I want to spend this weekend preparing for next week’s game development posts, so there won’t be a [How to Draw] post this week.
It will instead be replaced by this post – a review of Stonehouse’s Anatomy, by Korean illustrator Seok Jung Hyun (Americanized as “Jeonghyun Seok”).

Upon its arrival at my doorstep this past month, Stonehouse’s Anatomy has become my go-to source of anatomy literature, as well as a source of consistent entertainment.
However, although this book is excellent, it is not without flaws. There are certain elements of this book that I think are worth mentioning, since these details may affect one’s enjoyment while reading the book.
Through this review, I hope to enlighten you on the experience of reading this book from the perspective of an art and anatomy student.

!!! R E M I N D E R !!!
All photos taken for this post were taken by me, from my copy of Stonehouse’s Anatomy. Obviously, I did not draw any of these pictures.

General Introductions

Stonehouse’s Anatomy, written by Seok Jung Hyun, is the English translation of a Korean ‘anatomy for artists’ book, originally released in 2017.
First things first, here is a link to the book’s store page [Stonehouse’s Anatomy Store Page] on the Superani website. Seok Jung Hyun is a Superani artist, so his products can be found on their website.
Stonehouse’s Anatomy is $80, which is a price that I consider to be perfectly reasonable. Please keep in mind that this book took ~10 years for Seok Jung Hyun to write and illustrate, and consists of ~700 pages of excellent instruction. All things considered, $80 is a very fair price.

If you’re interested in a succinct description of the book, I’d suggest reading the synopsis they provide on the store page. My goal will be to describe and elaborate upon details not present in the synopsis.

The Good

Readability and Humor

Right off the bat, this book is an extremely easy read, which is pretty important, since Stonehouse’s Anatomy is around 700 pages in length.
This book is NOT written like a traditional anatomy textbook. Seok Jung Hyun makes constant use of supplementary visuals to make the reading process more enjoyable. As stated by the website’s description,

“You should be able to enjoy [the book] with a nice drink or a snack, as you would with an entertaining work of fiction” (Superani US).

The author chronicles his experience learning about the anatomy of hands, in order to write a chapter about them in his book. Through these doodles, we are granted a personal look into the author’s learning experience and mindset. In addition, the appealing cartoon-style maintains the reader’s interest.

I think the book is very successful in this regard. Stonehouse’s Anatomy has a great sense of humor, borne from the artist’s clear interest and passion about human anatomy. The lighthearted tone of the book keeps things interesting, while also making the learning process fun.

The first of these two photos displays the three main recurring side characters, along with the author, Seok Jung Hyun, who is wearing a black shirt. These side characters represent emotions experienced throughout the artistic learning experience.
The big burly man in the light blue shirt is my favorite of the three, as I relate very closely to his frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed.

I consider these to be positive traits, but those of you who are interested in more medical (which is to say, more in-depth and surgical) analyses of anatomical structures, may consider this to be a strike against the book.
While this book does touch on information more relevant to medical fields of study, Stonehouse’s Anatomy is an ‘anatomy-for-artists‘ book first, and an ‘anatomy textbook’ second. This book is more concerned with teaching applicable artistic knowledge of anatomical information, and in that regard, the book is very successful.

(Besides, there are tons of medical anatomy textbooks out there already. Books like Stonehouse’s Anatomy are pretty uncommon.)

Quality of Information

Of course, although the book has a sense of humor, it is still focused on providing an informative experience. Once again, this is an area of the book I consider to be quite successful.
The book is extremely detailed in the right places – this is what I mean by “an anatomy-for-artists book.” In art, it’s not necessary to have an exceedingly nuanced understanding of human anatomy. If you’re a surgeon, understanding the various muscle types to a ridiculous level of detail is extremely beneficial, and often necessary, so medical anatomy textbooks spare no expense when it comes to detail.

Stonehouse’s Anatomy provides excellent breakdowns of various bone and muscle groups, including tutorials for drawing certain body parts, often from more than one angle. The end of the book (as well as most chapters and/or sections) culminate in finished paintings, either of full figures, or of the specific body part(s) being discussed.


These finished artworks are then given an x-ray treatment, where Seok provides muscular/skeletal breakdowns of each painting, in order to eliminate any and all ambiguity on the student’s end. This is EXTREMELY useful, as there is no guesswork or interpretation needed on the part of the student. Since muscle visibility varies between body types, this is an important learning tool.

