The Anatomy Coloring Book 4th Edition

Wynn Kapit, the designer and illustrator of this book, has had careers in law, graphic and advertising design, painting, and teaching.

      In 1955, he graduated from law school, with honors, from the University of Miami and was admitted to the Florida Bar. He practiced law both before and after military service. Four years later, he decided to pursue a childhood ambition and enrolled at what is now the Art Center College in Los Angeles, where he studied graphic design.

Afterwards, he worked in the New York advertising world for six years as a designer and art director. He “dropped out” in the late 1960s, returned to California, and began painting. His numerous exhibitions included a one-man show at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in 1968. He returned to school and received a master’s degree in painting from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972.

      Kapit was teaching figure drawing in Adult Ed in San Francisco in 1975 when he decided he needed to learn more about bones and muscles. He enrolled in Dr. Elson’s anatomy class at San Francisco City College. While he was a student, he created the word-and-illustration coloring format that seemed to be a remarkably effective way of learning the subject.

He showed some layouts to Dr. Elson and indicated his intention to do a coloring book on bones and muscles for artists. Immediately recognizing the potential of this method, Dr. Elson encouraged Kapit to do a “complete” coloring book on anatomy and offered to collaborate on the project. The first edition of The Anatomy Coloring Book was published in 1977, and its immediate success inspired the development of a completely new field of publishing: educational coloring books.