Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

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.

This book was just what it stated, however, I was looking for a book of instruction for the photos included. The book was returned.

Being an animator, I found this book very helpful.
Different type of people express themselves in a different way.
you can have so many variety of facial expressions using these references.
It's helpful also for storyboard artists.

An excellent book for Artist and Dollmakers. Exceptional photos covering all age groups as well as genders.
A unique, one of a kind book, that will inspire you with visual details.

Simply put - if you are an artist and in need of finding a facial expression, this is the book for you. In this book's voluminous pages, you can find nearly any facial expression that you'd care to depict, from joy to rage to pain to sadness and back again. Marc Simon has put together a fantastic reference for the artist here.

The book includes many, many models of all ages, ethnicities and genders. Each model gets a 3-page (or so) section of the book, and each pages includes 16 photographs of them in various expressions from various angles (largely side view or straight-on). The photographs are all in black and white. Concluding each model's 3-page section is a page or two of how artists have used their expressions in their own work; this may sound kind of silly, but it is really interesting to see how artists have used this book to good effect. The book also has sections on kissing, on models wearing hats, on expression progressions, and even on how certain sounds look when they are formed with the mouth (I suspect that this is specifically aimed at animators).

The only complaint I have with this book is that it is largely unorganized. While it is broken down by model and age, what would have been more helpful, I think, would be if it had been broken down by expression - oftentimes the same expression is repeated with each model (in variations) and it would have been easier to find the right expression and the right face in this schema. As it is now, you have to hunt for the right expression, often through many pages. This keeps me from awarding this book my full 5 stars.

However, despite this small failing, this book is probably the ultimate facial expression reference. You'd do well to add it to your reference library.