Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
OK
Animal Anatomy for Artists
Purchase options and add-ons
Designed for painters, sculptors, and illustrators who use animal imagery in their work, Animal Anatomy for Artists offers thorough, in-depth information about the most commonly depicted animals, presented in a logical and easily understood format for artists--whether beginner or accomplished professional. The book focuses on the forms created by muscles and bones, giving artists a crucial three-dimensional understanding of the final, complex outer surface of the animal. Goldfinger not only covers the anatomy of the more common animals, such as the horse, dog, cat, cow, pig, squirrel, and rabbit, but also the anatomy of numerous wild species, including the lion, giraffe, deer, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, gorilla, sea lion, and bear. Included are drawings of skeletons and how they move at the joints, individual muscles showing their attachments on the skeleton, muscles of the entire animal, cross sections, photographs of live animals, and silhouettes of related animals comparing their shapes and proportions. He offers a new and innovative section on the basic body plan of four-legged animals, giving the reader a crucial conceptual understanding of overall animal structure to which the details of individual animals can then be applied. The chapter on birds covers the skeleton, muscles and feather patterns. The appendix presents photographs of skulls with magnificent horns and antlers and a section on major surface veins.
Incredibly thorough, packed with essential information, Animal Anatomy for Artists is a definitive reference work, an essential book for everyone who depicts animals in their art.
- Print length258 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherOxford University Press Inc
- Publication date11 Mar. 2004
- Dimensions23.62 x 2.26 x 31.24 cm
- ISBN-100195142144
- ISBN-13978-0195142143
Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed
An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for ArtistsPaperbackUSD 6.85 deliveryGet it 17 Jul – 6 AugOnly 7 left in stock.
The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, CaricaturePaperbackUSD 13.03 deliveryUsually dispatched within 6 to 7 months
Product description
Biographie de l'auteur
Product details
- Publisher : Oxford University Press Inc
- Publication date : 11 Mar. 2004
- Language : English
- Print length : 258 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0195142144
- ISBN-13 : 978-0195142143
- Item weight : 1.45 Kilograms
- Dimensions : 23.62 x 2.26 x 31.24 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 302,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from France
- 5 out of 5 stars
Top pour étudier l'anatomie animal
Reviewed in France on 10 October 2024Bien que ne comprenant pas tout de l'anglais (lv2) je comprend l'essentiel. c'est beaucoup imager avec des animaux en squelette, squelette simplifier, tout en muscles, ... c'est complet à mon sens
One person found this helpfulSending feedback...Sending feedback...HelpfulThank you for your feedback.Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try againThank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again - 5 out of 5 stars
Bien que bilingue, pas évident de s'y retrouver...
Reviewed in France on 6 March 2017car le vocabulaire reste très médical, il faut le savoir. Très axé sur les muscles et leur nom latin, avec une longue description du muscle et de son utilité. A la base je l'ai surtout pris pour les schemas et savoir ou placer les muscles lors de mes sculptures :) Excellent ouvrage cela dit n__n
6 people found this helpfulSending feedback...Sending feedback...HelpfulThank you for your feedback.Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try againThank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again - 5 out of 5 stars
Appréciations
Reviewed in France on 8 December 2011Très bon livre.
L'anatomie comparée est, ici, bien représentée.
L'étude de chaque muscle y est détaillée chez trois ou quatre sortes d'animaux à la fois sur dessins anatomiques.
Des silhouettes d'animaux en ombres chinoises indiquent les différences morphologiques entre espèces.
Des animaux pas très courants (rhinocéros,hippopotame, etc), y sont représentés en planches ostéo-myologiques.
Ce livre fera le plus grand bonheur des modeleurs, sculpteurs et peintres.
6 people found this helpfulSending feedback...Sending feedback...HelpfulThank you for your feedback.Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try againThank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again - 5 out of 5 stars
Un tremplin?
Reviewed in France on 14 July 2014Je vais pouvoir me lancer dans la sculpture d'animaux, je ressens ce livre comme un tremplin! Je vous dirai après
;-)
One person found this helpfulSending feedback...Sending feedback...HelpfulThank you for your feedback.Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try againThank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again - 5 out of 5 stars
Content !
Reviewed in France on 16 January 2023Dans sa wish-list pour Noël, il l'a eu il est ravi ! Donc mission accomplie pour le père Noël !
Sending feedback...Sending feedback...HelpfulThank you for your feedback.Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try againThank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
Top reviews from other countries
Dale Lowe5 out of 5 starsVery good book.
Reviewed in Canada on 24 November 2020This book is a very comprehensive study of animal anatomy and very useful. Glad that I bought it.
