If you are a sculptor looking for some good references to work with, try the better [albeit more expensive] Virtual Poser series. This book is not for 3D work!!

This book doesn't have a lot of competition. There aren't many authors or artists which compile images like this just to use as references. I was looking for something just like this and I was happy to find it however there are some improvements which could be made to make this book even better. I would have liked color photographs instead of the B/W, maybe releasing 2 editions of this series would be a good idea [but I am probably dreaming]. I would definitely pay the extra $ for a color edition if it were a hardcover. It would have also been nice to feature better Illustrations with higher caliber real-life examples in the samples after each model's set of images. Overall, this book is what it says and works for what it says it works for. Simple expressions on varying faces with different ethnicities and ages. The further you get in the book, the better the models used get. I'd recommend this for any 2D artist who needs to get a hold of small library of facial expressions for animation, illustration or just general drawing work. This is not a good choice for 3D artists as most images only provide a frontal view of the subject.

This book contains black and white headshots of people showing different emotions. It starts with younger adults and moves through the ages. Each person is shown from different points of view of the same emotion. The personality types are varied too. Not just glamour girls and boys, average Americans of different ethnicities. As an illustrator this is a big help.

It's a great idea, but as a comic artist I could have used a lot more younger models. The models transition to old age groups too rapidly. I would love to see a 'volume II' that included more children and teens, and perhaps some additional models in the age groups that were included, but in different racial choices.

Even so, it is well done, very useful, and six months after I bought it, already getting a little dirty from all the use it has gotten (too much eraser dust in the air!) Thumbs up.

I purchased this book to use as a reference for sculpting faces on dolls. The book shows different angles of the expressions and that was what I needed. Unfortunately what I did not need was an entire book filled with goofy expressions that you'd never even see on a human face!! There was no romantic expressions or serene, contented, laughing mildly at something mildly funny expressions. Just over the top, completely over exaggerated mutated faces! If you need some serious or normal faces, Don't buy this book.

This book was just what it stated, however, I was looking for a book of instruction for the photos included. The book was returned.

Being an animator, I found this book very helpful.
Different type of people express themselves in a different way.
you can have so many variety of facial expressions using these references.
It's helpful also for storyboard artists.

An excellent book for Artist and Dollmakers. Exceptional photos covering all age groups as well as genders.
A unique, one of a kind book, that will inspire you with visual details.

Simply put - if you are an artist and in need of finding a facial expression, this is the book for you. In this book's voluminous pages, you can find nearly any facial expression that you'd care to depict, from joy to rage to pain to sadness and back again. Marc Simon has put together a fantastic reference for the artist here.

The book includes many, many models of all ages, ethnicities and genders. Each model gets a 3-page (or so) section of the book, and each pages includes 16 photographs of them in various expressions from various angles (largely side view or straight-on). The photographs are all in black and white. Concluding each model's 3-page section is a page or two of how artists have used their expressions in their own work; this may sound kind of silly, but it is really interesting to see how artists have used this book to good effect. The book also has sections on kissing, on models wearing hats, on expression progressions, and even on how certain sounds look when they are formed with the mouth (I suspect that this is specifically aimed at animators).

The only complaint I have with this book is that it is largely unorganized. While it is broken down by model and age, what would have been more helpful, I think, would be if it had been broken down by expression - oftentimes the same expression is repeated with each model (in variations) and it would have been easier to find the right expression and the right face in this schema. As it is now, you have to hunt for the right expression, often through many pages. This keeps me from awarding this book my full 5 stars.

However, despite this small failing, this book is probably the ultimate facial expression reference. You'd do well to add it to your reference library.

Any artist, not just cartoonists would find this book useful. The book presents a nice range of ages, races, and genders. At the back of the book are close-ups of mouth articulations of consonants and vowels. Also, there is a reference shots of the skull and different hats and head gear photographs as well.

This is a wonderful resource for artists. It offers a variety of models with a wide range of expressions. I Highly reccommend it.

I just recently started creating a webcomic and I never could have done it without this book. The expressions range from highly exaggerated to more subtle and, I promise you, will work for almost any expression you want to create. Also, many expressions are shot at multiple angles, making it much easier for me to create the exact image I am thinking of. Perfect.

