www.artist-reference.com

This review is for all CG artists dealing with everyday seeking for the right material, whether for their work or just for use in leisure time. If you belong to such kind of people, please feel free to read.

I ran into this site while browsing the internet in order to find some interesting textures and designs which I started to collect for my further works. The one thing about this site, that I need to mention right at the beginning, is diversity of its content in terms of products provided. Assist CG offers not only textures but also designs, backgrounds, video transitions and also software for video composition and texture modification. This site is a great place for getting ideas and good stuff.

It has to be admitted that in spite of its modest collection in terms of the number of textures in each category, Assist CG is pretty impressive and has lots to give. The website’s collection boasts of many interesting, quality photos, a few of them are hard to find anywhere else. Some of the eye catchy textures that caught my attention were for example Wood, Lawns and Paving sets. Most photos in Wood section may seem common, but some of them are very rare in its genre. Among the ordinary textures from Paving Sets, one can find intriguing photos of the Roman roadways, too. Above all, I would highlight remarkable designs offered in Tiles and Mosaic section, which are very rare and impressive. These great sets are one of the reasons, why artists definitely should visit this website. Since most of the textures represent different surfaces of the terrain and various kinds of walls and roofing, this site could be helpful for game developers in process of creating surroundings in games or for architects while presenting their architectural projects.

Textures are offered in the resolution ranging from 512×512 to 2048×2048 pixels, some even higher. Those in resolution of 512×512 pixels can be downloaded for free without having a membership. All you need to do is get registered and you can enjoy free downloads. Although free photos are in quite small resolution, still it’s a nice gesture from the website like this, which can also persuade artists to subscribe. Nevertheless, to get the original resolution of the images, you have to become a member.

Except textures, you can find a lot of more. The site provides Blender 2.49 which is software for creating video composition with different visual effects. Such video composition can be used in the presentation of your project. One can also find various transitions and animated video backgrounds ready for use in this video. Moreover, the site has a tutorial section in which a user gets information of how to use the provided software with some examples and tips. A new user, just like me, who is interested in making creative videos, can really get some help out of this. The basic version of the software is available for free download once you registered, but the full version which enables to use sources from the library is open only to members exclusively. There is also workstation section on the site, which provides software that helps you modify and make textures.

Assist CG offers a membership in length of three months for which one needs to pay only 10 USD. For such a small price one gets access to download all the textures and videos on the site in full resolution. The software is available in its full version, too. Although there is part of the website’s content which can be downloaded for free, for a price this low, I would better become a member and enjoy the full capacity of the site.

The license agreement of the site has very simple policies. The first being that one cannot put the textures and other material from the site directly on his/her own web for sale. If you want to do so, significant modification would be needed. Otherwise, all content is royalty free and can be used anywhere one wish to use.

The only defect of the site I noticed is its small collection. Assist CG holds very few categories with low number of textures in each category, when compared with sites like www.environment-textures.com, which has three times more categories and subcategories and which with the total number of more than 99,000 photos is one of the largest resources of high resolution textures.

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On the other hand, the site has a good search engine which helps to find any video, texture or software one needs quickly and easily. The site is also very well designed, too. I found it very intuitive and uncomplicated to use. Also, all the textures are very clearly divided into categories. That makes browsing simple compared to other bulky websites where it becomes difficult to get to a desired texture.

This review should provide the relevant information about Assist CG and I hope it has helped you get the idea of the site and its content. Please, note the summary below.

Summary

+ Intriguing and rare textures in good resolution and high-definition videos. Software is really helpful plus tutorials make it easier to use.

- Quite few categories of textures as compared to similar websites. It holds a small collection of textures in each category as well.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I came upon the site of Marlin Studios while I was searching for good designs I needed to build into my presentation. I won’t say I found all the textures that I needed but I certainly got the most of them. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by finding more, other than needed right at that moment. In addition to different variety of textures, they offer great animations in terms of videos which are very helpful, e. g. in game development. Marlin Studios claims to have been in the texture business longer than any texture publisher and with the number of over 70,000 images, this site definitely deserves at least a glance from the game developers, architects and artists who are engaged in daily designing.

