Students learn the characteristics of seven different kinds of folds and how to render them, including pipe, zigzag, spiral, half-lock, diaper pattern, drop, and inert folds. Mastery of these principles is the key to realistic portrayal of garments. The straightforward, easy-to-follow text is illustrated by the author's own pencil sketches and diagrams. 200 black-and-white illustrations.
Good basics, sketchy illustration, intermediate This is a basic, intermediate-level effort on wrinkles & drapery- parts of which can be clearly seen in the popular title by Burne Hogarth: Dynamic Wrinkles & Drapery. The 7 laws of draped figure folds listed here: -pipe folds, -zigzag folds, -spiral folds, -half-lock folds, -diaper pattern folds, -drop folds, and -inert folds. Burne Hogarth basically takes all of Bridgman's ideas and tries to improve on them. Critics still debate the effectiveness of Hogarth vs. Bridgman- but I believe Hogarth's work, in this particular case, has far exceeded that of Bridgman. Which book to get? The price of Bridgman's book is very attractive- But is it effective? Maybe. I think it depends on how you use it. In conjunction with photographs, Bridgman's book *can* be effective. Still, I have to admit: Bridgman's drawings here are not exactly clear. It takes a real concerted effort to figure out exactly what he's trying to teach. Also worth considering is that the best parts of this book were eventually included in what is now called Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life. If you're trying to decide between his Complete Guide and this, I recommend the Complete Guide by far. P.S. There's a brief, excellent section on wrinkles & drapery for *beginners* in Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head and Figure- check it out! *A better book worth considering*- Barbara Bradley's Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure, available here on Amazon(!).
Good basics, poor illustration, incomplete This book offers some basics as to types of fabric folds and falls that one would encounter in trying to draw a draped figure. While the writing is lucid though incomplete, this book suffers from a serious flaw of terrible prints of drawings of such folds which do little to elucidate the writing in a substantial manner. More illustrations would have been helpful, as would have been covering close focus photographs of the draped figure as painted by some of the masters excelling in the same. It would not be possible to master or even come close to mastering the aspect of drawing fabric folds on the basis of this book
This book is NOT the original Unfortunately this book is a poor representation of the original, a hardcover that was printed in 1942 and has better representations of the drawings. If you are an artist or art student, it's worth it (even if more expensive), to find the older, 1942 hardcover version for the finely detailed drawings that are shown clearly and full sized. Save your money by not buying this cheap paperback....! :)
OK, but not great Bridgeman is an indispensable teacher of human anatomy (even though he worked in the early 20th century), but this isn't the best book out there. The drawings are too loose and sketchy to see clearly what he is describing. He goes through the seven typs of folds all right, but they need to be illustrated more three dimensionally. I'd choose this over Hogarth's book, though, because Bridgeman's written descriptions are to the point, and at least the drawings aren't overdone. And it's [inexpensive]. The world cries out for the definitive book on drapery: one that is concise, accurate, and with good drawings. I saw one once on a guy's desk in an animation studio, it looked like it was written in the '50s, but I can't remember the name; it had superbly elegant drawings and lean, no-nonsense explanations of the 7 folds. I made some copies, but not of the title. Oh well, Bridgeman will have to do.
examples poorly printed As I was reading this book I kept thinking this must be a reprint of something written in the 1950s. The writing style had that cumbersome approach of much older 'how to' books. In fact the book is a reprint of another book called "The Seven Laws of Folds", and I suspect it was orignally a book meant for sculptors. The examples are charcoal(?) drawings. Most of well known statues. The descriptions really don't seem to apply to drawing at all. I tried looking through the eyes of a would-be sculptor while I read. Only then did the book seem useful.
Unfortunately, I have another complaint. The example sketches are, well, terrible. Many of them I could not make out. There are photographs in the book as well that are so badly reprinted I really have no idea what they're sposed to be.
There needs to be a better book to help people draw 'the draped figure.' This one really doesn't help.
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