www.artist-reference.com

My Review:

I Got about 15 tutorial DVDs from Gnomon, I believe they are the top producer of such a content at the moment. This review will be about the most recent and favorite video tutorial I bought. I already had 2 penciling video from Gnomon, one from Alvin Lee (I plan to write a review about his online course) and one from J.P. Targette. While both will teach you lot of interesting things about creating a comic page this one is the first that actually deals with drawing anatomy. And as you know I am real Anatomy freak so I got to say  I love it. I don’t think there is a better anatomy drawing video on the market at the moment. David Finch is an fantastic artist, not only his drawings looks great (the opposite is a common problem with many anatomy books) but he has a natural talent to explain things.

It is possible to buy this movie either as an real DVD or download. Lately I prefer downloads as you can get it before the DVD is released and you don’t have to wait and pay for t he delivery (price of both products is  same). Download consists of 11 quicklime movies with overall playing time over 170 minutes. There are 2 additional DVDs in the Gnomon store  focusing separately on head and hands & feet from the same author. So here you got 170 minutes of drawing lectures focused primary on body. If you are familiar with the Andrew Loomis’s book “Anatomy for all its worth” you got pretty good idea what is this video tutorial about.

David provides tons of good advice  for drawing figures from head without reference. In the first 4 videos  he is constantly drawing and not going into any details, just the overall poses and shapes. Which is actually really good as I believe it is easy to fill these with individual muscles later. I agree with him that once you can draw the correct pose and outline of the figure you are 90% done. Next here is one 25 min. video where he goes into individual muscles and another 15 minutes on differences between female and male anatomy focused on drawing good looking females.

Another hour about rendering the muscle shadows on several figures with additional 15 min video about rendering female figures and the final one about modifying anatomy to draw monsters and “non standard figures”. Overall its very interesting to watch and you can definitely see this guy knows what is he talking about. He is also really fast so you get a several figures drawn every few minutes.  I think for 39 bucks this is a great value.

PS: I already mentioned in my review of Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth that I am part of Anatomy Dojo where we practice our anatomy drawing every day. Finch’s video is going to be my next source after I finish Hogart’s book.  If you are serious about improving your drawing skills be sure to join us on cgtalk .

Short summary:

+ great looking characters

- I am having hard time finding one

My opinion:

Best comic anatomy drawing DVD out there.

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Price:

Last time I checked it cost $39 you can buy it at:

www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/823/Dynamic-Figure-Drawing:-The-Body

Product Description:

In this DVD, David Finch reveals his step-by-step process for drawing the human body. He starts with simple tube form shapes, and then covers the placement of muscle throughout both the male and female bodies. David demonstrates how to pose a simple tube form effectively, allowing you to block-in and draw a figure in perspective and in a variety of poses. He discusses balance, posture and presentation, emphasizing line weight and lighting. Finally, David puts everything together and draws fully realized bodies with a variety of intricate poses, and a variety of proportions and details. This constructive drawing process teaches you to draw convincing human bodies without the need for tracing or using reference.

About The Artist:

David Finch began his comic book career at the age of 22 at Top Cow Productions, part of Image Comics. There he created Ascension and Aphrodite IX, both of which were top sellers in the business, with Aphrodite IX debuting as the number one comic book in the industry. In 2001 he made the move to Marvel comics where his catalog of work included Call of Duty,Ultimate X-Men, Avengers Disassembled and The New Avengers. His run on Moon Knight skyrocketed this title into the main Marvel universe and landed him a top-five book which sold more than five times the title’s previous release. David then turned his attention to working with Lost, Heroes and Smallville executive producer, Jeph Loeb, on Marvel’s smash hitUltimatum. 2010 saw another major change in David’s career as his made the transition from Marvel Comics to DC Comics and the Warner Brothers banner. His artwork will be featured on the covers for the upcoming follow up to Darkest Night, entitled Brightest Day. In addition to his comic career, David has also worked in video games, music and film.

Popularity: 55% [?]

My Review:

I first encountered Fred Perry in the How To Draw Manga book series. I instantly liked his style, and while he is American his drawings have a certain Japanese Manga feel to them coupled with his own fresh contribution.

I have to say though that the videos are a completely different beast. When you read the book you can read the artists comments and see his drawings but there is something magical about seeing him draw in real time while listening to his comments. It’s almost as if you are taking part in a personal drawing mentoring session. It is definitely much more inspirational while providing much more insight about the actual drawing process. For example, I was really surprised how often he erases parts of his drawings. I had never had a problem with erasing in photoshop but for some reason it didn’t feel right to do it on paper. Watching Fred do it every 5 seconds really helped me to relax and change my mind about it and start erasing every time I feel something isn’t perfect. This exponentially increased quality of my drawings.

