Figure Drawing Books

Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

Mark Simon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not good for serious sculptors 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this book to use as a reference for sculpting faces on dolls. The book shows different angles of the expressions and that was what I needed. Unfortunately what I did not need was an entire book filled with goofy expressions that you'd never even see on a human face!! There was no romantic expressions or serene, contented, laughing mildly at something mildly funny expressions. Just over the top, completely over exaggerated mutated faces! If you need some serious or normal faces, Don't buy this book.

Editorial Review:

All artists are tired of persuading their nearest and dearest to look sad…look glad…look mad…madder…no, even madder…okay, hold it. For those artists (and their long-suffering friends), here is the best book ever. Facial Expressions includes more than 2,500 photographs of 50 faces—men and women of a variety of ages, shapes, sizes, and ethnicities—each demonstrating a wide range of emotions and shown from multiple angles. Who can use this book? Oh, only every artist on the planet, including art students, illustrators, fine artists, animators, storyboarders, and comic book artists. But wait, there’s more! Additional photos focus on people wearing hats and couples kissing, while illustrations show skull anatomy and facial musculature. Still not enough? How about a one-of-a-kind series of photos of lips pronouncing the phonemes used in human speech? Animators will swoon—and artists will show a range of facial expressions from happy to happiest to ecstatic.

Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books)

E. Drudi

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pepin Press Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $13.68

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Better off taking a fashion sketching class 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book because I *just* wanted templates. (I know that as a designer, my strong suit is not in fashion sketching like this, never has been- but sometimes you have to.)

What this book provides is more of a how to create the bodies you want based off of the 9-head model. For some, this is great- a classroom in the book. For me, who has been working in this field for a long time and I just needed to crank some bodies out without putting in (for me) an excruciating ammount of work, it fell short.

Also, the proportions of the bodies are a little strange and the hand placement a bit rough. I spent more time fiddling with more natural hand positions on the templates than actually drawing the garments on them.

It is a good book for those who can't attend an actual sketching course, but if you're looking for templates- good luck.

Editorial Review:

FIGURE DRAWING FOR FASHION DESIGN offers a concise, topic by topic guide to acquiring and perfecting these skills, concentrating on the female form. The coverage provided means that this book is ideal both for those who want to apply themselves professionally to fashion design, and for all enthusiasts of drawing the human body. Fashion plates are the primary means of visualizing ideas and concepts in costume and fashion design. To give an accurate impression of what is in a designer’s mind it is vital to have complete mastery of the rules of figure drawing. Here, realism and anatomical precision are the chief values, whereas for costume and fashion, stylization and exaggeration are ways of adding individuality and verve to a plate, and of focusing attention on specific elements.

Drawing the Head and Figure

Jack Hamm

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 65 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not So Good 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book seems a bit old-fashioned in it's exercises and drawing suggestions. Even the examples of women's faces look like heads of women from the 50's. Maybe it is from the 50's originally. Anyway, it is dated.

The layout is messy and the faces cartoonish.
I am hoping to find some helpful tips on drawing the human figure but I am not too optimistic so far.

I'd say skip this book as I am sure there are much better ones out there.

If you don't have it check out Drawing for Dummies, it is a MUCH BETTER instructional guide than this one.

The BEST ever ! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Two weeks ago I couldn't even draw a stick figure with the correct proportions, now, I'm actually drawing males/females quite nice ... for a beginner of course !

This books is awesome ... even though I haven't really paid attention to the 1st part of the book, concerning faces (which really don't generate enough interest at the moment for me as a 3d modeler) the second part, concerning anatomy and proportions was pure gold !

So easy, so nice ... drawing made easy in all possible ways ! I'm still thrilled ! Although at first I was a bit discouraged, after reading the book and getting familiar with it, drawing became so fun. I usually spend about 1 hour per day, and use this baby every time...

I plan in buying my girlfriend a copy of this book in the near future ...

Conclusion: If you're a beginner ... this will be wonderful help ... and best of all it's cheap !

Editorial Review:

A how-to handbook that makes drawing easy. It offers simplified techniques and many hints and helps, as well as step-by-step procedures.

Anatomy for the Artist

Sarah Simblet, John Davis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Great way to get familiar with the human body, different positions than the boring usual, a book for more advance artists looking to improve and to know those little details only a model or this book could reveal to you.

