rate this book an  "...Incomplete Guide to the Classical..." . ("COMPLETE"  guide to the classical"?...there's a WARNING WORD for you!)    Judging by the numerous 5 star ratings,  some people presume to learn from Robins' style of writing and illustrating an art instruction book.  Moreover,  Robins  subtitles the "Art of Figure Drawing" as : "THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CLASSICAL TRADITION";   well, it isn't!   It is anything BUT a complete guide to the "classical tradition".  In fact,  it is exactly the opposite of the "classical tradition" for teaching drawing.        Before purchasing this book,  the reader should do a web-search for LUCA  CAMBIASO  (born  1527   died  1585).     Luca  Cambiaso,  Genoese painter    began using  simplified cubic shapes as a kind of shorthand drawing style,  and is believed to have been the author of  the method of dividing the human body into small squares in order to give correct proportions.      Art authorities believe that Rennaissance Masters passed  "pattern books" to their students for study.  Of these,  Luca Cambiaso's  drawings are about all that remain of these  "block figure"  rough sketches.  Some of these can be found on the internet,  just to give you an idea.         At any rate,  the point I am making here is that these "block figures"   [which Jack Hamm calls  SIMPLIFIED  FIGURETTES ]  are at the core of the   CLASSICAL  TRADITION.                       Robins fails to include  block figure, human puppet, or simplified figurette  drawings that must be part of a book referencing the "classic drawing techniques,"    because such block figures are much represented in books genuinely invested in "the classic tradition".               I do not really understand why,  but it is quite common today,  for authors NOT FOLLOWING the CLASSICAL   TRADITION  to claim exactly the opposite.  They claim to teach the CLASSICAL TRADITION, but they DO NOT?   To be blunt,  it's a rip-off of some kind.           Robins is entirely misleading in his title. Rather than being invested in "the classical tradition"    Robins is vested in the "contemporary perspectives" approach to figure drawing.      Classical Tradition per se,  is more represented in books by Walt Reed, or Jack Hamm  &    Edgar Loy Fankbonner  &   others where   BLOCK FIGURE or HUMAN PUPPET drawings, along with intermediate steps for refining rough sketches by degree, make up the real  "classical tradition".     (I know I'm being repetitive here,  but I simply insist on making the point!)          Another fundamental flaw in Robins method, is that he offers what one Amazon book reviewer has termed,  "Invisible Problem Solving,"  whereby the final drawings are shown, avoiding the beginning or intermediate steps which are used to arrive at final drawings.          The last MANGA drawing book I peeked at contained no less than 70 pages (out of a total of 190 pages)  on human...(HUMAN,  not CARTOON, mind you)  anatomy using a HONEGUMI skeleton for illustration.  This included basic instruction that any COMPLETE guide ought to have:  how to draw human eyes,  ears (from front and back view),  nose,  mouth,  musculature and bone structure.   In this regard,  the use of a basic anatomical device  such as a HONEGUMI skeleton or "simplified figurette" as Jack Hamm calls them,  is fundamental to basic drawing.  And this is my criticism of Clem Robins;  that he has titled his book  a "complete guide" but it certainly excludes beginning students as a target audience.           The price is too high,   when there are more thorough guides to human figure drawing still in print for less, some of them published over 50 years ago.  Mr. Robins himself recommends George Bridgman to the book buyer, over his own text, so what's the point anyway?  The point is,  that whether by  publisher or individual author,  the "how-to-draw" market is flooded with books that some will buy,  confident that they are acquiring the very best of the figure drawing tradition.  I would shrink from a purchase that contains an author's  personal  CAVEAT EMPTOR.
Output: NEG