The video has 5 main chapters:
Female Villain, Male Villain, Alien Hero, Male Sidekick, Female Alien Sidekick. Each of them is filmed over Fred’s shoulder while he describes the drawing process as well as the personality he would like his characters to emanate. There are several “Review” parts in each chapter where he stops drawing and the video shows a scan of a drawing in process and Fred talks about the proportions of various body parts and the balance of the figure as well as his plans for the next step.

There are 2 more chapters, one of which is an unfinished Female sidekick. Apparently the camera guy fell asleep and  missed most of the drawing process This is followed by a 20 minute interview with Fred where he gives lot of information about his personal life as well as his experiences in the comic industry, his favorite manga artists as well as his experience in the army as a member of a mine clearing squad . One bit of information that was particularly interesting to me was that he is 36 years old and has been drawing for about 15 years.

Short summary:

+ real time drawing process

- over the shoulder camera distorts the drawing

My opinion:

I like it a lot

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Price:

Last time I checked it cost $20 you can buy it at:

www.antarctic-press.com/html/version_01/viewitem.php?id=4719&bk=store.php?id=AP+DVD

Product Description:

The ULTIMATE instructional DVD! Peer over the shoulder (literally!) of Gold Digger’s celebrated creator, Fred Perry, as he puts pencil to paper and creates characters, weapons and backgrounds before your very eyes. Listen as Fred explains his creative process and drawing techniques, all while offering valuable insights as you watch the magic of his illustrations unfold! Loaded with special features and an in-depth interview with the man himself. A MUST for any fan of the creative process, and of course, for GD aficionados!

About The Artist:

Fred Perry (born September 16, 1969) is an American comic book artist, currently working at Antarctic Press.

He is well known as author and artist of Japanese-styled comics. The series he is best known for is Gold Digger, a long-running comic anthology. He has also collaborated on other titles produced by the graphic novel publishing company Antarctic Press and produced a number of portfolios. He has also experimented with producing animation, both traditional and flash-based.

Currently the Cheetaholics web site is the best source of information on the artist and the work he has published.

Popularity: 16% [?]

My Review:

Probably the best “How to Draw Manga” book ever published. It is very similar to the other book I’ve previously reviewed : “How to Draw Anime & Game Characters” in that that it is very instructional and teaches you how to draw character from all different angles and in perspective. This is one of the most important skills to have if you want to draw truly good looking characters and unfortunately many books either ignore it or treat it very lightly.

As far as I know this book hasn’t yet been translated into English but there are tons of illustrations on every page and the pictures are self-explanatory. While being very similar to HTDA&GCH in this aspect there are also differences. “How to draw better Moe characters” is focused on one particular manga style and adds more anatomy as well as computer shading and coloring on top of this.

By now it probably isn’t really obvious why I like it so much but I am sure you will understand once you check the samples in the gallery. This is definitely the best looking HTDM book obviously drawn by professionals that could be compared to (or actually are themselves) top artists in the game and manga industry.  So if you like the art in games like Disgaea or Final Fantasy 9 you will love this book. It’s so much more fun to learn to draw from a book that has great looking characters  and to be inspired and challenged by the professional and confident way they were drawn.

Short summary:

+ the most professionally drawn “How to Draw Manga” book ever published

- no English translation yet

My opinion:

This one is a must

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Price:

Last time I checked it cost ¥1,890 which is about $19 you can buy it at:

www.amazon.co.jp

Product Description:

How to bring super deformed characters to life  from sketches to coloring techniques step by step in 4 chapters. Three illustrators contributed to this book.

Popularity: 41% [?]

My Review:

I have several “How to draw Manga” books on my book shelf.  Recently I decided to start a drawing manga course so I went through all of them and tried to choose the best ones for inspiration. It seems that after the explosion in popularity of Manga in USA and Europe many non-Japanese artists published books on this topic. While this doesn’t have to be necessarily bad it seems to me that most of them didn’t catch the essence of Japanese Manga and that it wouldn’t be a good idea to use theirs books. There are few exceptions though, for example Adam Warren and Fred Perry (I will get to his video course in the next review).

Back to the review There are 2 original Japanese “How to draw Manga” books that I consider to be the best and “How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 1: Basics for Beginners and Beyond” is the one that has been translated into English. It may be decieving that it is called How to Draw Anime… but basically the  only difference between Manga and Anime is that Manga is a static comic form while anime is a cartoon (moving picture format).  So the character design process is exactly the same.

What I like about this book most is that it really gives you all the info you need to get into drawing Manga. It starts with the basics such as drawing cubes and balls in perspective and continues by building on this with the addition of eyes, mouth and more details. After explaining the drawing of a generic anime head it goes on to show you different popular styles of current anime characters while showing each head from different angles, for example bird’s eye and ant’s view while rotating the head along a vertical axis at the same time. This is very rare in other books.

