Midterms week! X_x Actually, it wasn't that bad this time around. I had a lot of work to do and stressed about it, but got it done in the end. The weekend I've got a bucket-load of pages to work on, but I foresee a break after that.

I registered for my last semester here at SCAD D8
I'm actually kind of sad, because I really do enjoy it here (though I will certainly be glad to never see certain people. ever. again. )
I got into all the classes I wanted, which made me super-happy. My schedule times will be completely different then normal, because I'm taking all my classes in one day, so essentially all next semester I'll have four-day weekends every week

New batch of Worms up. They're strangely amusing and easy to draw, though I may be moving on to other subjects to doodle during class soon

Also, thanks so much for all the music recs!! I haven't looked through them all yet, (A TON OF PEOPLE REPLIED), but I just wanted to give a "thank you"

During my last LiveStream, we got into the small discussion of animal anatomy, and I brought up the fact that I own a small collection of animal anatomy books. I offered to post some recommendations and reviews about what I like ^^ So here they are!

(sorry, the only visual reference I can give are Amazon links. Some of the books are probably cheaper on Amazon, while others you may be able to find cheaper in your bookstore.)

-Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form by Eliot Goldfinger [link] - If you ever wanted to learn the exact muscle-by-muscle break down of an animal, Eliot Goldfinger's book is one of the best resources. He goes through the body, muscle by muscle, both talking and showing visually where each muscle is and how it overlays and connects with the rest of the body. Generally, he uses 2-4 animals for each muscle, a dog, lion, cow and horse. However, in the back of the book he has muscle illustrations of a dozen more animals, ranging from kangaroo to bears to other wild and domestic animals. This ranks top of my list!!

-Cyclopedia Anatomicae by Gyorgy Fehér [link] - the second anatomy book I highly recommend is sort of like a one-step down from Goldfingers. Though it doesn't break it down muscle by muscle, Cyclopedia Anatomicae has excellent turn arounds and is filled with simply illustrations. Unlike Goldfinger's book, Cyclopedia Anatomicae also includes the Human creature, and in some cases has illustrations showing movement. The Horse is a big section in this book. The Animals include the Horse, Dog, Cat, Pig, Ape, Sheep, Bear, Deer, Cow, Camel and Lion. If Goldfinger's book is too much for you, I'd highly recommend this book in it's place.

-An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists by various authors [link] - sometimes just using one resource isn't enough, as you can't turn a book illustration to get a better angle. I like Atlas of Animal Anatomy for this reason. It has over 288 illustrations of various turn arounds that are rendered slightly more realistically then other books, letting you see the anatomy in a different perspective (it also uses a different dog breed then the other books). It also has a brief look into the anatomy of a flying squirrel, a hare and a seal in the back, which I found amusing and interesting. This book is also much much cheaper then the other books, which is makes it either a great substitute or addition.

-How to Draw Animals, by Jack Hamm [link]
-The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature, by Ken Hultgren [link]
-Don't let their cartoony and possibly outdated covers fool you, these two books teach you the 2nd most important key to draws animals - Motion! Knowing the anatomy is just one part. Both of these books only briefly skim over the anatomy, and show you how to get your animals moving by giving advice on how to draw action lines and breaking down your drawings. You don't need to draw the entire skeletal and muscular system to effectively draw an animal. You just need to know which lines to show.

-Animals in Motion, by Eadweard Muybridge [link] - if you don't know who Muybridge is, then it's time to get educated! He's most famously known for photographing animals and people in motion with a series of fast cameras, showing the subject step-by-step in motion. AKA, He was one of the grandfathers of the moving picture! [link] . Animals in Motion is a collection of Muybridge's photographs. With over a 183 different plates (series of photographs), and 4000 individual photographs, this book is an amazing reference for showing animals in motion, step-by-step! Though, due to the age the photographs were taken, the images aren't the best for showing specific anatomy details, but the motions are perfect! The majority of the collection is of the horse, but he does have several other movement series, including pigs, cats, lions, dogs, kangaroos, deer, oxen, sloths, raccoons, capybaras and several varieties of birds flying! This book is so much fun and very very useful!

-Well, there's a little something to start people off. I actually have several others I could suggest, but those 6 are enough to get your inspiration flowing.

-I've decided to use this box/column for a sort of Weekly Recs. I have tons of things I could recommend to people, from movies, art books, blogs, websites, graphic novels, books, tutorials, art supplies. etc. etc. I'm open for suggestions on what to recommend next week!!