I did the entire "Copy Bridgman Twice" routine back in 2022, and it was one of the biggest turning points in my art learning journey. Not only did it strengthen my figure drawing, it also taught me the value of drawing what you saw from memory. Memory drawing is something I've incorporated in my practice ever since then. Thank you for your guidance, Finch-sensei

"What is this muscle here? You know what? I just don't care." Glad I'm not the only one that thinks this way.

Here it is! The hardest, longest part of the art journey. Thank you so much for laying it out so plainly for us. Nothing to it but to do it!

Haha how weird. Earlier this morning I returned to Bridgman to resolidify my understanding of wedging, interlocks, and planes then I open KZfaq and see this in my feed. Great minds Mr Finch!

when i drew this book a couple of years ago it was hard to understand. Mainly this book was never about anatomy. its all about shapes and how you can break things down using basic shapes such as anatomy, folds, hands. what a great video Dave!!!! thank you again:)

We all should go back to the basics from time to time..... It's Really cool the way you break it down & explain it! 🔥🔥

I'm loving this series of videos that seems to be going along with your roadmap.

Thank you so much for sharing the lessons you’ve learned over the years to help others along in their quest to get better. Respect.

Thank you for making your videos using a pencil instead of using a digital device. A pencil makes things more alive and spontaneous.

I’ve been studying this guy for like two years, Thank you.

"The frontal whatever" 🤌Knowing the anatomy terminology is great. But knowing the shapes is what helps. Thanks for always having that subtly mentioned in your work!

These two videos have been invaluable for me. Most of my practice of late revolves around them & I've seen a vast improvement in my own work. Thanks for spending the time putting them together for us. 👍

Dave Finch is just my biggest inspiration and wow factor!

Amazing video. I read that book and did some studies, but the way you explained how you study with it helped me a lot and inspired me to practice with the whole book! Thanks a bunch.

You’re an amazing teacher! Finding lots of inspiration in your videos!

A brilliant guide on how to use Bridgman!

Great content, Dave! Can definitely see the Bridgman influence in your art in terms of the angularity you mentioned

Mr finch is back at it again with another banger!!!💯💯

I love how you take a lot of your time Dave to show how illustrating is done.....

Yessss this is a blessing for us, thank you david❤️

I recently decided to really dedicate myself to art, since I've always loved it but never pushed myself to study it and get better. This came at a perfect time. Thank you.

Thank you so so so much David, when I become a successful comic artist I will list your name as the most influential in my learning process I really appreciate the time and effort you put in these lessons while making it free, you will always be in a special place in my heart. From the depth of cairo city Egypt I send my thanks and gratitude.

Thank you David, I’ve never actually worked from the book before but I have studied the odd images I could find. And I really find it extremely helpful to see you work through it and talk us through the process….. immensely helpful and these types of exercises revisited time and again are extremely helpful for all other art applications too. Thank you again 🔥

This is great! Started to study Bridgeman a couple of years ago, but this is a great breakdown

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you David!

This and the previous are exactly what I wanted. Focused, specific practice. I stopped drawing 25 years ago, but want to start again. Time to go dig out my How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way my dad gave me in in 1987. And I'm getting your book. It looks BEAUTIFUL. ❤ Thank you for sharing your knowledge and being so encouraging. Also, just grabbed Bridgeman!

I got one of Bridgman’s books for Christmas a few years ago and haven’t looked through it this thoroughly. This is my sign to go back and try this practice!! 😁

thank you Dave!! you are amazing

Thank you David for doing that kind of videos for free! These are really useful for my learning journey

No way!!! I literally have Bridmen's anatomy book with me right now and you’ve posted this video to help me/others to understand the in depth knowledge about Bridgman is amazing!👍🏾

Ah Bridgmen. The first life drawing book I ever picked up.

GREAT video! I get super excited every time I see a new David Finch tutorial drop! I wonder if any other viewers have seen Jason Brubaker's 'Cognitive Drawing' books - they very much promote a similar method of repetition and drawing from memory that Mr Finch describes here, but are definitely a bit more basic than Bridgman - I'm working through his workbook on the male figure right now (there is also one on the female figure), and I think I will probably use that to ease myself in before tackling Bridgman next...

I've ran out of words praising you Dave. When you draw every line in dimension has so much weight that I think I'd do in next 20 years. Whenever i wanted to quit, i just remember you, then I pick up my pencil/pen. Just draw and draw and draw.

Crazy enough I just both this book last week. I have gone through it once already and going back again now. Now having your commentary and the book is only helping me more than just the book. Last week I couldn’t draw a figure from my head. But now I can because of the shape merging he talks about early on in the book. But thank you Dave. Your video are more valuable than you can ever image.

I love your approach to studying. I watched your Frazetta study video too and I like the idea of drawing the subject from drawing and then draw it on your own. I'm really gonna start doing this in my study regimen. Thanks Dave!