A large part of the book is focused on comparing the professional and beginners’ drawing of the same character. This is highly useful as you can clearly see the many mistakes and poor use of techniques taught in the book by beginners. On one page the finished drawings are compared while on the next one circle and stick characters are drawn representing these two drawings that are even better at pinpointing the basic mistakes in the drawings such as incorrect proportions and perspectives of different body parts. Be sure to check out the  samples from the book in the gallery bellow.

The book continues with drawing characters’ bodies, explaining different body parts and poses as well as foreshortening and clothes design while sprinkling the book with one page tips by popular young Japanese manga artists.

Short summary:

+ great and very comprehensive Manga book to start with

- no detailed explanation of anatomy, however this could actually be a good thing as it seems it work

My opinion:

Best “How to draw Manga” book translated into english. 

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Price:

This book is obviously out of print, there are some sellers on Amazon.com and the price range is surprisingly wide. From $18 to $150. WTF?

www.amazon.com/gp/product/4766111206/

Product Description

This exciting new series which may be used in conjunction with How To Draw Manga is a dream-come-true for all aspiring “Anime = Japanese Animation” artists, “Video Game” designers, as well as fans. Volume one introduces the step-by-steps involved in drawing various types of male and female characters, young and old, in the unique “Anime” style whose popularity seems to be growing by the day.

Moreover, it provides detailed explanations how to bring out certain personality traits through facial features, anatomy, wardrobe as well as accessories. This will be one “Hot” book for all “Anime” fans.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I should probably be up front with you about my involvement with this site before you continue reading, just so you don’t think I’m purposefully giving a glowing review to make some cash. But since I own a part of the site under review I thought you should know. However, because I know what I want from this site and because I’ve had a hand in choosing the content for this site I can say with confidence that it’s exactly the kind of site that when I started my artistic career I found wanting. I’ll try to be as objective as possible and you’ll have to be the judge.

My Review:

While female-anatomy-for-artist.com and human-anatomy-for-artist.com are sister sites this one is more like their younger and hipper cousin The main difference is that there is no nudity on this site or nude photo references so not only is it safe for kids it is also a great source of clothing, facial feature and wrinkle references. There are generally fewer angles for each pose but on the other hand every single picture counts and can be used for a frame in a comic. These photos are not intended for anatomy study (while some of them can certainly be used that way) but as a reference for comic drawing. There are a lot of crazy angles and perspectives and the photos are more dynamic in general. You can find photos of daily activities ranging from using a phone, drinking whisky or shooting people in the head from behind The clothing varies from casual t-shirts and jeans through gangsta leather jackets and business suits to military suits and uniforms.

There are also additional subjects like dogs attacking people, motorcycle driving, smoking,  you know, everything that might be useful in a good comic . You can of course suggest your own poses and subjects as long as it matches a comic theme.

There are currently about  10,000 (ten thousand) photos on the Website.

Quality:

Most of the photos are 3328×5047 pixels, which is about 16Mpx.  This is roughly twice the full HD resolution so more than enough for creating professional artworks or comic.  Be sure to save the photos in our gallery so you can see the full resolution. Click on the thumbnail and then right click on the full screen picture and choose “save as”.

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Price:

There are several pricing options to choose from, starting from 7 EUR per month for a hobby membership. There is a download limit of 250 photos per day so you will get 250×30 = 7500 photos for this price. Thats more than 1000 photos per 1 EUR. A good deal if you ask meJ

License:

A hobby license allows you to download and use the photos for your personal use, for example for study, and any non commercial art creation etc. You are allowed to showcase your works but not to sell them. A commercial membership allows you to use photos according to a royalty free stock license. So basically for anything else than reselling the original photo. You can use it for commercial illustration, art etc and sell your artworks. A commercial membership starts from 14 EUR per month.

Short summary:

+ Best value for comic photo references

- Only 10,000 photos at the moment

My opinion:

My favorite photo reference site at the moment

You can buy membership here:

www.photo-reference-for-comic-artists.com

Popularity: 76% [?]

I should begin by confessing that as a co-owner of the website under review you might feel that I’m biased and incentivized to present the site in the best possible way regardless of its real quality. However, as an artists myself I helped set up and choose the content for this site that I knew I needed and thought was lacking on the net before. I’ll try to be as objective as possible and I hope you find these remarks useful to you in your career as a student and artist of human anatomy.

My Review:

Again, this is basically a sister site of female-anatomy-for-artist.com.  The major difference is that this one focuses on male muscles and figures while also providing poses including groups, some of which have women. The main idea  is to provide a big database of male anatomical photos in various poses shot from various angles. It makes you feel like  you have your own live studio model at home to base your drawings on. I believe this is a great way to learn to draw the human body as well as a source of royalty free photos for art creation.

