[buyuu]

How much of his drawing manual stuff is covered in his life drawing articles online?
Is his videos worth getting? I am serious about drawing the model. Thanks!

[Markus]

Simple answer - Not a whole lot. The manual goes into a lot more depth geared around a 12 week program or class-type course on figure anatomy. You can't realy just pick up this book and browse -- you need to start at the beginning and work through the exercises as they are layed out. If you are dedicated, you will improve dramatically.

However, the information in the manual doesn't go into any detail on the head, or quick sketch, or on drawing animals. Those are separate. It's mostly about learning to draw the figure without requiring a model - aimed primarily at animators. However, drawing from life is well covered, and the model CDs you can order separately are a good value, if you don't have access to regular life-drawing classes.

You might also check out Jack Faragasso's book: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00400.htm

This is excellent for the figure (but he goes too crazy with the facial planes, etc.-- I think he was on drugs ;-)) Faragasso's book will show you some of the techniques that Ron Lemmen (among other artists)uses --and that are taught at the Watt's Atelier - http://www.wattsatelier.com/

Look at Ron Lemmens' bio in the faculty section for some examples.

There are so many good and bad books out there for the figure, as you probably know already, it's just too much to go into...and everyone's opinion is going to be different. I have a book list on my digitallaprima web site which mentions some of the books generally recognized as the best, if you feel like looking.

Good luck and happy drawing!