I really would like to get into character modeling but I’m still weak understanding the anatomy. Can anyone recommend some good anatomy books and also any others pertaining to computer graphics e.g Composition, Texturing, Lighting etc.:spin:
There are a few good books titled Anatomy for the Artist that are all great references.
I come from an illustration background and anatomy is one of those things where I think it must be learned in a specific way. For books, I really think you need one that shows musculature and not just the skin level details. For that I’m a huge fan of artistic anatomy by Dr. Paul Richer who’s a professor of anatomy in paris. Understand how the body moves is the key. Aside from that you should take gesture/life drawing classes no matter what your actual level of drawing skill is.
I’ve been on the same journey as you are but I can’t stand the really dry and overly detailed anatomy books.
I recently purchased “how to draw and paint Anatomy” by the publishers of ImagineFX magazine and I love it!! It gives all the detail you need and strips away all the things you don’t need. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_20/178-8174512-5833726?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=how%20to%20draw%20and%20paint%20anatomy&sprefix=how+to+draw+and+pain%2Caps%2C401
I have the first on the list from 2012 it’s a paperback, the others are only single issues. Good luck:) This helped me a lot!
If you need it for just artistic reasons, my personal favorite is Andrew Loomis. He’s written quite a few… all covering different aspects of art. Although he wasn’t a 3D artist, you’ll find that all the principles he teaches are nonetheless highly relevant.
I’m also in dire need of a good book on those other topics (texturing, lighting, composition). I understand all the techniques and I’m really good with blender’s compositor, but I have almost no understanding of the principles and concepts behind most of those things. And some of them fly in the face of logic 
Like why you should avoid pure whites or pure blacks even though they exist in reality.
My go-to references on human anatomy are: Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen R. Peck, Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth and Strength Training Anatomy by Fredreic Delavier. That last is actually an exercise reference book, but it’s illustrations of the human body and the muscles involved in each standard gym exercise are invaluable.
But you should back up the book learning with life drawing classes.
Well, for beginners it’s good to avoid pure whites and black, so they can learn to use them sparsely, and learn to do experimenting with other colours.
As for the OP, there’s many decent anatomy books. In particular one of my favourites is a medical one focussing on the “autonomic” system(so muscles and skeleton), because it shows how the muscles attached and moved.
For the rest, start by studying the skeleton, by modeling or sketching. As all muscles attach to the skeleton, it be the most basic component. Furthermore, it’ll teach you which part of the human body can absolutely not move, and which parts surprisingly enough do move.
In addition to the books I can highly recommend this anatomical figureine to put on your desk.
http://shop.3dtotal.com/figures/anatomy-figure/male-figure.html
Nothing beats having a reference you can turn and look at from all angles while working.
2 cents from a dude that studies way too much anatomy and owns far too many anatomy books.
Loomis - useless not really an anatomy book, he admits this and points to Richer and Bridgeman in his books. This is a getting started in Figure drawing book not an anatomy book. I would compare this to Michael Hampton and Villipu’s book. Its not going to teach you anatomy I think there is like 5 pages on anatomy but it will teach you proportions, gesture, drawing figures in perspective etc.
Bammes - the best and gorgeous sadly only available in Russian and Germany but trust me if there is set of artistic anatomy books to own than these are the ones,Der Nackte Mensch and Die Gesalt des Menschen.
Bridgeman - good introductory books, drawings can be unclear and are stylized to Bridgman’s taste. But Bridgeman’s stylization can help you understand the form of muscles especially if it is the first time you are studying anatomy.
Peck - also a good introductory text but very static in its approach. What I mean by static is that his figures will look from the front or from the side but angles are missed. especially on the muscles charts.
Richer - I have not properply studied this book but it’s very old fashioned, it’s very text heavy with the plates separated from the text but what few drawings the are beautiful and very clear. This should not be your first anatomy text book it’s really text heavy and the writing is pretty old fashioned.
Hogarth - I found these to be generally rubbish and of low quality. The drawings are off in terms of anatomy and this is not just my issue it a general repeated comment and criticism of his books on amazon. Buyer beware read lots of reader comments on amazon before you buy.
I would favor artistic anatomy over medical ones or exercise ones. Medical ones have to cover issues or topics that don’t concern artists so you have a book that has many pages on things that are of no use to most artists unless you want to be a medical artist.
Exercise ones can be of low quality and tend to use a more bodybuilder body ideal which fits a very tiny minority of humanity.
Bammes is really the best and if there was a change.org style petition or campaign to get his publisher to translate his books into english I would sign it in a heart beat.
He has a beginners book in English but the ones I want have beautiful pictures of ordinary people, very clear drawings and a good analysis of movement.
I own very one of these books except the Bammes books, expensive and hard to get <- but I am planning on getting the Germany version and than me and google translate are going to become best buds. But like I said I study my anatomy, check my sketch thread, and the preview copy of his book on SCRIBD blew my mind and I could follow his drawings without the words. Now I am angling to get a hardcopy version of his book.
I don’t have a hard copy of the Loomis book but I had the illegal PDF that did the rounds on art forums when his books were out of print, his estate his reprinted his books and the buzz is the are worth getting in hard copy just for the exceptional print quality.
But if you want to study anatomy than you got to draw or sculpt, don’t think you will understand anything by just reading the books. I know far too many people who read these books practice nothing and think the know anatomy. Make time for a figure drawing or sculpting class if the are some in your area.
I see…
@tyrant monkey, wow, you seem to know a lot about this stuff 
Loomis worked for me… but maybe that’s cause I’m coming from a medical background and I just needed to understand the artistic side of it all…
Hogarth was a cartoonist, of course his anatomy was “off” it was supposed to be.
Yes I know that, he used to draw Tarzan IIRC. If you are studying anatomy you need a realist not a cartoonist to work from. The stylisation should be your own if you work from someone who’s work is heavily stylized like Hogarth you will pick up that stylization thinking that is how things look and work.
My top 4:
Bammes,
Hampton, for synthesis form,
Richet, for good academic réferences, free
Bridgeman, free
Extra : Your body, free.