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The Fantasy Figure Artist's Reference File with CD-ROM | 
| Author: Peter Evans
Creator: Glenn Fabry
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $18.38
You Save: $11.61 (39%)
New (24) Used (9) from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 86338
Media: Spiral-bound
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 0764179616
Dewey Decimal Number: 743.4
EAN: 9780764179617
ASIN: 0764179616
Publication Date: August 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: B20080827172116N
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Product Description
Both professional and student illustrators of action and fantasy art can take the guesswork out of rendering extreme anatomy and dynamic action poses with help from this valuable reference source. It presents more than 600 detailed color photos of live models, and represents a wide range of physiques, postures, and poses that can be incorporated in fantasy scenarios. The books accompanying CD-ROM contains all of the books posed images, allowing illustrators to swipe them directly and paste them into their own computer art projects. The book also instructs on rendering realistic effects to the illustrated textures of flesh, hair, clothing, and metal objects, as well as advice on adding highlights, backlights, and shadows. Here is a valuable reference source that belongs in every illustrators personal library. All images are copyright free.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A Clean Start for an aspiring artist May 5, 2008
The Fantasy Figure Artist's Reference File is a great book for anyone to have in their library for reference. What I enjoy most about it is the fact that the models are clothed, so that the book can be enjoyed by all ages of artists and can be shared with anyone. However, the lesson in anatomy are still very useful in the book. The models are shown in spandex for classic poses, then are shown in various stages of wardrobe to show what specific articles of clothing look like. The cd comes with all the images of the basic photos, it does not include the photos of the examples of how the photos can be used in works of art. The book though has a hard cover and a spiral spine so it is easy to open flat without damaging the spine. And the price is decent. Please support this book and other books in this series they are one of a kind and well worth their cost.
 my review July 4, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is a welcome addition to any cartoonist or illustrator's photo reference file as it includes physical and ethnical types different from the usual stereotypical idealized caucasians. On the other hand, it isn't as systematic, varied or consistent in its poses and points-of-view as the Illustrator's Reference Manuals or the Posefile series of books.
 Cliche Central January 23, 2007
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
The 'Fantasy' of the title is, unfortunately, the heavily-stereotyped 'thud and blunder' style fantasy of Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and other such hackneyed, outdated types.
The figures shown are Barbarian warrior, Warrior woman, Evil Sorceress, Fairy, etc. And they are all quite absurd.
The book also includes little tidbits of information about costume and weapons, like this pearl of wisdom: "The nock is the part of the bow that the arrow rests on." Uh, yeah?
Combine this with poses titled "Bring forth tidings", "Arise, my liege" and the like, you soon realise this isn't a particularly well-done piece of work.
As for the CD, the images are huge - making them very difficult to work with.
This book isn't completely useless, but there are surely better things to spend your money on.
 Great for beginner fantasy artists!! January 9, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
If you are new to the fantasy art genre or are looking for a great quick reference for figure drawing, this is the book. It gives a diverse selection of different body types, sizes and looks, as well as a good smattering of accesories, close-ups and clothing...
Not extreme or dynamic, but still has some good parts January 2, 2007
26 out of 28 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations. Overall, it was uninspiring to me, especially in creating my own characters. As a reference photo book, it fails because the poses are not extreme and dynamic as promised. It also seems to try to reach beyond its scope with a section on painting and many comments on characters beyond anatomy and costume.
Pros:
- "Anatomical studies" show each character type in only shorts (or shorts and sports bra for women) so you know what the body looks like in some poses.
- Summary of character wardrobe
- Poses of characters in wardrobe may help in drawing clothing -- depicting folds, how certain material hangs, etc.
- As another review mentioned, an overweight man ("cleric" and "norseman" types) and a small person ("warrior dwarf" type) are shown here, and both are helpful.
- Captions in the book often direct you to details (how material is bunching up a certain way, how a shoulder strap hangs off the body in a certain pose) or notes about anatomy ("legs need to be placed apart because they will have to bend to compensate for the weight of the ax")
- Section of close-up facial expressions (male and female)
- Although brief, there are also some photos of hand detail, including props like rings & bracelets, and accessory details -- boots, belts, jewelry
- Spiral binding allows the book to lay flat (although when you're drawing, you'll probably print images from the CD instead)
Cons:
- Uninteresting poses. This is the sale-killer for me. Although the book says the photos depict "extreme anatomy and dynamic action poses" I found the poses to be too plain. There was no "extreme" posing where the body is in extreme angles -- lunging, jumping, twisting. Instead, someone is standing still with their arms raised and feet spread, but there is no action happening. You can tell because there is a lack of tense muscles.
- The back of the book has a section on painting characters that seems out of place. This is a photo reference book, not a painting book. Unless you already know about painting with acrylics, this section is useless.
- Some captions have irrelevant comments. In a caption of a photo showing a happy "warrior prince" face, it notes, "All characters should be able to feel elation and happiness."
Summary: although a few poses are good, don't expect most of them to be "extreme" or "dynamic." Note that this is not an instruction book on learning anatomy, and you should have at least a basic understanding of human anatomy to use this book well.
Books that I would recommend for beginning artists:
- Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy by Christopher Hart
- Drawing the Living Figure by Joseph Sheppard
- Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth (great for flow of action)
- Perspective! For Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea
- Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery: Solutions for Drawing the Clothed Figure by Burne Hogarth
- Action Anatomy: For Gamers, Animators, and Digital Artists by Takashi Iijima
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