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Title: Comic Artist's Photo Reference - People & Poses: Book/CD Set with 1000+ Color Images (Comic Artists Reference)
ISBN: 1581807589
Author:
Buddy Scalera
Publicate Date: 2006-05-24
Publish: 2006-05-24
List Price: $24.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.49
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $8.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.49
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Ho-Hum
I'll list the GOOD, then I'll list the Not-So-Good (aka. BAD).
The best two things about this book are:
1) A decent amount of images therein show the models in clothing (cloaks, some street clothing).
2) There's some decent reference of models holding weapons in "battle" poses.
That's it, really...
The *not* good (ie. BAD) things about the photograph are as follows:
1) The images are SMALL. Even the ones on the enclosed CD-ROM. Seems like the largest they get is around 700-800px on the longest side.
2) The camera's focal length causes the subjects to look distorted (ie. Huge hands close to the lens, tiny feet far away). For example:
http://is.gd/21M0
3) Only 4 models total. And two of them don't take their socks off. It may seem like a small thing, but not showing the feet is kind of huge. There's a lot of important detail in the tendons/bones/toes that is completely missing from half the images in this book.
4) The lighting creates strong shadows. This could be good or bad. Good because you get some nice play of light across muscles/tendons. Bad because sometimes parts of the model cast shadows on their face/etc, and obscures expressions and such.
All in all, it's OKAY. Frankly, I wouldn't buy it again. I'll keep it now that I have it, but my recommendation is to look elsewhere for a good reference book.
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2: Inconveniently Helpful
The book would be ideal if it was wire-bound, and you could flip to a certain photo, then lay the book flat to draw from it. Otherwise, it's hard to keep it open to one page without clips, clamps or otherwise incovenient tools. While the CD is helpful, leaving the computer on the whole time to draw from it wears your eyes out quickly.
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3: Very Average Reference - Google Images is Better and FREE
I was very disappointed after purchasing this book. The content is average at best and the CD doesn't even contain ALL of the images found in the book which I thought was very misleading to the customer - you have to scan the images not on CD that you want - what a waste. You can do better by finding image references through Google Images and those are free. This book has some value, perhaps if one is just starting out, but hardly a top resource for anyone else. The "extremely positive" reviews here are no doubt either people who fall into this newbie category or friends of the author looking to help him out by placing positive reviews. Pass on this one or get it used / discounted somewhere. Not worth the full price that's printed on it. I was suckered.
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4: Great photo Reference for artists!
This book is great for getting proper perspective and foreshortening etc. into your action drawings. I'll take a whole lot more of them! Perfect for graphic novel or comic illustration where you don't have models available for reference shots, or you need an inspirational shot for a particular mood. Like I said, my only complaint is that I want more! It includes a CD also so you can reference that as well, but I haven't checked to see if that has different poses or not yet. Hopefully it does. As an accurate anatomical reference for drawing humans or heroes in action, it is great! It does what it sets out to do. Top Notch.
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5: Photos to fuel your creativity
Do you ever get that perfect composition in your head but can't seem to work it out when sketching? I know I do. As a comic book artist and cover painter I have the usual reference library of cheesecake pin-ups, muscle magazines, and old comics laying about. A new addition to my reference library is People and Poses. This is a terrific resource and helps me nail the anatomy in my drawings and paintings the first time. People and Poses brings me real life, right now, awesome poses to help me turn my creative ideas into reality. A must for any artist's library.
Brian Miller, Author: Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results
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