I'd used this book often when drawing my manga. However do note that the facial expressions are mostly very exaggerated. When drawing my characters talking or just a gentle smile, I could not find reference from there.I'd to use a mirror. I hope there's a volume two with two people interacting with each other and different camera angles.

I think it's the only book right now which has addressed reference material for facial expressions. It's really useful, but professionals may get disappointed with the quality of some pictures and blurriness. It's not that all pictures are bad quality, but when you have such an amazing reference you ought to expect a lot and that's where this book is disappointing. But for sure this book will be useful for all beginners and probably higher level artists. For this price don't hesitate to buy if you really want a reference for facial expressions. Some people may not like the quality of the paper, but I think you should also consider the price.

i thought the book was something different from what i ordered. but i guess its good for artists

I recently received my copy, and made a few sketches based on some of the pictures that grabbed my attention (there are quite a few). I came to a couple of quick decisions very shortly: 1. The book has enough variation in both models and in each model's facial expressions to easily justify buying the book (as long as you're not interested in doing children's expressions, of which there are none); and 2. The book needs to be spiral-bound. Having to weigh down the pages to keep the book open to the image you're basing a sketch on can get irritating.

One of the nicest things is the author offers a free download of additional images, including a couple of more models, more phonemes, and cloud images, some panoramic, some not.

I've tossed back and forth whether I would prefer color images (the entire book is black and white). One minute I think I would prefer color, the next I'm glad I can focus on the placement of elements in the image with the freedom to add my own color without preconceived ideas. As the artist, you can make your own choice which you prefer, but the book remains in black and white.

Overall, I rated the book 4 stars because of the binding. I believe "A Visual Reference for Artists" (the book's subtitle) should be easily referred to without having to work to keep the book open.

This book has it's uses. It is organized by the age of the model, and varies from 20 to 83, both male and female. The pictures are clear and usable, and I was pleased that they were large enough to work with. Note that these are head-shots only. Then at the end of the book, there is a brief section on "sequential poses" which basically gives you some still frames in transitions between for example a happy and sad face. There is also a few pages on models speaking the phonemes if you need to do morphing.

The problem that I have with this book though is that, like others mentioned, WAY too many of the expressions are these really outrageous over-the-top kinds of things. I guess you could best describe them as "silly". If you are doing some type of animated cartoon or something, these might actually be real useful. But for any other use they are not nearly as much help as they could be.

For comparison's sake, I also have "The Artist's Complete Guide To Facial Expression" which I feel is a little more useful. It is organized by expression, and contains a lot of discussion about each one. The weakness of that book though is that it doesn't have near as much reference material (i.e. pictures) as this book, but at least the ones it does have are in general more useful.

"Facial expressions" is worth getting if you are looking for how the human face can squash and stretch, and how far you as an artist can push that, while still making the face "realistic." I belive many novice artists would be surprised. I was also pleased to see the age range of the subjects photographed. However, this book is not very good if you are seriously studying facial expressions. As another reviewer has said, the expressions in the book are cartoony and over acted. Again, this would be fine if what you are studying is how the features of the face interact, but if you are say, a comic book or storyboard artist who wants to work on acting and drawing a good, meaningful facial expression, this book isn't for you. Also, the drawings inspired by the expressions are pretty useless; honestly, they are in most photo reference books of this type.

This is a very good book as reference not only for caricatures, comics or illustration but also for some serious portraits. Included sections of Art Inspired by (Photographer)'s Photos are creative. This book is a must have for people who draw or paint individuals.

My first though on seeing this book was: "What can it give me that looking through magazines or searching on the internet does not?"

A lot, as it turns out. I was seriously underestimating the value of having so many pictures of faces in one place. Especially photos showing various angles and extremes of expression -- which can be difficult find in traditional photos. About thirty seconds with this book was enough to make me realize that I will always keep it within easy reach of my art desk.

In addition to being a great learning tool, I think this book will be especially useful to cartoonists and comic artists. The extremes of expression make it easy to extrapolate the kind of exaggerated features required for such venues. Included in the book are example cartoons and caricatures based on the photos. Some of these even show the extrapolation to expressive animal faces!