Teaching Styles

Korean style(s) of teaching are very clear throughout this book. In my (relatively limited) experience with Korean instructions, I’ve found that their methods tend to revolve around forming a logical, foundational understanding of function, and applying visual information to that knowledge. This makes things much easier to learn and remember.
I’ve found that Koreans also take a relatively lighthearted approach to learning – that is, learning is treated as a fun activity, not a tedious act of work.

Please keep in mind, I am generalizing somewhat in my description, here – not every Korean teacher will utilize these methods. I’m just describing my experiences.
This is the style of teaching I have attempted to implement through my educational blog posts (likely to a much lesser degree of success, given my relative inexperience.)

Summary of the Good

Stonehouse’s Anatomy is an easy read despite its length, filled to the brim with humorous supplementary visuals, which aid in making the learning experience more seamless and enjoyable.
The information provided is extremely solid, giving artists a strong functional understanding of anatomy, and building visual information onto that foundation.
While some may find the book to be lacking in medical detail, I personally believe that focusing on knowledge applicable to art allows the book to fit into a less saturated market.

The Bad

Although Stonehouse’s Anatomy is certainly an excellent book, it is not without its flaws.

Cultural Differences

A portion of the book’s description says,

“Please understand that there may be some misunderstandings or difficulties when reading some of the author’s personal thoughts and examples that he uses. We understand that this stems from a cultural difference between the author, who is Korean, and a wider variety of readers’ backgrounds” (Superani US).

I actually disagree with this point. I’ve found that any cultural differences are practically unnoticeable – that is to say, they do not negatively affect the readability of the book, nor the ease of interpreting Seok’s examples.
The examples provided and methods of instruction used are universal, in my opinion. Good teaching is good teaching, regardless of cultural boundaries.

HOWEVER, there are problems related to understanding the content of the book, which leads me to the one and only glaring flaw with Stonehouse’s Anatomy.

Typos and Mistranslations

Stonehouse’s Anatomy is, as stated previously, the English translation of a Korean book released in 2017. As such, it is prone to typos and/or mistranslations on occasion. Unfortunately, in the case of Stonehouse’s Anatomy, these are extremely common.
To be clear, I am not referring to basic grammatical and/or punctuational errors, although those are present in the book, as well. I am a fluent English speaker. I am more than capable of reading through simple misspellings. Such errors are not what I’m referring to when I say “typos.” I am instead referring to legitimate mistakes. Allow me to give some examples.

Mislabeled Information

On page 342, the medial and lateral borders of the scapula are mislabeled. This mistake defeats the purpose of using terms related to anatomical position, which exist to eliminate any and all ambiguity related to anatomical descriptions. In the case of the scapulae, whose appearance(s) are somewhat symmetrical, this might confuse readers. In this case, I used the location of the glenoid cavity, which is always on the lateral border, to determine the correct terminology.

On page 307, the extensor carpi ulnaris is labeled twice. Obviously, there is only one of these muscles per arm. The rightmost extensor carpi ulnaris, in this case, is actually the flexor carpi ulnaris. These muscles perform different actions (since one is a flexor, and the other is an extensor), so this distinction is fairly important.






  • p. 354
  • p. 59

On page 354, the deltoid is described as a multipennate muscle, while the cited reference page (page 59) describes the deltoid as a convergent muscle. Deltoids are, in fact, multipennate muscles (a term which can apparently imply a convergent structure – something which is not touched on in the book, and would be worth elaborating upon). Unlike the previous two examples, which I was able to figure out fairly quickly through the use of context clues and my pre-existing anatomy knowledge, I had to google this one.
Even now, I’m not sure if one term is more accurate than the other, or if they’re both equally accurate descriptions of the deltoid’s shape.

Scuffed Translations

Though few and far between, there are times when the translation is so bad, thoughts and/or entire sentences become almost completely incomprehensible. The only glaring example I’ve run into thus far is on page 355. Referring to the triceps brachii, the book states,

“No matter how hard is to ‘flex’ than ‘extend,’ because this muscle has to handle three muscles alone, this muscle has three origins of support” (Stonehouse’s Anatomy, 355).

