Comic Artist's Photo Reference Women And Girls

I have bought two of these books from this series so if don't read any other Read This One!!The premise is to be a photo reference to posing and that is what it does at the most minimal level. Here are the problems you will face as an artist with this book:1) Small pictures: The pictures are small because they wanted to cram a lot of poses in one book. I'm sure this to keep the cost down but what happens is you really can't see the anatomy. If you are trying to understand human anatomy DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!! If you understand anatomy then it may help you with a pose or two.2) Cheesy poses and expressions: It is obvious they called on some people that were friends for this. You can see this if you go to the website. The models are not professional and it shows. I've done commercial photography for over ten years and have worked with dozens of models and these models are amateur at best. The facial expressions are awful and not believable. The poses are stiff and rigid, no fluid movement, no sense of motion. Like I said this will give you a very basic idea of a pose, you will not be inspired.3)HORRIBLE PHOTOGRAPHY: OMG the photography is bad. Lens distortion, cross shadows, cut off limbs, it goes on and one. The lighting is the worst. It appears to be two lights on every pose not counting the background. Instead of having a key light and fill light the lights appear to be equal settings or at least within a fraction of a stop from each other. The result is flat photos and confusing shadows. In one picture around a model's face is crisscross shadows from an arm and her hair which is very confusing and no help if you are trying to figure out where the shadows are on the body.If you want just the outline of a pose this may help, if you are looking for a reference that will improve your drawing, SKIP THESE BOOKS, ALL OF THEM!!!

I have two others in this series, and I love them all. They have things that no still poses even come close to rendering for someone who wants live action for a good comic/manga. The stills are not only great and cover a variety of needed poses and positions, but you basically get to meet the models! It's really fun!Highly recommend if it's still in print after this review.

Old time storyboard and comp artists - as well as many illustrators - used to maintain a "scrap file." In case that term is new to you, it meant that they collected photos, tear-sheets and clipped-out pages of magazines to use as reference for illustration assignments. Few artist's can draw a convincing, realistic, image straight from their imagination, so having a handy reference saves much time and frustration. Of course you can stage your own photos as did many famous illustrators, but doing so takes time. Fortunately, Buddy Scalera and his intrepid crew took the time and the result is a stellar collection of carefully staged, and professionally lighted images. Please note that these are not static poses, but artfully composed action images of models leaping, wrestling, fighting, and using weapons. To make the fighting scenes accurate Mr Scalera retained a martial-arts expert. As you might guess, the target audience for book is mainly people drawing for action-oriented comic books or storyboard artists. I have three of these volumes: the other two are Men and Boys, and People and Poses. One final note, these are tasteful books. Mr Scalera had all of the models post in tight-fitting workout clothes. "Tight-fitting" not to please the voyeurs, but to allow the illustrators to capture as much of the musculature as decorum would permit.

I've always found it difficult to find decent pictures of women doing poses similar to those found in comics and action movies, most reference books contain soft poses, nudity, small pictures, and no real writing on how the photos are applicable to rendering in illustration. This book contains some very unique poses and features poses from being in pain, flying, jumping, running, sword fighting, punching, kicking, dressing, and lighting a smoke. The book features at least four to six different models with different body builds (though none are really out of shape like the Fantasy Reference) and ages.The only thing that could be improved to make the book better is to have a spiral back like the Fantasy Reference to keep damage on the spine to a minimal. The pros of this book are that all the photos are in color, the cd is amazing and features over a thousand photos contained in the book (which can be printed from a computer to take up a whole sheet of paper), and the shadows and poses in the book are exceptional. I found it worth its price and would recommend it to any aspiring artist that needs help with drawing women and girls.

Buy the physical version of this book as the included CD has even more images that are not in the digital edition.When you buy this book, buy it from the seller called "photoreference", where condition is listed as "New from Author. Signed." It really is the author Buddy Scalera, selling the book through Amazon. If you buy it from him through Amazon the book will arrive at your door, AUTOGRAPHED on the inside first page by Buddy Scalera.Content of this book varies to a nice degree with different poses, all well lit. Very little space is used for text. The CD ROM content with additional photographs is excellent as additional reference photos.

I think this is a good resource of women for aspiring comic artists. I am not exactly sure where the "Girls" are, because the models are all women. So do not feel weird when ordering this book. It should have just been named "Comic Women Resource" or something. I would like to have seen a few more models in a larger variety of poses however. It is a good book to have in your library however-especially if you are thinking of working in comics or as an illustrator in general-you never know when you will need the resources.

i bought the three books (people and poses, men and boys, women and girls) all as one and together they are an okay collection as the other reviewer said if you have these three books don't buy the Colossal Collection of Action Poses or if you don't have these three get the Colossal Collection of Action Poses they are basically the same thing. So just be aware!Now i have the same problem with all three books As a illustrator i found these poses useful as someone that wanted to improve there anatomy studies i did not, its just not that good for studying the body the photographs are to small and some are placed at odd angles which i found rather stupid i know its supposed to appeal to the comic artist but i believe the comic artists that would want to use this would prefer a neater and more practical layout of the book.Now i won't knock this book as its got a fantastic range of poses and the disk that they provide is wonderful but i am just saying don't expect there to be much to help you in the way of anatomy. But if you are looking for good pictures like this deviantART is your best bet and most are free to download, but these books also offer something that DeviantART cannot, always being there! Afterall i don't want to be stuck near a PC or be printing out all the time so yes! You need to take the good with the bad!

I bought this book together with the book over boys and men and the collosal action book of the same author. I was very disturbed and felt betrayed that all picturese of the mens and women books were bundled in the collosal actions book. So I have everything double now. So good tip: buy this collosal actions book. You have everything then. Yes I feel very betrayed by the editors an a bit by Amazon too.

I always have difficulty with the female form so this book is very helpful.Very well worth the very reasonable cost.