You know how the style of illustration used back in the 1950's and early 1960's - when all the men had broad chests and lean, chiseled features - and all sort of looked like FBI agents? They wore suits and hats and had squinted a lot? When the women were perfectly proportioned and stylishly dressed, even if they were washing the dishes or making a drink for their husbands? Well, that's the kind of drawing you will learn from Drawing the Head and Figure, from Jack Hamm. First published in 1963, and still popular today, this book teaches a style of figure drawing that is sleek, elegant and totally retro.

Hamm provides many excellent tutorials on the proportions of the head and figure, which makes this book particularly good for beginners. He provides simple guidelines on getting the proportions of the figure correct, how to draw a face, how to depict various poses. And the guy gets really detailed - he has three pages just devoted to drawing noses. Believe me, if you really study his lessons, the drawing a nose will never be a problem again. There is not a lot of fluff here - just straightforward instruction on drawing people. And the best part about it is, the people look like Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. For a book that costs less than $10, that is hard to beat.

I love this book. Other books show you how to draw people. This one shows you how to draw glamour.