Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

If you are a sculptor looking for some good references to work with, try the better [albeit more expensive] Virtual Poser series. This book is not for 3D work!!

This book doesn't have a lot of competition. There aren't many authors or artists which compile images like this just to use as references. I was looking for something just like this and I was happy to find it however there are some improvements which could be made to make this book even better. I would have liked color photographs instead of the B/W, maybe releasing 2 editions of this series would be a good idea [but I am probably dreaming]. I would definitely pay the extra $ for a color edition if it were a hardcover. It would have also been nice to feature better Illustrations with higher caliber real-life examples in the samples after each model's set of images. Overall, this book is what it says and works for what it says it works for. Simple expressions on varying faces with different ethnicities and ages. The further you get in the book, the better the models used get. I'd recommend this for any 2D artist who needs to get a hold of small library of facial expressions for animation, illustration or just general drawing work. This is not a good choice for 3D artists as most images only provide a frontal view of the subject.

This book contains black and white headshots of people showing different emotions. It starts with younger adults and moves through the ages. Each person is shown from different points of view of the same emotion. The personality types are varied too. Not just glamour girls and boys, average Americans of different ethnicities. As an illustrator this is a big help.

It's a great idea, but as a comic artist I could have used a lot more younger models. The models transition to old age groups too rapidly. I would love to see a 'volume II' that included more children and teens, and perhaps some additional models in the age groups that were included, but in different racial choices.

Even so, it is well done, very useful, and six months after I bought it, already getting a little dirty from all the use it has gotten (too much eraser dust in the air!) Thumbs up.

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.