Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

My first though on seeing this book was: "What can it give me that looking through magazines or searching on the internet does not?"

A lot, as it turns out. I was seriously underestimating the value of having so many pictures of faces in one place. Especially photos showing various angles and extremes of expression -- which can be difficult find in traditional photos. About thirty seconds with this book was enough to make me realize that I will always keep it within easy reach of my art desk.

In addition to being a great learning tool, I think this book will be especially useful to cartoonists and comic artists. The extremes of expression make it easy to extrapolate the kind of exaggerated features required for such venues. Included in the book are example cartoons and caricatures based on the photos. Some of these even show the extrapolation to expressive animal faces!

No regrets about buying this one. Now I want one for hands and feet too!

This book should be called "Facial Caricatures", because the expressions
are not subtle at all, but cartoonish. Not only that, the author
uses a wide-angle lens (or stands too close to the subject) so that the
face is distorted (large nose and eyes). If you want your paintings
to be filled with such caricatures and distortions, go right ahead.
The poses are mug-shot type, uninteresting with no attempt to pose the head in different attitudes on the neck. The subjects are quite unattractive, also--people I would never paint except maybe if I was doing a painting
of Hell's denizens. This book is maybe useful for only cartoonists, and in fact the "art examples" inside the book are all non-serious "inspirations"
from these hack photos. But serious artists, stay away.

This book is great for reference....
I Did'nt give the book 5 stars because. I would have liked it if each picture was labeled with the emotion/idea being expressed...

Other than that...i highly recomend this book...especially if you are or are learning to be a cartoonists/Caricature artist...

Wow! No need to pose family and friends for facial expressions.
This book is a great idea.
No more excuses, just find the mood (expression) you need and start drawing.
Thanks!

What a great resource! There are so many different types of people and so many different views that I imagine I'll be busy sketching for long time. My only complaint is that the book should have been spiral bound so it could lay flat.