There are currently about  62,000 (sixty-two thousand) photos on the Website. About 80% of the models are nude (the rest are clothed in a wide range of formal and casual attire). There are male models of all ages and body types. Old men, bodybuilders, skinny and fat models. You can find all types of poses of daily activities from making a call to fantasy and sci-fi fighting poses with various weapons and classical figure drawing and statue poses. Each pose has 8 angle shots which is the best way to see muscles from different angles and helps enormously with statue and clay modeling.

Quality:

Most of the photos are 3000×4000 pixels, thats about 12Mpx. The most recent updates I found are 3744×5616 pixels (21Mpx). This is roughly twice the full HD resolution so more than enough to study anatomical form as well as to use in art as, for example, the fantasy illustrations by Dave Seeley. Be sure to save the photos in our gallery so you can see the full resolution. Click on the thumbnail and then right click on the full screen picture and choose “save as”.

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Price:

There are several price options, starting from 23 EUR per month for a hobby membership. There is a download limit of 250 photos per day so you will get 250×30 = 7500 photos for this price. That’s about 326 photos per 1 EUR. A good deal if you ask me J

License:

The hobby license allows you to download and use the photos for your personal use, for example studying, non-commercial art creation, etc. You are allowed to showcase your works but not to sell them. The commercial membership license allows you to use photos according to a royalty free stock license, which basically means for any purpose commercial or non-commercial except for reselling the original photo references. You can use it for commercial illustration, art, etc. and sell your artworks. The commercial membership starts at 38 EUR per month.

Short summary:

+ the biggest and best priced photo database of male anatomy photos in the world

- great software for rotating the models in 3D is part of the more expensive premium membership

My opinion:

Great value.. 

You can buy membership here:

www.human-anatomy-for-artist.com

Popularity: 85% [?]

Before beginning this review I should confess that I own part of this Website and therefore I could be seen as having a conflict of interest in presenting the site in the best possible light. However, I will try to stay as objective as possible in spite of that J. If you feel I am too enthusiastic about this Website the reason could be that I had a big part in choosing the content for this Website so naturally I made it what I would love a Website like this to be J

My Review:

Ok, let’s start. The basic idea behind female-anatomy-for-artist.com is to provide an enormous database of female photos in various poses shot from various angles. Basically, it’ll let you simulate having a real life model of your own at home. I believe this is the greatest way to learn to draw the female body.Especially when compared to the drawing class I took 2 years ago J I was unlucky in that our model was a 50 year old woman that was not only overweight but I believe a little drunk and was constantly hitting on the drawing artists that were mostly men between 20-30 years of age. And yes, she liked me a lot too and tried to invite me to her place :O. Ehmm. Sorry for getting off topic J

There are currently about 69,000 (sixtynine thousand) photos on the Website. 90% of the models are nude (the rest are dressed, e.g. in a swimsuit, casual clothes, drapery, etc.) and a large part of them are females between 18 and  25 as these seem to be the most popular subjects for drawing. That said there are women of all ages and body types. Old women, bodybuilders, gymnasts, dancers. You can find all types of poses from daily activities like hair brushing or writing (with pen-in-hand details) to extreme yoga poses, fantasy and sci-fi fighting poses with various weapons and classical figure drawing and statue poses. Uh, that was quite a long sentence J Each pose has 8 angles. So for example a standing girl is shot from the front and then rotated 45 degrees 7 times with a shot taken after each rotation.

Quality:

Most of the photos are 3000×4000 pixels, thats about 12Mpx. The most recent updates I found are 3744×5616 pixels (21Mpx). This is roughly twice the full HD resolution so more than enough to study anatomical form as well as use for art such as the fantasy illustrations by Dave Seeley. Be sure to save the photos in the gallery below so you can see them at full resolution. Click on the thumbnail and then right click on the full screen picture and choose “save as”.

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Price:

There are several price options, starting from 23 EUR per month for a hobby membership. There is a download limit of 250 photos per day so you will get 250×30 = 7500 photos for this price. That’s about 326 photos per 1 EUR. A good deal if you ask me J

License:

The hobby license allows you to download and use the photos for your personal use, for example studying, non-commercial art creation, etc. You are allowed to showcase your works but not to sell them. The commercial membership license allows you to use photos according to a royalty free stock license, which basically means for any purpose commercial or non-commercial except for reselling the original photo references. You can use it for commercial illustration, art, etc. and sell your artworks. The commercial membership starts at 38 EUR per month.

Short summary:

+ the biggest and best priced photo database of the female anatomy in the world

-  great software for rotating the models in 3D is part of the more expensive premium membership

My opinion:

Great value.. 

You can buy membership here:

www.female-anatomy-for-artist.com

Popularity: 100% [?]