A member was inquiring about a list of anatomy/sculpting books that might be useful for scratchbuilding, so I thought I'd post them here. There are a lot of drawing and sculpting books out there, some are great, others awful. I happen to own both. This is a list of the better ones that I have. The prices range from $10-30 for most, although there are a few very good ones that are $40+. Just buying a few of the ones I've listed should be more than enough to get you started.

Drawing the head and figure By Jack Hamm
This is a great book. It's in softcover and has some great information. It looks to be a book just for younger art students, but don't be fooled.

$11.95 retail
$9.56 Amazon price

Atlas of human anatomy for the artist By Stephen Rogers Peck
Another great book. This ones on my bench most of the time. It has fantastic illustrations of the muscles/ bones. If your on a tight budget, this and the Jack Hamm book would be a great start for a reference library on the subject

$19.95 retail
$13.97 Amazon price

Drawing dynamic hands by Burne Hogarth
Hands are probably the most difficult thing for me to sculpt and this book is very good in illustrating the proportions and structure of the hand. The only downside is that I do not use it enough when sculpting hands.

$16.95

Dynamic wrinkles and drapery By Burne Hogarth
For those that clothe their figures this is a great reference showing how clothing behaves when on the human figure

$22.50

Modelling a likeness in clay, step-by-step techniques for capturing character By Daisy Grubbs
Though the book deals with sculpting life size portraits there is some great information on sculpting the various facial features.

$27.50

Modelling the figure in clay By Bruno Lucchesi This book shows the sculpting of the skeleton and continues by applying the mucles to the bones. While this would be a tough way to do a figure, it's great to see how it all comes together.

$27.50?

The books that only have one price are also on Amazon, I just did not check them out. The prices should be close and in most cases the Amazon price will be a few dollars cheaper. There is one more book I have to mention.

Sculpting and body language by Mike Blank This is a must have book filled with step-by-step sections on sculpting and composition for figures and dioramas.

It is by Accion Press and should be available from The Red Lancers or Sentinel Miniatures.

Materials

Sculpey/Sculpey III
This is a great material for those just starting out. A great material for practicing on, it cures only after being baked in the oven.

Two part putties There are three that I have used so I'll just list those. Note: Look at the safety instructions for these materials as they can be harmful.

A & B epoxy putty A great two part putty for sculpting. It does not carve as easily as the next two, due to it's rock like hardness once cured. It flattens out nicely when you need "sheets" for coattail and flags, can be very brittle when rolled out too thin.

Magicsculpt A great two part putty that when cured has a smooth waxy finish to it. Unlike A&B Magicsculpt (MS) carves easily. This one is also the best for making flags as the material has a little bit of "give" to it.

Apoxiesculpt by Aves A great two part putty that carves easily. I like to add a bit of vaseline to my putty when mixing it as it helps to make it less sticky. This is not that great for flags it's acts like rubber but splits easily if it's mostly cured.

If anyone has additional books or materials for this thread go ahead and post them. There are some great things out there that are sometimes discovered by accident.~Gary

hi gary i want to say thanks man i really appreciate you listing all this stuff.i cant wait to look some of this material over.again thanks man and i will have to buy you a cold one if you come to boston in the summer man ok thanks johnny

Another great anatomy book that is very simple and easy to understand which dont have all the super diagrams on the exact bone structure of your pinkie toes is called "Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy". It can be found at Barns & Noble and such stores and sells for around $25-$30. Very good buy!