Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual (Illustrators Reference Manuals) [Hardcover]

Bloomsbury (Editor), Peter Hince (Photographer)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Book Sales (March 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555210333
• ISBN-13: 978-1555210335
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely excellent, multi-angled- comprehensive photo reference, June 11, 2006

By 

"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual (Illustrators Reference Manuals) (Hardcover)

Wouldn't it be great if we had a single, one-stop reference for figures with & without clothes, with props & in action- including multiple angles of each pose on every single page? Well, we *do* have this comprehensive reference(!)- it's just difficult to keep it in print...

The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual is a phenomenally comprehensive piece of work- and a truly *GREAT* resource for every working artist. Even if the exact pose you need isn't in this book, you're bound to find *something* of extreme value here. It begins fantastically enough with an entire nude figure section- a single female & male model, each shot from *many* different angles. It's 54 pages- 27 for each model- out of the book's approximately 250 pages total. What makes this section so valuable is that each page has just one pose, but again- many angles/photos are given. This gives us an accurate way to understand how the figure changes when rotated, except that it's the camera that rotates, not the model. High, middle and low angles are shown, with the figure standing, kneeling, sitting, and laying down. This multi-angled approach is used throughout the remainder of the book. All photos are in color, but they're so muted & slightly faded, they could easily be mistaken for being in black & white. Single figures *and* clothed couples are represented in a wide variety of situations. Common everyday props are often used, including chairs, tables, sports items, and various hand-held objects. Hard-hitting action poses are *avoided*, as well as extreme camera distortion and perspective. This is meant to be an 'everyday-common-average' and 'likely-to-see-on-a-regular-basis' photo reference. It's the best *one-stop book* I've ever seen on this subject to date!

My copy is copyrighted 1987 by Quarto, ISBN 1555210333, and is published by Chartwell, a division of Book Sales Inc. It's been reprinted: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, etc. It contains over 5,500 photos: from over 200 individual poses- seen from 24 different angles. It's definitely worth getting- if you can find a decent price! My highest recommendation!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect reference for realistic figure drawing., July 8, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (the Peoples' Republic of Christchurch, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual (Illustrators Reference Manuals) (Hardcover)

This book contains over 5,000 different poses in different situations, photographed at various angles, so there's a figure to suit almost anything. Even if you can't find the pose you're looking for, you can always combine existing ones with ease. If you want to draw realistic figures, but want to avoid the hassle of hiring models, then you'll find this book better than helpful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rare source for CLOTHED poses, July 27, 2003

By 

Geoffrey Berkin "lawgeoff" (Sherman Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual (Illustrators Reference Manuals) (Hardcover)

I'm doing cartoons, which always involve people wearing clothes. Working from nude poses is helpful, but I still have to work out the clothes. This book is the only one I have found so far with photographs of clothed poses (anime drawing books are a good source for drawings of clothed poses). Especially helpful is the "rotation" of the models so that numerous angles are shown, from each of 3 different eye levels.

Also, nude poses seem to explore all the different positions a body can get into, which are not typical of the way people stand, sit, move, etc., in life - what I'm trying to draw. The photos of clothed models in this book do reflect "real life" poses.

The main reason I did not give 5 stars is that even though this book is very good, and I recommend it highly, I wish it had more poses, particularly ones which illustrate additional common poses.