When I first got Bridgman I never understood him. I then I picked up Hogarth and he explained the circle swings then I understood proportion. I got a basic understanding of the muscles from him. But I kept talking to the image guys and they always told me Bridgman. Thanks for explaining this in more simple terms how I’m supposed to approach this. Sometimes I don’t get it if I look at it and draw it. I have to understand what and why I’m drawing it to sink in. I will give Bridgman a try again. Thank you for your simple explanations. Bless you and your family for this channel.

After watching the live stream, I had to come back here and catch up. Ty for the video most informative. At age 62 I have been trying harder to do what this book is teaching and you are the best one to do the rendition of Bridgeman. ☕☕👍🏼👍🏼 Bridgman: a Canadian American Artist who was a renowned instructor of anatomy and figure drawing at the art students League of New York for over four decades his teaching methods emphasizes the structured approach to figure drawing focusing on the underlying geometric forms of the human body.

thank you so much, your videos are everything to me right now

YESS! We’re finally doing bridgman!

The most precious thing in life is “time” and thank you so much sir for sharing your time with us to teach some of your experiences. You are one of a kind 🙏🏼

Such a good video Dave.

Finished the homework of redrawing every illustration in Bridgman's Complete Guide. It's crazy I started less than a month ago. Feels longer. The book is like the circular extraterrestrial language in Arrival: Not much at face value but it changes the way you think once you understand it. Instead of circles that instill an understanding of time, he draws blocks that teach the third dimension. After you redraw around 20 images the fact that every form is a structure tilted on all three axes starts to become clear. After 50, the drawings start laying down really fast because the underlying structure becomes instinctual. After hundreds you aren't thinking about it anymore. How the forms occupy space as well as how they weave and lock into one another becomes second nature. At this point I was doing a lot of side drawings and noticing that redrawing Bridgman's drawings at a different angle than he originally drew it was getting strangely easy. After I finished I went back to working on animations in Dreams and... You won't really notice it happening but when you go back to the style you're accustomed to drawing in, your ability to lay down volumes in space will have significantly improved. Animating difficult poses is effortless now it honestly feels odd. I recommend having a strong grasp on linear perspective before going into this. He expects you to know it the way a calculus book expects an understanding of algebra. If you aren't going to redraw the images there's no point in getting the book. I saw some bad reviews on Amazon from people who clearly thought reading would change something when honestly the book doesn't need text at all. The concepts are visual. I don't think a path of learning endorsed by David Finch needs anyone's validation but he is right, even if you were to skip the parts on head construction and limb specifics, just studying how he simplifies forms gives you an invisible framework that makes figure construction easier (if not easy). Thanks to David. I hope more people follow through. It's just a few hours a day

I used to have this book when I practiced figure drawing. I took I break from drawing to focus on other projects. Getting back into drawing, I need to buy this book again and practice.

Beautiful bro

How crazy! I just started studying with this today! Thank you for introducing this book.

Omg I was hoping you’d make a video on this book! Thank you

Really appreciate these videos. It's one thing to just draw a lot to improve, but deliberate, focused practice is what I never really knew how to do exactly. Thanks!

Thank you for your videos

I read David’s blog years ago and it said to copy this book twice. Well it worked.

perfect timing !...just started studying like a week ago

Thanks so much!!!

I really like the idea of doing this. I feel like if I did a page a day of this book on top of my personal interest studies that i could see an explosive growth in skill. Think ill start today even

Thanks a lot. I'm studying his book. Really appreciate it. This is awesome. 🎉🎉

after wasting money buying bunch of garbage courses out there on the web and at the same time getting lost into all the unnecessary details, I think I've finally found a gem of a video series to actually learn comic book drawing. Please David keep coming up with videos like this. 👍🏼

I can’t believe I can watch this for free😳 Thank you!!!!❤

Awesome!

Very interesting study i’m definitely gonna wanna look at Brickman again seriously analyzes anatomy. Plus if if you ever get to studying other artists again it would be kind of cool to see an analysis of artists like Mark Bagley or even like the impressive panel layouts of Kenneth Rocafort

Love the video Dave 😊 could u possibly make a video on how u record ur art and video setup, like quality control ? currently I want to make videos like you and I just can’t find the right settings the current webcam I have is a Logitech brio cam, anyways love the tutorials keep it up 🎉🎉

Bro let go!!!!.The legendary goat 🐐 is back.

It's incredible that you're not bad copist, but still you're very good at creating. Makes clear that there are two totally diferent things.

this vid just popped up for me, will check out the first one

awesome as always David :^)

I will take this one alongside Constructive Anatomy. Drawing is now a hobby of mine, instead of a career path, so I do not have much time for it. Still, I will do the micro studies in my drawing time and the whole figure, or whatever, in my free time. I just can not stay away from drawing.