No regrets about buying this one. Now I want one for hands and feet too!

This book should be called "Facial Caricatures", because the expressions
are not subtle at all, but cartoonish. Not only that, the author
uses a wide-angle lens (or stands too close to the subject) so that the
face is distorted (large nose and eyes). If you want your paintings
to be filled with such caricatures and distortions, go right ahead.
The poses are mug-shot type, uninteresting with no attempt to pose the head in different attitudes on the neck. The subjects are quite unattractive, also--people I would never paint except maybe if I was doing a painting
of Hell's denizens. This book is maybe useful for only cartoonists, and in fact the "art examples" inside the book are all non-serious "inspirations"
from these hack photos. But serious artists, stay away.

This book is great for reference....
I Did'nt give the book 5 stars because. I would have liked it if each picture was labeled with the emotion/idea being expressed...

Other than that...i highly recomend this book...especially if you are or are learning to be a cartoonists/Caricature artist...

Wow! No need to pose family and friends for facial expressions.
This book is a great idea.
No more excuses, just find the mood (expression) you need and start drawing.
Thanks!

What a great resource! There are so many different types of people and so many different views that I imagine I'll be busy sketching for long time. My only complaint is that the book should have been spiral bound so it could lay flat.

If you are having trouble understanding physiognomy this is the book for you. This books has multiple subjects viewed from not only the head on, profile, three quarters, and back view, but also technically dynamic angles and a range of expressions that range from the mundane to the sometimes strained/ laughable expresions. the "Facial Expression" book varies between male and female, young (21) and old (78), and someone who is portly vs. someone who is thin. My only qualm with this book, the reason why it's four stars instead of five, is in how it addresses race. Of the 48 participants I'd say roughly 8 are non-white, it's a guesstimate because the pictures are black and white, so some people people appear to be non-white when in actuallity they just have a tan or are red in the face. While you truly don't need people from different races to show the range of facial expressions it couldn't hurt. If they at least had a non-white or two in the +50 age range it wouldn't bother me so much, but they don't, and I believe that people from different races ages differently (some people might get more pronounced jowls, deeper wrinkles, sun spots, thinning out of hair, etc.)

Besides that it's a good buy.

On recieving this book I have instantly used it as my reference material as a flash animator and designer. I needed a granny face and i just flipped to the back and found one! Although it is missing kids faces, it is a great book and Mark Simon has yet again supplied the industry with some more support and reference. Thank you!

Some useful photos and information. Much more a reference book than instructional, and I have to agree with the reviewer that said this is more for cartooning than portrait drawing.

That being said, it's not useless. I will definately refer to it, and there are some more natural poses and useful information. I didn't think the faces were ugly, certainly intresting, but then most figures in paintings that are enjoyable to look at aren't classicly beautiful. It's not a stand alone book, but certainly one to add to your library of reference material.

I was hoping that this extensively revised second edition would be a useful addition to my modelling library. No such luck.

I found the models in this book ugly. There is nothing on mesh topology (which must be modelled right before expressions are started), and very little information to help with production workflow.

Skip this one and look for something realy good like 'Stop Staring' by Jason Osipa.

This is a very well thought out book with superb photos. If you need reference material this book has it. I am using it for practice. One exercise I do is I try to draw the photo reversed, for example if the head is turned with the right side facing the camera I will try to draw the left side facing the camera. Also I will try to foreshorten an expression at a different angle. The only draw back to this book is that it doesn't have any children in it. I am guessing that it would have been difficult to get children to exhibit the expressions found in the book. Overall the book is well worth the price.

I recieved the book in time and the book itself was in excellent condition!

I found that this book was not what I expected. I was looking for a reference for fine art sketching and painting. This is more appropriate for graphic art--cartoons etc.

This book contains too many goofy expressions, less dramatic work.

This is a great reference book for modeling and drawing faces. The only problem is, the thumbnails are too godamn small! Other than that, it's perfect.

I bought the other facial expression book years ago and it was good and this one is just as good. From young to old and with focus on speach phonetics at the end of the book and also this book has a nice reference section with hats, masks, and sports gear. A great addition to my library.