On opening, the site doesn’t really look too tech-savvy to be honest. It is actually very moderate and simple in view. At first glance, I didn’t find it to be impressive. The website might seem little perplexing and incomprehensible. There is also no search engine available on this site which makes it a bit of task to search for the texture desired. Although the designs are divided into many galleries and categories, it does take a while to get to the exact image we have in mind. Lots of confusion plus no search engine rendered the website tough to surf and the searching time-consuming. This could discourage potential customers.

However, the Marlin Studio’s strength lies in variety and voluminousness of the provided content. This site consists of lots of 2D and 3D images included in 25 libraries. These are divided into sub galleries such as seamless textures, specialty gallery, 3D gallery and money saver gallery. Textures given on the site include various basic ones like tiles, wood, stone, skies and such patterns. Apart from these, one will also find animated people and different 3D models of buildings or vehicles. Surely, it is worth noting the specialty gallery and its special libraries like the People N Motion with animated people in both business and casual attire, Panoramas, Tree palms, Traffic etc. The 3D section gives a number of images which can be used to make 3 dimensional structures or models in game development. The samples shown here are full built modern houses with yards and also various other images which might be of use for corporate presentations. There is also a section for free samples to download available on the site as well. One can see through the list and get a look at some of them.

All libraries are filled with numerous images and textures to work with, yet it displays only a few best textures which represent the other samples in the category. This could be little disheartening as the user might want to see all the textures he is buying. One option given by the website is to try free samples before buying, which nevertheless are in half of the actual size. The full size images can only be seen after the user has bought it. The resolutions of the images that I happened to look at were mostly 1024 X 1024 pixels, but it varies according to type of image. This is good resolution but in contrast with environment-textures.com, where most photos are 4992×3360 pixels, it´s quite a difference.  Free samples are provided in half of actual size, as already mentioned.

Textures and models available on this site are offered at a low cost as compared to the other sites I have visited in the past. The charges given are on the basis of the resolution and type of the file. Some images are available for prices as low as 35 cents. Good quality images or most 3D models can be as much as 2 USD each. In addition there is a separate section in the galleries which offers special saver packs that include 2D and 3D images depending on the pack. This gives the buyer an opportunity to save some money. It is worth to mention the amount of money one can save – it ranges from 89 USD to about 1000 USD.

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In comparison to the other sites, which usually offer membership subscriptions, this one provides only pay and download option and does not put forward any membership plans. While buying textures and 3D models, one has to buy the whole package even if he wants to use only a few textures from the package. It means single image download is not possible over here. On the other hand, possibility of availing the whole package at discounts can be considered as an advantage.

Ordering the designs is really simple. There are some options for ordering. You can either download the design online or order a CD/DVD of the same. There are also different ways of paying for the same – you can use your online PayPal account for the transfer as well as pay by using your debit/credit card (debit in case if it is a US card).

However, it was quite difficult to get to the license policy information, whereas there is no section dedicated to this. I managed to find out that all the model & texture libraries offered by website should be royalty free and one could use them in their commercial artworks. But the content of the libraries cannot be distributed in any way, shape or form. The user would receive one license per order, with the option to make a backup copy. Nevertheless, I would recommend you to contact the provider and inquire before using bought images.

Overall, the website obviously has its pros and cons and it is up to the artist to reconsider expectations he is having from this type of site and decide.

Summary

+    great amount of textures and animations; money saver packages

-     no search engine available; perplexing and difficult to browse the website

Popularity: 22% [?]

Apart from being an artist, I am a tech-savvy person and picking out outstanding websites offering attractive textures remains an integral part of my work schedule. This hobby of mine led me to the homepage of iSourcetextures. And one of the several things that caught my attention was its varied inimitable designs. Artists who are in the field of game development can avail great textures from this site. I am a collector of good textures myself so I logged onto this site in order to find out as much information as possible so I can share it with you and give you some vision. I am not here to say you that it is the best in the business but I can say it is surely a great place to get creative. Game developers and 3D software engineers should consider visiting this place on the web at least once.

The site boasts of about 11,000 designs in its store with more then 200 textures made available free. In my opinion it is a very impressive and a rather massive collection. Designs are all divided into various sections as per category. Each of these sections contains about 10 to 40 textures in them. With such a massive collection, one cannot miss getting great textures for his work over here. Each design that is put onto the site is available with its properties, resolution and price information stated beside it. The zoom option is given for a better view of the picture, too.

