I have to admit to being a little bit of an anatomy book junkie. Human anatomy fascinates me. Yes, I know that certain parts of human anatomy—the twiddly bits— fascinate everyone. But if that’s what you’re thinking I’m on about, then shame on you. I’m telling you, we’re not going down that road. Not without a bottle of wine and a beachfront room in Maui full of roses.

I’m talking anatomy for artists. I collect books on the topic. And it turns out my teacher, Rob Anderson, at the Atelier School of Classical Realism, knows the author of  Classic Human Anatomy by Valerie L. Winslow. He thinks highly of the book, so I bought one.

I’m happy I did. Subtitled The Artist’s Guide to Form, Function, and Movement, it’s full of  beautiful drawings. Not just drawings of muscles and skeletons, but also drawings that show important things like the action of individual muscles, how to draw the torso (Rob says, always get the torso right before anything else), and the rhythm of form (although I wish she’d spent a few more pages on this subject.)

If you’re interested in life drawing, you’ll want to check this book out.