Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 Artist Must Have November 25, 2007
This book is the best I have read about drawing portraits. You learn a lot from this book as it is in a format that is easy to understand.
Superb April 10, 2007
The author and artist did a superb job in explaining the theory of emotion, and then his actual drawings provide an excellent guide to these basic emotions. This is a rare and unique combination.
 Some very good, the rest very bad. March 8, 2007
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book gives you an excellent overview of the anatomical structure of the human head. A distilled amount of studied and learned information. I'm sorry to say that the author is one that is better at teaching than drawing, because almost all of his example drawings are so badly executed that I found myself wondering how the heck it all went so wrong when he applied his own techniques to his subjects.
I got rid of the hardbound paper cover for this book so that I would not be instantly "turned off" by the ones on the front and back of the dust jacket. The drawings themselves are so overworked to the extreme that words fail me. They look forced and do not consistently convey the emotion that the author attributes to them.
I found myself "deflated" rather than inspired to use his techniques because of the example drawings (although this may not bother you as I tend to be a "hothouse plant" when it comes to quality and execution of ideas).
Summing up: On the Pro side: A fine reference to add to your library for the biological anatomy of the head, both in proportion and a broken down "geometrical" approach of it's basic construction - On the Con side: a terribly uninspiring look at those references put to use in the authors overworked, unrealistic and extremely disappointing drawings.
A Favorite! January 23, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin is one of my favorite art books because it isn't limited to a particular medium. My goal as an artist/illustrator is to portray people as realistically as possible, and this book is filled with hundreds of pictures of expressions along with the facial muscles that produce those expressions. The demonstrations show the artist how to portray even the subtlest emotion. But this book isn't just for artists whose style is realistic; artists who prefer cartooning can also benefit by understanding how to translate complex expressions into simple lines.
Lots of good stuff! January 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Love this book, saw improvements within the first hour of reading it. I love the breakdown of the whole head into parts, then the parts are broken down even further. I was also impressed with the "common mistakes" referred to in the book that were my common mistakes!
Very usable information, not too technical, and in addition to helping pin down the emotion you're trying to add to a face, it contains a lot of practical advice to improve the overall "realistic" look of a portrait.
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