :). Though he also said it becomes quite bearable after first 3 times, and it becomes increasingly more bearable the closer the exam is. "No more surprises - you already know what you'll see, what it's like and what it smells like. You fully concentrate on aquiring the knowledge you can't do without."

Cool find! Could definitely learn alot from this I think; will try to get my hands on it!

they are great for anatomy. the advanced drawing for sequential class uses them when they work on their ecorches. you also get to watch the sitting blood move around in large arteries and veins as they poke them with a pen.

I miss helping my father prepare his travelling lectures... I always got to wade through all the wonderful organ specimens in their jars and epoxy blocks looking for brain slices, because he never brought his own.
Nowadays, if I want to dissect something, I have to kill it myself, and the only substantial thing I ever got to cut up in school was a sheep heart... And that was during my exchange year in England - I don't think you do any scalpel work at all in German biology classes. Probably some parents complained that their precious little angels were being exposed to oh, so gruesome ANIMAL ORGANS. I, mean, what the hell? People don't throw up when they see a cooked chicken or a piece of liver on their dinner plate, do they?

Should I be forced to study medicine to avoid starving to death, I want to learn all my anatomy like they do it on that DVD. I don't know how useful it is for the kind of anatomy you need as an artist, though. I'm sure it's all in there, too, but maybe all that detail is a bit of information overload when you're just trying to figure out how to draw a ribcage. Which is probably why it isn't being worshipped at every single art website/forum/blog. The number of artists that are good enough at anatomy to actually NEED this much depth to further improve their understanding is probably vanishingly small.

That said, it's definitely fascinating and instructive and I want it.