The opening chapter of the book presents the special techniques involved in mastering human proportion.The chapters that follow each deal with a separate part of the body: the arm, hand, leg, foot, torso, head, and neck (with special coverage of facial features and expressions) and the complete figure.
Each of these chapters follows a basic format that combines drawings of the featured body portion from many different angles, coverage of the specific bones and muscles involved, a table of muscle origins and insertions, and coverage of surface anatomy and depictions of the body part in a variety of positions.
Joseph Sheppard taught drawing, anatomy, and painting for many years at the Maryland Institute of Art. He is the author of several books of art instruction, and the recipient of a number of distinguished prizes and awards for his sculptures and other works of art, many of which are in the collections of art museums across America.