If you have ever taken a serious art class, you probably used a guide to drawing the human figure, such as Harold Speed’s The Practice and Science of Drawing, Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, or some other one. Not everyone is born with top-notch draftsmanship skills, so for the rest of us such instructional resources can be indispensable in helping incipient artistes bring some order and proportion to their imagery. 

In Japan there is a new manual that specializes in drawing what can be described as “lazy people in casual poses.” No, really—the title of the book is Daratto shita Pose Catalogue, which translates to “Lazing About Pose Catalogue.” Sure enough, many of its 800 pictures feature young men and women slumped down, slouching, draped over a table listlessly, lolling around in bed, and so on.

Why, it’s enough to make your average member of the Baby Boom generation have a fit! Quit that lollygagging and get a job!!
 

 
It’s difficult to know how accurately to take that translation, “Lazing About Pose Catalogue”; it could be that the original verbiage means “casual” without much judgment. And this could also partly be an offshoot of what Americans regard as a more formal public culture in Japan—maybe it’s a little bit harder to get models to simulate a state of repose, thus creating a demand for a book like this as a counter-measure. Who knows, it’s all possible.

Even if all of the above might be true, let’s face it, judging from the pictures, this book really does feature models hitting some exceptionally lazy-looking poses!

This one spread is useful for depicting lazy people on a variety of furniture, such as chairs and sofas.

 
The book is available from Amazon Japan for 2,700 yen (about $23) starting March 6.
 

 

 
More lazy-ass poses after the jump….....