Customer Reviews

Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

Capturing a person's expression is often the key to a successful illustration. Sometimes you have to translate your own features from a reflection and apply them to the face you're drawing. This book alleviates a lot of guesswork and opens up scores of options with the variety of kinds of faces included, the range of distrortion the models allow, and the multitude of angles from which we see the faces. What's great about the collection is it isn't just faces, it's the other details that can sometimes present challenges, from hairstyles to types of shirts and collars, to a specific section devoted to various hats and headgear. All these seemingly obvious things are necessary to include at one time or another, and can present challenges to an artist. Just a sliver of the possible interpretations are included in the book as well, as several artists have contributed sketches based on the actual photos you see. Caricatures, animal characters, sculptures, it goes on and on.
I see this as one of the few staple books for any artist to keep on their shelf, that covers a broad ground within a single volume.

This is currently the best and most cost-effective photo reference for heads, features, faces, expressions, angles, and different ethnicities, genders, and ages available today *in-print*. A great price & above-average quality- it's pretty easily worth getting. See also his 2nd book: Babies to Teens.

Some ideas for next edition- mainly my own preferences: more younger models- less older; white pages with white backgrounds- instead of grey pages with black backgrounds; get rid of the skull sections; get rid of the 'art inspired by' amateur art; get rid of the sequential expressions section; expand the kissing section- younger models please; and give us more of the model on pages 234-235! :)

Some of the criticisms here by others really amaze me(!). This is the *only* book of its kind available today- there's simply no competition. Sure, other photo references exist, but none with this specific content. Where else can we find so many expressions, ethnicities, and extreme angles of view? This is a tremendous help in learning to draw heads from memory. Combine this with some of the better how-to-draw type books, and it's hard to find a better value these days. Photo-reference books can sometimes be expensive!

It's unfortunate but true: some of the *greatest* photo reference books ever created seemed to quickly go out of print. Sometimes they popped back into print; sometimes they didn't. The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual series is a great example of this, as is the Elte Shuppan Pose File series (currently a 9-volume series). Awareness seems key to their survival. It's just a simple reality: these books are intended for a very special & specific audience, and if demand for these books fades, even for the briefest of times, these books go out-of-print & then often become extremely expensive to get. I've written a few reviews for these out-of-print books, but happily *this* book is still available today. Get it while it's in-print!

Also recommended: Andrew Loomis' Drawing: The Head; George Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy & Heads, Features and Faces; Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head and Figure; Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy & Drawing the Human Head; and even How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Check 'em out!

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.

After leafing through this once it arrived, it became clear that for me this book was essentially useless, and I put it up for sale the next week.

Here's what made the book unusable for me:

The bulk of these expressions seem insincere and overly-exaggerated. These are not actors, but everyday people grimacing and mugging in front of a camera. There are not many 'real' emotions here, but mostly cartoony rubberface contortions, done by people who are not trained in subtlety conveying everyday emotion in front of a camera or audience. Some people may want this kind of thing, but I have a hard time seeing how these could be truly useful to any artist for real-world work.

The art 'examples' of how to interpret these images (also largely done by amateurs) serve absolutely no purpose and are quite distracting, as they are given more weight than the source art itself (!).

Worst of all, a bulk of the photos are badly lit, and poor adjustments were made for subjects with darker complexions. I was amazed many of the subjects were not lit to highlight what the book is supposed to be all about, facial expressions (?!). Often the strongest light source was situated on the top rear of the head -- yielding many completely flat photos.

Many of the best-lit facial poses stare directly into the camera (!). It's very rare that an artist ever needs to break 'the 4th wall' for their work, so these are also all a waste.

The author and his staff definitely put a lot of work into this book -- it's got a lot of different models and it's almost an inch thick -- but I need to be honest and say it really is a whole lot of nothing. At the end of the day, the best source for reference is a mirror by your table (like Disney animators do), or a quick camera phone pic of friend, to give you the emotion you need.

In my 19 years as a professional animator I've never seen a book of facial expression references as extensive and well thought out as Mark Simon's book. I was pleased to see that the expressions portion of the book was organized by character types rather than expressions because the animation thought process works in the same order. The type of character needs to be established first before storyboarding and animation can begin. Gender and Age are typically a great place to start. Another great thing about this book is the uniqueness and diversity of artwork from various artists. It clearly shows how a human facial expression can be applied to a wide range of character types - from animals to mythological creatures.

This book is a must buy for any artist. The variety of expressions and models is awesome and I particularly like the photos taken at low and high angles. I also like the way the book is organized. It's perfect to have expressions grouped by person because when I'm drawing a character I need to see how that character's expressions look. As fascinating as the photos are of different people, the artwork inspired be each model is so creative! The galleries in the back of the book of a kissing couple, phonemes, and models wearing hats are an invaluable resource.

'Facial Expressions' is an excellent reference book for artists who want to practise drawing and sketching the human face, enlivened by any number of evocative expressions. I am using it to improve my figure drawing, and to give the anthro characters I like to try and draw some life... it's great for that!

The models cover a huge cross section, ranging from around 20 to the late 70's, both male and female. The expressions cover a wide range also, and there are more than enough angles to get the pose down.

If you're a developing artist - like me - who struggles with the expressive human face - and particularly if you want to do anthro or furry art - I think this book is a must!

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.

As an artist I'd love a great book of facial expressions. Unfortunately this isn't it. It's very tedious trying to find the right expression the way this book is laid out. I need to be able to search for a specific expression, not a model type. Trying to find the right kind of dubious expression, or quizzical, confused, etc., is a mountainous chore because you have to search through all the various models. I would like to see a book with fewer models, better actors, and indexed by expression type.