The quality of the images that I used was very good. The resolutions offered by them are in the range from 2000 to 3500×3000 pixels. Some images are also available in 5000+ pixel size. Different resolutions are available on the site from which the artist can choose his pick. The user gets the option to download each texture in two different sizes of L and XL. The free textures are specially put into a different section in which free textures are available exclusively in the resloution size of 600 pixels.

Downloading images is chargeable except the free ones. The site offers no membership fee. The charges are levied on per download basis only, ranging from 1 USD to 2 USD depending on the chosen image size. I would rather prefer this over monthly or 6 monthly memberships for people who do not download a large amount of textures every day. But if you are someone who use up photos in bulk, it´s more convenient for you to pay some flat membership fee on a website like environment-textures.com e.g. and you will pay several times less for one photo. On the other hand, there is no restriction on the number of downloads at the iSourceTextures! Unlimited downloading of textures is one of the things I found remarkable.

The search engine integrated into the site is a really great one, enabling artists to easily find the textures required. Another great feature which can be used to make the user’s search for the perfect texture quick is ‘Find Similar Images’. This feature enables the user to quickly browse through the entire collection of the website in just a few seconds and get back with some similar textures to the one that the user is looking for.

The website has a license which allows free distribution and commercial use of the designs. This is one of the few texture resources which allow such liberty like selling modified textures, keeping in mind the minimum modification policy as mentioned in the website license. The company has also provided free textures which are still available for some commercial usage (except of selling as textures). The use and distribution is allowed in lots of other cases, just make sure you read the usage conditions.

One of the greatest aspects of the site is that one can sell one’s own textures too. They have provided a tool for uploading your own designs and ideas on their site, and they might put them up for sale on their site. What’s more – they pay you for your designs in form of compensation when someone buys the design. The company offers 50% royalty, which I would say is good enough for it provides free hosting of your design.

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One thing I marked about the site is that it is a little slow in opening up its designs and loading all the 3D textures. The large collection of the site might hamper its loading speed to certain extent. We all know that this can be overcome with a simple fast internet connection. But, when I’m writing a genuine review I could not miss on this one.

On the whole, the website offers a good resource of new and unique themes and textures. Looking at the pros and cons, well there are more pros than cons and in my opinion it is a great place on the web to get great designs for your work and also to make some money out of your own creativity. This website is surely a good one to visit.

Summary:

+    massive collection of designs in good resolution, offering unlimited downloads and possibility of selling your own textures

-    slower loading of textures compared to other sites

Popularity: 5% [?]

Being an artist for long time in my career, browsing for new texture websites has always been my necessity as well as hobby. I happened to open this site once during my usual ventures as I was looking for good textures and 3D images. And I would like to say, that artists looking for some great material can definitely find a good collection on this particular website. While still under construction, this site promises to give the best of its collection of quality designs and images. TRU Textures stand by on the talk of unlimited downloads with no limits whatsoever. An artist looking for good and unique designs can surely go on to this. It is definitely worth giving a look at least once before deciding on the final textures.

This site shows off a collection of approximately 2000 sets of designs and textures. Each of these sets contains at least 10 textures. Most of them consist of more than 20 in them. Such a vast collection of textures gives the artist a wide variety of choices to choose from. Offered designs include metal, wood, nature, topography, etc. These are included in the basic section of the site. One can find interesting also 16 different 3D categories having Victorian, European and Middle Eastern themes as well as sets of seasonal themes including Halloween, Christmas and Easter. New textures are being added continuously on the site on a daily basis.

Having a fine search engine, like TRU Textures has, is one of the most important qualities of this kind of websites. To give the exact list of the designs and textures needed, one can type any name or design and the website lists out all those falling into that particular category. This eliminates the tough procedure of browsing through every list of designs for the required texture. Viewing through the numerous designs, it’s easy to look closely to each of them as the image zooms when clicked on it.