Anatomy for the Artist 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A must for any serious art student. Sarah Simblet also has a Sketchbook for the Artist that I recommend.

Visually stunning 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a beautiful books full of beautiful pictures of incredibly beautiful people.
Aren't beauty and perfection what artists are, in essence, desperate to capture? Well, this aestetically superior book gives us a glimpse of what levels of perfection the human body can attain. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fine arts, or to anyone simply sensitive to the human body's unsurpassed beauty.

Editorial Review:

Anatomy for the Artist is like having your own life-drawing studio in the privacy of your home. Carefully constructed photographs of the human form allow you to see the structure and function of the skeleton and main muscle groups. Six imaginative drawing lessons, each supported with photography, show how to portray the bones, head, rib cage, pelvis, hands, and feet in perspective, from different angles, both in still poses and in movement.

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators, Second Edition

Mike Mattesi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators

Capture the force in your life drawing subjects with this practical guide to dynamic drawing techniques - packed with superb, powerfully drawn examples that show you how to:

* Bring your work to life with rhythmic drawing techniques
* Create appealing and dynamic poses in your drawings
* Experience the figure's energy in three dimensional space
* Use the asymmetry of straight and curved lines to clarify the direction of force in the body
* Build on your foundational anatomy and figure drawing skills to animate your drawings
*Apply the theory of force to your on-location and animal drawing observations


Whether you are an animator, comic book artist, illustrator or fine arts' student you'll learn to use rhythm, shape, and line to bring out the life in any subject while Mike Mattesi's infectious enthusiasm will have you reaching for your pencils!

Mike Mattesi is the owner and founder of Entertainment Art Academy (www.enterartacad.com) based in Southern California. He has been a professional production artist and instructor for the last fifteen years with clients including Disney, Marvel Comics, Hasbro Toys, ABC, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, DreamWorks and Nickelodeon.

Audience level: Intermediate to advanced

* Discover and master the techniques of rhythmic drawing and bring your work to life
* Learn from a professional production artist who has successfully taught his unique techniques for the last fifteen years
* Written in an accessible, enthusiastic style which will have you reaching for your pencils!

Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist (Galaxy Books)

Stephen Rogers Peck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Just when I thought it was ridiculous to get another anatomy book... 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book surprised me. I already have several dozen books on art anatomy, but Peck's book has more. He goes into expressions, cultural and age distinctions, and locomotion. Is this the only book you'll need in studying anatomy, probably not. But each book you get on the subject, and study (NOT JUST COLLECT) will hone your visual memory until drawing the figure becomes second nature. Note: Study means putting time and effort on that drawing pad!!! Also, nothing beats drawing from life or imagination! These books are to supplement these areas.

fantastic 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My professor/adviser of art advised me to get this.

It was great advice :D

An Excellent Learning Tool 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am an art student who wanted a guide to the human body. I could not be happier with "Atlas of Human Anatomy" because of the detailed illustrations combined with easy to grasp sketches. The written sections are not extremely long, and while they do delve into technical language that can be difficult, it is overall all well balanced with the illustrated elements. I find both sides important, and as a comprehensive resource on the human body for the artist, I highly recommend "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist".
I can only say that it has helped me tremendously.

Editorial Review:

To the standard material on bone and muscle has been added a section dealing with the types of human physique: a section on anatomy from birth to old age, and on death; an orientation on racial anatomy; and an analysis of facial expression.

Comic Artist's Photo Reference - People & Poses: Book/CD Set with 1000+ Color Images (Comic Artists Reference)

Buddy Scalera

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Ho-Hum 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I'll list the GOOD, then I'll list the Not-So-Good (aka. BAD).

The best two things about this book are:

1) A decent amount of images therein show the models in clothing (cloaks, some street clothing).
2) There's some decent reference of models holding weapons in "battle" poses.

That's it, really...

The *not* good (ie. BAD) things about the photograph are as follows:

1) The images are SMALL. Even the ones on the enclosed CD-ROM. Seems like the largest they get is around 700-800px on the longest side.

2) The camera's focal length causes the subjects to look distorted (ie. Huge hands close to the lens, tiny feet far away). For example:
http://is.gd/21M0

3) Only 4 models total. And two of them don't take their socks off. It may seem like a small thing, but not showing the feet is kind of huge. There's a lot of important detail in the tendons/bones/toes that is completely missing from half the images in this book.

