www.artist-reference.com

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: 78% [?]

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”.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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: 86% [?]

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”.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12►

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% [?]