This book definitely is an off-shoot of James McMullan's High Focus approach to drawing, although Mattesi discusses many of his own concepts as well. It is similar to High Focus in that it teaches its readers: to see the figure as being made up of three dimensional forms, to use the all important hierarchical approach, NOT to just copy the figure using measurements and negative space estimations, to feel the forms as they are being drawn, and view drawing as a very interactive experience. It is different from McMullan's approach in that Mattesi strongly emphasizes the importance of finding directional and applied "forces" (hence the name) throughout the figure. This becomes a very important concept for animators because of the nature of animating. In the figure drawings, the forces, the squashes, and the stretches are all exagerated, just as an animator has to exagerate his or her key drawings in this manner. Also, the drawings in the book tend to reflect Mattesi's background in animation, whereas McMullan's drawings are more realistic. I believe this book is written specifically for animators. However, the classically trained artist has much to learn from this book as well.