Virtual Pose 2: The Ultimate Visual Reference Series for Drawing the Human Figure [Hardcover]

Mario Henri Chakkour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2001

Virtual Pose 2 is the second volume in what is fast becoming the ultimate visual reference series for drawing the human figure. For the professional and student artists, it's the next best thing to working with a live model - and a convenient option for amateur artists who have no access to studio sessions. Each volume includes an interactive CD ROM with 54 full-figure poses that the artist can rotate 360 degrees around the axis. The artist also has the ability to zoom in on the pose, thus presenting the human form in a way that allows deeper understanding of shape, form and gesture. Ranging from action to classic, from standing to reclining, these carefully selected poses were designed to offer visually pleasing as well as challenging drawing subjects. Furthermore, there is a choice of male or female models to draw from, music for inspiration and drawing tutorials, making Virtual Pose 2 an invaluable tool for every artist's reference library.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mario Henri Chakkour is an internationally established digital artist and an expert in the use of computers in art. He is the author of the book/CD ROM Painting with Computers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Hand Books Press (February 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966638352
• ISBN-13: 978-0966638356
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Virtual Pose 2 is a must have for all artists!, July 9, 2003

By 

Matthew G. Cox "a.k.a Junkyard Sam from Stole... (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Virtual Pose 2: The Ultimate Visual Reference Series for Drawing the Human Figure (Hardcover)

This product is a MUST-HAVE for all artists! Life drawing skills are important for all artists... I work in the game industry, often 60+ hours a week; There just aren't enough hours in the day to make it to a life drawing class. And that's where the Virtual Pose series saves the day!

Thanks to Mario Chakkour's Virtual Pose series I am able to improve my life drawing skills without having access to live models!

It's a quality product all around, but it's really the CD-ROM that shines. You open up a model to draw, spin him/her into the position you want - and draw! AMAZING. GENIUS. And what a great deal! There are other companies selling inferior product for 10, 15 times as much.

TIP: If you're a beginner to computers, there's a nice interface to help you through and gives you nice music to listen to while you draw... But if you have any computer skills at all, open up ("explore") the CD-ROM and you can double-click the .MOV files and enlarge them to full screen! That's one more massive plus about this product, you're NOT forced to go through a custom interface to view the models unless you choose to.

I highly recommend this product. It is truly rare these days to find such a high-quality product for such an affordable price. Get it now and build your life drawing skills!

- Matthew G. Cox...

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding visual reference, November 9, 2002

By 

M. Smith "cenmad" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Virtual Pose 2: The Ultimate Visual Reference Series for Drawing the Human Figure (Hardcover)

Any artist interested in portraying the human form knows how expensive model fees can be. Traditional pose books are often very good, but naturally show only one or two angles of the same pose. This can be especially frustrating for artists working in three dimensions, like I do.

In this book/CD set, Chakkour has compiled 34 female poses and 18 male poses, some in color and others in black and white. The model is posed on a "lazy susan" type turning platform, which is turned a few degrees for each still shot. This means that the very good lighting is constant at every angle, allowing for clear veiw of the body's curves and cast shadows. In those poses where the model is extremely "exposed" (legs overhead, for instance), there is very faint, tasteful shading that does nothing to detract from the usefulness of the shot.

Each pose is given one full page of the book, with six views of the pose displayed on the page. The companion CD-ROM (PC/MAC compatible) then displays each pose in nearly seamless 180 degrees. Using the mouse, the user can rotate the model the full 180 degrees, backward and forward.

I have a few very minor quibbles that I hope Chakkour will address in the next volume. First, a top-down view would be extremely valuable for sculpture work, but I can see how setting up the shot may make this unfeasible. Second, some of the poses aren't very dynamic, or the models look stiff and unnatural. Third, in a very few occasions, I've seen the pose change slightly as I rotate the model. That is, an arm or head drops a little more at each turn of the platform, until it's several inches lower than the starting pose.

None of these quibbles are serious deterrents, however, and the book/CD remain my single favorite tool for working at my home studio. Now if I could just figure out how to rotate the model without getting clay on the mouse...

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice - but could use some simple improvements, April 14, 2001

By 

Randall Oelerich (Duluth, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Virtual Pose 2: The Ultimate Visual Reference Series for Drawing the Human Figure (Hardcover)

This product is very much worth its price- a keeper for someone learning life drawing. The models are beautiful, and the variety of poses is very nice. The ability to rotate the models around in 360 degrees allows selection of the exact pose- choosing the proper lighting and shadow, and allows an infinite variety of poses for drawing practice- or perhaps even sculpture creations.

Suggestions/Negatives: The creators of this software should add some classical background drawing music into the program, or scrap the cheezy MIDI music all together. What would be really nice would be a SAVE feature to return quickly to the model, pose, and degree of rotation that you were previously working on. What really irks me about the program is the long startup and shut down times- the producers/authors force you to watch their intro and exit credits & bells and whistles- wouldn't it suffice to only see this during the (one time) installation? A single splash page during startup of the program would suffice- let us artists get on with drawing! Another nice feature would be the ability to import additional models from the producer in the future. Perhaps these suggestions will occur in version 3 or 4 if enough users pester the producer to incorporate them into future versions. More instructional movies than the 4 that come with the program would add to its features.