Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Fantastic inspiration and reference! May 23, 2008
This book has an extraordinary array of poses, in motion and not! The models are all different body types, though all relatively young and fit. Quite a few more women than men.
In response to the other reviews: it's true that this is not the right book to get if you want in-depth, clear musculature. It's more just to look at then to walk you through or teach anything. But the photos are good quality and it's a great reference for a more impressionistic or natural/flowing approach to anatomy, which is just as important for an artist as technical detail!
It takes all types of books for a complete breakfast.. er, complete anatomy reference library, and this is definitely one of my keystones! A great reference, great substitute for life drawing, (as good as possible, since nothing really tops life drawing) and an amazing inspiration to flip through!
Useful tool July 27, 2007
Although the book is printed on a faily couarse grained paper and the photographs could have had better contrast, I have found the book useful. The poses are sufficiently varied to provide a good cross-section of body movement.
Good Ordinary April 1, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book when I saw it in the art store. I like it. The poses are natural and the models, while all WASPs, are of different shapes. I liked that the women were differently shaped-- some more curvacious like J-Lo, others like a Flapper with few curves. Their breasts are differently shaped which definitely helps in learning the figure. There are only a few male models and they could have been better had there been more-- I hate to judge a body as unattractive based on the amount of hair or what-have-they, and as an artist I appreciate the differences and these could be better appreciated had there been more. There was only one pregnant woman in the pregnant section and she is perhaps seven months pregnant-- she is not at the point where she is uncomfortable-pregnant or in the earlier stages-- this book could be greatly improved if Mr. Smith had done more women in different stages of pregnancy and a greater variation of models in general. I do know that when it comes to creating a book that publishers are at the mercy of meeting certain costs with a number of pages, so they try to be useful but original and try to meet several goals. This is all right-- it won't be my favourite book on the nude body, but it's not one that I will give away, either.
Will use this often January 13, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I found many usable poses in this book. Some diversity in body types, which is nice. I could do without the hairy armpits, but thankfully we all have the creative liscense to erase that.
I left out one star because the male nudes are terrible. I think there are only 3 different male models, and I don't even want to look at them, not to mention draw them. No muscle definition, one is pot bellied, and another with a bald head and flabby body completely covered with hair...easy to render as that is (a contour, then tons of hair)I'll pass. Two thumbs down on the choice of male models.
Designed to develop familiarity with the figure August 8, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
First off, let me start off by saying that this is not a how-to guide for drawing the figure. It does not attempt to teach you, and it's not designed to do so. Also, don't expect this book to have great photos that will translate into beautiful, finished pieces of art--I don't think one should expect it to be. Instead, it is choke full of full figure poses with which a student can learn the human anatomy by repeated practice of drawing different poses.
The book is what it says it is--it is merely a visual reference. This book is designed to help those who are already familiar with drawing the figure, but needs to practice the full figure at home without the help of live models at their disposal. It is not a replacement for live models, so some may deem this inadequate--but note that this is probably the best book out there of this kind. Some of the reviewers complained about the homogeneity of the models and their poses--well, not everyone is looking to expand their figure drawing prowess by drawing ethnic, overweight, or innovative poses.
Speaking from personal experience, I feel that this book is helping me to develop familiarity with the figure, ultimately resulting in speed and better gestural expression. If this isn't what you're looking for, I don't recommend this book for you. As for Sarah Simblet's book, which this book is sometimes compared to, get it if you need to be taught how to draw the figure. Otherwise, I feel that book is useless, as most of the photos are of individual body parts, rather than the full human figure. It may be used to try to gain familiarity with individual body parts, but there aren't enough photos of each part to help become familiar with any of them. It does look pretty fancy though. Very glossy. Unlike this simple and functional book for those who believe in the value of repetition.
|
