Customer Reviews

Figure Drawing with Virtual Models: Getting the Most Out of Poser Artist

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a "how to draw the figure" book. I thought, by reading the summary that it would help with the use of the Figure Artist Program. It was no help at all with the program. An example: the book shows a dramatically lit figure and states "pose a figure and light it like this image", than proceeds to explain how to draw the figure. I wanted a book that helped with using the program itself. Such a book is very much needed because there is a lot that is not explained in the tutorial or manual that comes with the program.

This book is a peculiar species of beast.

On the surface, it's a figure drawing manual. Except it says you shouldn't look at the human figure to do it. Instead it promotes drawing from the poorly constructed, imprecise, anatomically incorrect and badly articulated 3D models.

Anyone who knows a scrap of visual anatomy will be able to see that Poser models, simply, are not a good representation of the human figure. They bend in wrong places, they do not have muscle tone, their "muscles" are an artificially sculpted pattern that distorts in grotesque ways whenever the figure deviates from the pose it had been sculpted in. I discourage you from using Poser and so I discourage you from using this book.

As for why this book even exists, I think the answer can be found practically undisguised in the foreword. This book, apparently, is written by people who believe that human body is a sinful thing and looking at it should be avoided. So they promote Poser instead.

This is wrong on so many levels from the artistic point of view, that I don't even want to delve into it. Artists had sought beauty and harmony in the human form for thousands of years. No amount of misplaced modesty from the authors of this tome should discourage them from continuing to do that.

I need to say, that, yes, the title is a bit confusing, but I certainly don't think a book should be rated only 1 star because the previous rater didn't pay attention to what s/he was buying.

But, the book, as a guide for learning to draw people, is not badly written. I found this book to be very helpful (especially helpful with proportion)