Heads, Features and Faces

By George B. Bridgman

Book Overview

Certainly one of the most difficult, often neglected areas of art study is the correct rendering of heads, features, and faces. This volume, prepared by an expert in the field, is devoted exclusively to just that. With its clear, concise text, its almost 200 excellent illustrations, and its overall life-drawing approach, the book provides valuable guidelines on how best to portray faces, features, and heads. There is probably no better instructor to turn to than George B. Bridgman. He brings to the subject both his expertise as an artist and his fifty years' experience as lecturer and teacher at the Art Students League of New York. Throughout the book, he places as much emphasis on perspective and planes as on anatomy. In this way, you'll develop a more precise understanding of each feature, the head and face in general, the relationship between features, and the relationship between a specific feature and the face or head. Mr. Bridgman's consideration of the head includes such topics as the head at eye level and below eye level; planes of the head; and round and square forms. Four features -- eye, nose, mouth, ear -- are dealt with in detail. Sections on light and shade, comparative measurements, and principles of cube and oval construction further enhance the scope of the book. The finely executed drawings complement the textual material, illustrating all important concepts. Of special value is the author's inclusion of the work of famous portrait artists. Vermeer, Hals, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Louise Elisabeth LeBrun -- these are the people who made portraiture a master art; and you'll be able to study, up close and at your leisure, the qualities that let their work achieve the status it did.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486227081
• ISBN13: 9780486227085
• Release Date: June 1974
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

New Library

Being an artist and having been an art teacher, losing all of my books and references in hurricane Katrina was devastating. I have been trying to replenish the best books for references since then. The books by Bridgman are some of the best around. I was pleased to find these and look forward to building my library back to where it once was. I recommend these books for both the amateur and professional. Thank you. B. Seabolt

Heads, Features and Faces

This book is very helpful - there are basic instructions and rules to apply to drawing the head, specific features of the head and the face. The information contained within is very valuable, plus the visual images are exceptionally instructive to the student of portraiture.Heads, Features and Faces

Short, but very good book of techniques

For the price, I don't think you can get a better book on drawing human heads. Bridgman illustrates a structural approach to the head and its features. (I agree that his language it sometimes a bit difficult to follow, but the sketches show everything you need to know about his technique). The book covers basic proportions of the head, an introduction about how to approach the head as a series of planes, how to draw the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth in a structural way, a brief comparision of adult to child head proportions, and an introduction to how to draw the heads at different perspectives. Overall, it's a short book, but it's packed with valuable techniques that have definitely improved my portrait drawings.

This would be a start for me

to explore and capture some facial expressions when drawing pictures of people. I'm an artist and I want to take my artwork to a higher ground and this book would be the template for future drawings.