4) The lighting creates strong shadows. This could be good or bad. Good because you get some nice play of light across muscles/tendons. Bad because sometimes parts of the model cast shadows on their face/etc, and obscures expressions and such.

All in all, it's OKAY. Frankly, I wouldn't buy it again. I'll keep it now that I have it, but my recommendation is to look elsewhere for a good reference book.

Editorial Review:

The ultimate reference for comic artists, this unique book/CD set is packed with photos of men and women in basic and dramatic superhero poses uniquely tailored to the comic artist’s needs. Comic Artist’s Photo Reference:

-Delivers over 500 color images of beautiful women and muscled men in the poses comic artists need

-Features six step-by-step demonstrations by well-known artists, so readers can learn firsthand from the pros

-Comes with a CD-ROM of over 500 additional photos for added inspiration

With this reference, comic artists of all skill levels can draw from a diverse group of models in a hundreds of poses--any time they want!

Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy: The Ultimate Reference for Comic Book Artists

Christopher Hart

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The follow-up title to the hit title Drawing Cutting Edge Comics, which has been translated into seven languages, this drawing tutorial shows artists how to draw the exaggerated musculature of super-sized figures in action poses. The guesswork is taken out of figuring out which muscles show through to the surface and how muscles appear through clothing. This instructional manual even gives both the Latin and the common terms for particular body parts such as scapula/shoulder blade. Hart covers all aspects of extreme anatomy. The book opens by providing detailed diagrams of all of the various muscle groups, including chest, back, shoulder, arm, and leg muscles. Then he covers many of the various extreme comic book types including good guy, bad guy, insane guy, punk, genius, and brute for men; and the heroine, bad gal, trashy gal, seductress, fighter babe, and cyber chick for women. As an added bonus, this book closes with two invaluable sections to all aspiring comic book artists. One provides a roadmap of all the steps an artist must take if he or she is going to get started in the comic book business, and advice on how the comic book business works. The second section features interviews with people from two of the most significant companies in the world of comics, Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition

Anthony Ryder

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Classical Drawing.. the (almost) lost art.. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I actually started out using the Bargue Drawing Course (invented in the 19th century) to learn classical drawing methods. This book is the PERFECT addendum for anyone that is trying to understand how to draw accurately from life. The Bargue Drawing Course is VERY light on technical tips (since it was intended for use in an atelier where a master could instruct the student on proper technique).

Most drawing classes today emphasize gestural drawing and 'quick' drawing. These are very useful skills to have (no doubt!), but accuracy and good draftsmanship will never come from gestural and quick practice. Someone seeking to be well rounded in the technical aspects of drawing can do no better than with this book. Before exposure to this book my drawing was 'topped'.. this gave me the tools to take my drawing to the next level.

eye opening 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the correct way to draw the human figure in an accurate and realistic way. I went to art school in the early eighties and was never taught this approach to drawing and now that I have read this book my life drawing skills have improved immensely.

Editorial Review:

This system for approaching figure drawing enables artists of all levels to achieve surprising new heights of expertise in depicting the human form.

Dynamic Figure Drawing (Practical Art Books)

Burne Hogarth

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Heroic, Stunning! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth is an explosion of human motion. The text, like the drawings, is crisp and forthright. There are no unnecessary lines in Hogarth's sketches or his dialogue on how to create them. This is the book to give anyone, of any age, with, or without talent. The beauty of the illustrations almost eclipses their value as examples. The figures curl, cringe and almost seem to launch from their empty backgrounds. There are no distractions of composition, just the human body in motion, caught on paper. The static, frozen, two dimensional renderings of anatomy previously available to artists don't give a clue as to how the bones, muscles and tendons will flex with movement. Hogarth's work clearly and beautifully shows how to capture the human body in motion. If you love art, of any form, you will find endless enjoyment in this book. If you are an artist you will find it an invaluable anatomical reference. This is the book to give anyone interested in art, but in the hands of the very young, that person just forming their talent, it would be invaluable.

Editorial Review:

Figure drawing is the most essential--and the most difficult--of all skills for the artist to learn. In this book, Bruce Hogarth, one of the founders of the School of Visual Arts in New York, introduces his own revolutionary system of figure drawing, which makes it possible to visualize and accurately render the forms of the human body from every conceivable point of view. 300+ drawings & diagrams.