One of the best pieces of advice in this is doing something you did from reference, then doing the same thing from memory. This act reinforces what you learned and is what essentially transfers the knowledge from short term to long term memory.

please a studio tour

i absolutely love George bridgman

Gracias yo copiare para aprender una vez escuche que era malo copiar pero perdi mucho tiempo intentando aprender ahora creo que podre aprender más con su consejo maestro

Total game changer

Дядя Финч, Благодарю!❤

great 🎉thanks for sharing all the steps to create a comic

It's comforting knowing one of the most famous comic book artists in recent years also draws in a way that would've gotten them a scolding from my art teacher on chicken scratching.

Okay, NOW I get what folks mean by saying ''copy Bridgman twice". Alright, I can do this alongside just drawing for fun. Honestly this method sounds ideal for tackling all kinds of reference from books and such. Will give a go at it!

That starting amount of tape was crazy 😆

Hey David! Great video, really inspiring. Just wanna ask if there’s any benefit to tracing the book and going through the process like you mentioned in the video

ITS GOLD!! I have the complete collective book.

I have the Constructive Anatomy book, do studies from it, but what I struggle with a bit is, I can make the drawings look accurate, but my drawings get progressively bigger until they're much larger on my pages than on the Bridgman book pages

Thank you so much for the lessons you share and your enthusiasm for the craft David. Do you have any advice for a fellow lefty not to smudge their work? I notice you tape your pencil before working also, does this play a part in how you maintain line stability? Many thanks again from across the pond :)

damn it helped me a lot thanks Mr finch

It's my time now to finally do the Bridgman study, can't wait to see how I improve on it

Love Bridgman this is a great breakdown as some of the written bits are a little hard to follow (as it’s written in an old fashioned style) great stuff thanks David! Do you put the tape around your pencil just for comfort?

Great video, was wondering could you do an update in depth video on panels? Just watch the video with proko and it ended to fast 😂

Hi Dave. I actually have that same book of Bridgeman for a few years. I’m probably inspired to draw what I see so I can attain shape memory of the human parts when drawing.

Every video I watch, someone says “I don’t look at Bridgman for heads.” The figures are great though. I haven’t drawn regularly in years & i’m trying to get back into it. Great video!

Time to strap on your anatomy boots, David has another video! 😁

The goat 🐐 is back 🎉

Been studying Bridgman, loomis and others for the better part of a year now, I took 2 years of consistent life drawing classes.

Hello David, Thank you for this very very interesting video once again! Are you going to resume live streaming? You who drew The Darkness! That would be great! Many thanks for the teaching!

When you messed up a little i was laughing for a whole minute and it gave me a moment of relief not because i was mocking or you something because i mess alot while doing things i work hard and i am trying to be a perfect in Drawing but more time i spend it doesn't seem i am getting " PERFECT " , i am improving but its like always i want some more of that, and on top of that papers and other things in different courses making it hard for me to concentrate only on Drawing and it sucks

If you watch an old Robert Beverly Hale class here on KZfaq you can see exactly the sort of classroom Bridgman was teaching in at the Art Students League, and how he's doing these big drawings with a piece of charcoal or conte on the end of a long stick. When you run across a Bridgman drawing that seems a little fuzzy or some detail was lost or whatever, there's a lot of drawings in the book that were taken from photos of those classroom drawings that were several feet tall and drawn with a 3 foot long stick! That's a real testament to his skill I think!

Merci beaucoup professeur j'ai téléchargé ce livre en pdf et je ne comprenais pas bien ses cours mais merci beaucoup

this adds alot to my arsenal :)

I recommend Marshall vandruff bridgeman bootcamp, it’s on KZfaq and while it is pretty lengthy I recommend it for anybody that needs help breaking down bridgeman.

I make it a habit to copy all of Bridgman once a year. It _will_ make your anatomy tighter. He was a master of suggesting the shape and separation of each muscle through subtle exaggeration.

Thanks alot

FINCH Apreendeu tudo comigo 😂😂😂😂😂

I'm just wondering or curious about to know how many iterations of the back and forth of drawing from memory and back to the reference from Bridgman you did in your beginnings. Great breakdown about how to study this material. Thanks!.

please do mr freeze and green arrow and martian manhunter.

I’m trying to use 2h more because of its resistance to smudging, but to get such a dark line you must be absolutely carving into that board.

Hi Dave, did you ever use or learn with the 'over-hand grip' for holding the pencil? OR use the sweeping gestural nature of using movement in your shoulder rather than your wrist to draw? I just ask as what you do here seems so opposite to that other approach I wonder if it's something you did when learning to draw and have it more as muscle memory now or something. I've noticed it in many comic book artists, very experienced artists or people like Kim Jung Gi. Thanks!

Helloooo I dont know if you do anymore artist studies but I just wanted to ask if you ever do again, do you think we could do a study on Jorge Jimenez?