Different textures are available in PNG, TGA 24 or 32-bit file format. Depending on the posting time of the texture, its resolution may vary with initial textures having lower resolutions of 128 – 256 pixels. However, greater numbers of the textures are 512 pixels and even 1024 pixels, which are the most frequent sizes on the website. The older images with lower resolutions are however priced much lower than the routine price range.  Majority textures (up to 90 %) are seamless, designed to tiles. This site also offers 3D images, which are really helpful in building model designs for various construction purposes, so game designers, abstract artists and even architects can avail great designs from the collection.

One great feature about this site is that it does not have any flat membership fees. It offers unlimited downloads whenever you want and at a nominal price depending on the size and type of the texture as well as on type of license you choose. The prices are set per design and there are no restrictions whatsoever on the download limit. Payments are realizing via PayPal system and the website offers also credits, which can be purchased to avail discounts. One can purchase for example 1000 credits for 8 USD and avail 11% discount. If one purchases 5000 credits, he can get the same for 35 USD with 22% discount. There are varied such discount schemes on purchase of credits till 56% discount limits. Users of Second Life can buy some textures for Linden dollars.

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There are several license options to choose from according to customer’s usage intentions. The basic Second Life license is offered for using within Second Life environment only. With any world license, one will get the rights to use textures and images within any virtual world, Second Life included. Professional license and game developer license allow customer wider usage rights – for private or commercial use out of virtual environment. I would recommend you to read conditions of use carefully.

Overall, I would say this is a good source to get the latest and good designs. It is surely worth giving a look and ascertain.

Summary:

+       wide collection of themes, great 3D images, no download limits and nominal rates

-          the site usage limitation for non-second-life members – almost 35% of the images of the website are made available only for use in virtual Second Life environment

Popularity: 13% [?]

As technology goes incredibly fast forward literally day by day, 3D graphics have became matter of course and
standard in PC games, animated movies and other similar projects. 3D artists working with 3D graphics know how important are resources of photos taken for this purpose. In following review I am trying to point out some of the 3d.sk website’s main features, both positive and negative. This is supposed to be something like guide which should help you to make your own opinion and decide whether to subscribe or look for another website.

The content of www.3d.sk is made up by more than 240 200 unique royalty-free photos of human references, animal references, clothes, costumes, pre-made head textures and 3D human models. The basis of the website is formed by pictures of human references, both male and female. They are taken on the street or in the photo studio. Set of street references is basically varied collection of different types of people you can meet on the street. These are great if you are looking for interesting details (dreadlocks and other haircuts, piercing or tattoo, beard and moustache, any kinds of accessories, etc.). Sets of studio photos are more extensive, because they are enhanced by pictures of some specific poses (walking, sitting, modeling references, etc.) and even face expressions (basic emotions and phonemes). Photographed models in studio are both dressed and undressed. You can find photos of whole body, which are mostly taken from 5 or 8 angles, as well as details of particular parts, for example hand, eyes or recently added photos of fingers etc. There is quite nice collection of animal references, too – from tiny insect like butterfly, bugs, sea fish to big animals like horses, elephant or rhinoceros. Some of them are stuffed, photographed at the museum, other are live. Except references, 3d.sk provides also wide choice of photosets with regular clothes, working uniforms and various costumes from different historical period. Pre-made head textures, ready for comfortable and fast use while texturing, belong to premium content. With premium membership you will get access to more photos than with the regular one – in addition to head textures and 3D human models also more sets of costumes, clothes and animals.

Website has been designed with accessibility and ease of navigation in mind. Quick photo search is ensured by basic categories like age, gender, human race (asian, black, white), body type, clothes type etc., but there is also another way how to find more photos related by required feature. In behalf of more specific description, each photo is identified by tags, too. By clicking on one of tags you will get all photos tagged by this word. Speaking about search engine, I recommend you to use searching by categories instead of full text search, because photos may not be indexed by the key word you will type in full text search.

