Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

i thought the book was something different from what i ordered. but i guess its good for artists

I recently received my copy, and made a few sketches based on some of the pictures that grabbed my attention (there are quite a few). I came to a couple of quick decisions very shortly: 1. The book has enough variation in both models and in each model's facial expressions to easily justify buying the book (as long as you're not interested in doing children's expressions, of which there are none); and 2. The book needs to be spiral-bound. Having to weigh down the pages to keep the book open to the image you're basing a sketch on can get irritating.

One of the nicest things is the author offers a free download of additional images, including a couple of more models, more phonemes, and cloud images, some panoramic, some not.

I've tossed back and forth whether I would prefer color images (the entire book is black and white). One minute I think I would prefer color, the next I'm glad I can focus on the placement of elements in the image with the freedom to add my own color without preconceived ideas. As the artist, you can make your own choice which you prefer, but the book remains in black and white.

Overall, I rated the book 4 stars because of the binding. I believe "A Visual Reference for Artists" (the book's subtitle) should be easily referred to without having to work to keep the book open.

This book has it's uses. It is organized by the age of the model, and varies from 20 to 83, both male and female. The pictures are clear and usable, and I was pleased that they were large enough to work with. Note that these are head-shots only. Then at the end of the book, there is a brief section on "sequential poses" which basically gives you some still frames in transitions between for example a happy and sad face. There is also a few pages on models speaking the phonemes if you need to do morphing.

The problem that I have with this book though is that, like others mentioned, WAY too many of the expressions are these really outrageous over-the-top kinds of things. I guess you could best describe them as "silly". If you are doing some type of animated cartoon or something, these might actually be real useful. But for any other use they are not nearly as much help as they could be.

For comparison's sake, I also have "The Artist's Complete Guide To Facial Expression" which I feel is a little more useful. It is organized by expression, and contains a lot of discussion about each one. The weakness of that book though is that it doesn't have near as much reference material (i.e. pictures) as this book, but at least the ones it does have are in general more useful.

"Facial expressions" is worth getting if you are looking for how the human face can squash and stretch, and how far you as an artist can push that, while still making the face "realistic." I belive many novice artists would be surprised. I was also pleased to see the age range of the subjects photographed. However, this book is not very good if you are seriously studying facial expressions. As another reviewer has said, the expressions in the book are cartoony and over acted. Again, this would be fine if what you are studying is how the features of the face interact, but if you are say, a comic book or storyboard artist who wants to work on acting and drawing a good, meaningful facial expression, this book isn't for you. Also, the drawings inspired by the expressions are pretty useless; honestly, they are in most photo reference books of this type.

This is a very good book as reference not only for caricatures, comics or illustration but also for some serious portraits. Included sections of Art Inspired by (Photographer)'s Photos are creative. This book is a must have for people who draw or paint individuals.