Sending feedback...Thank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
Federica Marroni5 out of 5 starsregalo da urlo
Reviewed in Italy on 13 July 2013ho regalato questo libro al mio ragazzo che dopo 3 anni di accademia di belle arti ha deciso di approfondire l'anatomia animale. Bene l'ha sfogliato tutto pagina per pagina davanti a me e ad ogni tavola era sempre più entusiasta. Tavole perfette, che partono dalla scomposizione in forme elementari fino a quelle più dettagliate. Ottimo, dettagliato, professionale a livello medico.
Sending feedback...Thank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
Pippa5 out of 5 starsIf you love drawing common mammals, this book is perfect for you
Reviewed in Australia on 11 March 2025This is probably the only book you need if you are someone who enjoys drawing animals and does creature design. The book is beginner-friendly and easy to follow, making it appropriate for both the hobbyist and the experienced. The language is written in a way that is easy to understand. All diagrams are labelled clearly with appropriate omissions made to anatomical parts that are not necessary for the artist to learn.
I love the layout of the book: it has been designed/organised in a way that makes it easy to navigate. You can really tell that the author went the extra mile to compile and preserve the most accurate representation of each unique animal. Every page has a clearly labelled diagram, often supplemented with a concise description of which bone or muscle is being presented, and what their functions are — this is what makes the reading experience enjoyable [to the art student] rather than strenuous.
This book primarily focusses on 4-legged mammals, especially the horse (and other similar hooved-animals), the hound, and the wild cat. The book does very briefly touches upon other animals (vertebrates) towards the end (bird, bat, sea lion, gorilla, etc.) but only as reference, not in excruciating detail. This book DOES NOT cover amphibians, reptiles, insects, or sea creatures so make sure you know what you are looking for.
Sending feedback...Thank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
deadchristmastrees5 out of 5 starsNot just for the artist!
Reviewed in the United States on 14 October 2011Wow! I was completely blown away when this book arrived in the mail! I purchased this book for a course I'm taking in college that is basically an intro anatomy and evolution class but uses a lot of sketching and animation to teach these things. I wasn't too enthusiastic about the art portion of this course and was less than thrilled about having to buy a $40 book on drawing animals....or so I thought.
When this book arrived I was pleasantly surprised! It was EXTREMELY detailed and every muscle was painstakingly labelled. This book isn't a 'how to draw...' book, although it does have a lot of that. The beginning has a lot of info about body plans and proportions. While these first chapters have a lot of tips and help for artist, its basically assumed that the reader can already draw or has a general understanding of how to shape an animal. You wont find any basic steps on drawing or sketching. Goldfinger is really clear in his explanations and gets you to look at the structure of a body in a very simple, easy to understand way.
The majority of the book is of diagrams of the muscle and bone structure of different species. I'm not just talking cats, dogs, and horses either! This book has full, completely labelled and correctly proportioned diagrams of everything from lions and seals to hippos and lizards. Every single one has all or a majority of its muscles labeled. The more common animals are even more detailed in there being various views and closeups of certain areas.
I have almost no qualms about this book but I will point out a few things. First, if your more interested in skeletal anatomy this may not be the best book. Most of the concentration is on muscles since, i guess, that's more significant to an artist looking to draw these creatures. There are skeletal diagrams of the more common animals so its not completely lacking in that sense. The other issue I had was in the way muscles were labeled although I don't know of any other way the author could have done it. Basically every muscle was labeled with an abbreviation and then at the bottom of the page is a key in which the abbreviations and their meanings are listed alphabetically. This made learning the muscles kind of tedious and confusing but honestly, with ALL those muscles to label, I don't see any other way of doing it.
Originally, I planned on keeping this book in perfect shape so I could resell it at the end of the semester but Im most definitely keeping it! There are endless ways that this book could help me in the future. I recommend it for ANYONE wanting to learn more about animal anatomy. Not just artists. I've had other anatomy textbooks that aren't even this thorough.
THE BEST BOOK PURCHASE I'VE MADE ALL YEAR!!!
Sending feedback...Thank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
Beatrice Gröger5 out of 5 starsWorth it!
Reviewed in Germany on 24 September 2016This book is really worth the money. I bought it after I struggled with finding helpful references for a personal project. I SO wish I had found it sooner! I now use it often as it covers so many different species that you WILL find the animal you need or at least something similar/relatable. It breaks down the basic anatomy in an easy understandable way. Once you get the basics, you'll be able to apply them to fantasy creatures as well :)
The book features multiple views of the animals bones and muscles, photographs,further breakdowns of some sections to deepen the understanding and lots of silhouettes to make the different proportions clearer (something that's often overlooked).
I will use this book often from now on and I'm glad I bought it. Would definitely recommend it :)
Sending feedback...Thank you. We’ll investigate in the next few days.Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again