The pricing seems to be a really good deal, regarding the amount of photos provided. Although there is no free membership offered, the subscribing system is well adjusted, so at least one of the subscriptions should be affordable for any 3D artist or 3D graphics company. The price rises according to length of membership and according to whether it is premium membership or not. It is possible to subscribe hobby or commercial membership plan in length of 1, 3, 6 months and 1 year. Premium content is provided for subscribers with 3, 6 months and 1 year premium membership. Subscription starts at 24,95 EUR for 1 month hobby plan and the price rises up to 1290 EUR for 1 year premium commercial plan. Let’s see some example- if you were big company, which yearly use a great amount of pictures, and you subscribe the one-year-premium commercial plan, you would get access to more than 240 200 high quality photos for 1290 EUR. With daily download limit of 12 000 photos per day it equals 3 399 Hi-Res photos for 1 EUR! You should keep in mind that with hobby plan you are allowed to use photos only for non-commercial projects, while with commercial plan you can use them repeatedly and for commercial purposes.

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Photos are of great quality – you can clearly see skin pores, hairs and wrinkles in detail. Most pictures are 3744 x 5656 pixels, that is about 21 Mpx. If you would like to check the quality before paying anything, there is a chance to download some free samples. To prevent downloading all existing free samples, the website always shows same 20 free photos for some uncertain time. There are also shown some user works on the website, so maybe looking through them could help you make opinion on usefulness and quality of the photos from 3d.sk (while taking into account skills of their authors, of course ).

Summary:

+      broad source of varied photos needed for creating 3D characters and animals (especially surprisingly wide choice of varied clothing)

-       missing more anatomically interesting models, variety of races, body types, ages, etc.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Most web designers, 3D and computer graphic artists, whose  job demands extensive use of photos, acknowledge that sourcing for the photos needed for their design works or projects can be quite challenging. If you are a graphic artist who wants to get instant access to extensive and reliable source of photos, you should consider www.environment-textures.com.

This website represents a great online photo database that provides pictures of high quality and free of all copyright issues. These photos cover all needs and demands of an artist, who is looking for environment textures references. Website focuses on photos needed for modeling surroundings. It provides photos of textures (water, paper, fields etc.) and both exteriors and interiors with its details (buildings, furniture, vehicles etc.). You can also find 3D models and wide choice of background photos of exotic countries.

Let´s mention some interesting features of environment-textures.com. One of its strongpoints lies in simple and intuitive use. Searching by categories or keywords allows you to find what you need in very short time (as far as it is part of website´s offer). If you miss something among photos or if you have just some idea how to improve services, there is possibility to write your suggestions which will be taken to consideration in the future. Quite nice way how to show that customers and their needs are important.

The website offers also wide collection of free samples in high resolution, so customers can check the quality before buying. There are 20 free samples you can download. As advantage definitely should be considered fact that there are also free samples of premium content. Good opportunity to check and decide if it is worth to subscribe more expensive membership for lots of additional photos.

In terms of cost, subscriptions are not expensive. Regardless if you are an individual or company, there are membership plans that would definitely match your budget. The subscription fee depends on the sort of subscription that you intend buying. It is possible to get pictures for free just by subscribing a free membership, but you should keep in mind you might be limited or restricted from having access to certain pictures and that there is a download limit of 3 photos per day. Besides free membership plan, there are two other kinds that you can choose from – hobby and commercial membership plan. Both come in one, three, six months and one year recurring membership plans and special one year premium membership plan. Hobby membership starts at 13,85 EUR per month and allows usage of downloaded photos only for non-commercial purposes. With daily download limit of 250 photos per day you will pay 1 EUR for 541 photos, that´s about 0,002 EUR for 1 photo . On contrary if you want to use the pictures for commercial projects and repeatedly without any additional fee, you can subscribe commercial membership plan, which costs from 27,85 EUR per month. Daily download limit ranges between 250 and 3000 photos per day according to lenght of subscribed membership. Buying a premium commercial membership ensures you unrestricted access to all pictures, including special content (panoramas, seamless textures, HDRs etc.) that you might come across on the website. Premium membership is available at both, hobby and commercial plans, for the price 199 EUR and 325 EUR and download is limited by 12 000 photos per day.

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Speaking about quality, most photos are 4992×3360 pixels. This resolution ensures enough detailed photos, which means they are really good for texture paniters or other artists working with environment textures and references.

Summary:

+ more than 100 500 photos of hi-res textures, backgrounds, exotic locations or detailed objects

- relatively a lot of references compared with textures

Popularity: 20% [?]

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”.

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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: 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”.

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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

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