This is almost entirely nonsensical, but I think can at least understand what Seok is trying to get across, here. Although there are three muscles involved in arm/forearm flexion, there is only one muscle involved in arm/forearm extension – your triceps.
Because flexion is a more strenuous movement than extension (it’s harder to flex your arm than it is to let it rest at your side), only one muscle is necessary for extension. With that in mind, the tricep covers the roles of three muscles, and so it comprises three segments (hence the “tri” in “tricep”).
That said, I can’t be certain I’m properly interpreting the author’s message here, and I was extremely confused upon reading that sentence for the first time.
Again, situations like this, where the sentences become almost entirely incomprehensible, are fairly uncommon.

I’m not sure if these mistakes were present in the original text (i.e. they are the fault of the author), or if these typos are present only in the English text (i.e. they are the fault of the translator).
Regardless, the content of the book is so good, it’s easy to overlook these mistakes, but you must pay attention while reading. There are some extremely noticeable errors throughout this book.

Using Typos to your Advantage

In any case, whether or not these typos are a distracting flaw is largely up to interpretation. In my experience, unless these errors lead to utterly indecipherable text (as highlighted by page 355), I do not consider them to be a problem.
In fact, I consider these typos to be a good thing, in some cases. I realize that probably sounds ridiculous, so allow me to explain.

For one thing, some of the errors are fairly obvious. Since I already knew what “lateral” and “medial” meant by the time I reached the section related to the scapula (shoulder blades), it was immediately apparent to me that the book had mislabeled the two sides.
The same goes for the mislabeled extensor carpi ulnaris. I assumed there was only one of these muscles (per arm), and, based on the context clues of the diagram, assumed one of the mislabeled muscles to be a flexor. A quick google search confirmed my suspicions.

In my opinion, the most important aspect of these typos, is that they reward readers for paying constant attention. You CANNOT read this book mindlessly while still receiving the full benefits of its instruction – you MUST pay attention. In addition, these typos reward readers who question the book’s instruction, and trust their intuition.
Plus, if I see something incorrect, assume it to be a mistake, and do a supplementary google search to confirm the correct information, I’m more likely to retain that information. These mistakes encourage (and sometimes force) me to do further research, reinforcing my pre-existing knowledge, while helping me retain new information.

Summary of the Bad

Although I have not experienced any confusion related to cultural barriers, Stonehouse’s Anatomy is littered with typos and mistranslations, which might negatively affect the reading experience of some students.
In the end, I think these typos add to the book’s charm. Just keep in mind that if you purchase this book, you must pay careful attention while reading it – something which is fairly easy to do, since the book is so much fun to read.

The Verdict

I’m not going to give this book a numbered score. For one thing, I’m just not comfortable doing so – I don’t think I could summarize my complex opinion of the book into a number between 1 and 10.
For another, I haven’t actually finished the book yet, so I think giving the book a numbered score would be disingenuous, since my opinion would be incomplete, and therefore untrustworthy.





I’ll put it this way: if you enjoy my style of teaching, and you’re an artist (or just a curious person in general), who is interested in learning about human anatomy through a method of instruction similar to my own, from an artist who is significantly more experienced and knowledgeable than I am, this is a book worth purchasing.
Of course, it is rather expensive – in the sense that I doubt most college students have a spare $80 they can throw around – but I don’t consider the price to be unreasonable, given the book’s excellent quality. (The price per page comes out to ~15¢).

In my opinion, the knowledge found in this book is priceless, and well worth it for anyone interested in learning about human anatomy. Through Stonehouse’s Anatomy, Seok Jung Hyun has provided an enjoyable read for artists and non-artists alike.

As always, thanks for reading.

Sources

  1. Seok, S. J. H. (2020). Stonehouse’s Anatomy (1st ed.). Superani.
  2. Superani US. (n.d.). [Pre-Order] Stonehouse’s Anatomy. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://superanius.com/products/stonehouse-anatomy-note


Disclaimer

All information in these posts is my own words, unless explicitly stated otherwise. None of this information is quoted, nor paraphrased, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Any similarities between my own words, and the informative sources/hyperlinks provided is purely coincidental, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
In any case where I am using someone else’s words (or imagery), the source will be cited internally, with a link to that source provided either within the internal citation, at the end of the post under “Sources,” or both.