This is currently the best and most cost-effective photo reference for heads, features, faces, expressions, angles, and different ethnicities, genders, and ages available today *in-print*. A great price & above-average quality- it's pretty easily worth getting.

Some ideas for next edition- mainly my own preferences: more younger models- less older; white pages with white backgrounds- instead of grey pages with black backgrounds; get rid of the skull sections; get rid of the 'art inspired by' amateur art; get rid of the sequential expressions section; expand the kissing section- younger models please; and give us more of the model on pages 234-235! :)

Some of the criticisms here by others really amaze me(!). This is the *only* book of its kind available today- there's simply no competition. Sure, other photo references exist, but none with this specific content. Where else can we find so many expressions, ethnicities, and extreme angles of view? This is a tremendous help in learning to draw heads from memory. Combine this with some of the better how-to-draw type books, and it's hard to find a better value these days. Photo-reference books can sometimes be expensive!

It's unfortunate but true: some of the *greatest* photo reference books ever created seemed to quickly go out of print. Sometimes they popped back into print; sometimes they didn't. The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual series is a great example of this, as is the Elte Shuppan Pose File series (currently a 9-volume series). Awareness seems key to their survival. It's just a simple reality: these books are intended for a very special & specific audience, and if demand for these books fades, even for the briefest of times, these books go out-of-print & then often become extremely expensive to get. I've written a few reviews for these out-of-print books, but happily *this* book is still available today. Get it while it's in-print!

Also recommended: Andrew Loomis' Drawing: The Head; George Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy & Heads, Features and Faces; Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head and Figure; Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy & Drawing the Human Head; and even How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Check 'em out!

This is currently the best and most cost-effective photo reference for heads, features, faces, expressions, angles, and different ethnicities, genders, and ages available today *in-print*. A great price & above-average quality- it's pretty easily worth getting.

Some ideas for next edition- mainly my own preferences: more younger models- less older; white pages with white backgrounds- instead of grey pages with black backgrounds; get rid of the skull sections; get rid of the 'art inspired by' amateur art; get rid of the sequential expressions section; expand the kissing section- younger models please; and give us more of the model on pages 234-235! :)

Some of the criticisms here by others really amaze me(!). This is the *only* book of its kind available today- there's simply no competition. Sure, other photo references exist, but none with this specific content. Where else can we find so many expressions, ethnicities, and extreme angles of view? This is a tremendous help in learning to draw heads from memory. Combine this with some of the better how-to-draw type books, and it's hard to find a better value these days. Photo-reference books can sometimes be expensive!

It's unfortunate but true: some of the *greatest* photo reference books ever created seemed to quickly go out of print. Sometimes they popped back into print; sometimes they didn't. The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual series is a great example of this, as is the Elte Shuppan Pose File series (currently a 9-volume series). Awareness seems key to their survival. It's just a simple reality: these books are intended for a very special & specific audience, and if demand for these books fades, even for the briefest of times, these books go out-of-print & then often become extremely expensive to get. I've written a few reviews for these out-of-print books, but happily *this* book is still available today. Get it while it's in-print!

Also recommended: George Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy & Heads, Features and Faces; Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head and Figure; Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy & Drawing the Human Head; and even How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Check 'em out!

This is currently the best and most cost-effective photo reference for heads, features, faces, expressions, angles, and different ethnicities, genders, and ages available today *in-print*. With a great price tag & above-average quality, it's pretty easily worth getting.

Some things I'd do differently- mainly my own preferences: more younger models- less older; white pages with white backgrounds- instead of grey pages with black backgrounds; get rid of the skull sections; get rid of the 'art inspired by' amateur art; get rid of the sequential expressions section; expand the kissing section- younger models please; and give us more of the model on pages 234-235! :)

Some of the criticisms by others here really amaze me(!). This is the *only* book of its kind available today- there's simply no competition. Sure, other photo references exist, but none with this specific content. Where else can we find so many expressions, ethnicities, and extreme angles of view? This is a tremendous help in learning to draw heads from memory. Combine this with some of the better how-to-draw type books, and it's hard to find a better value these days. Photo reference books can sometimes be expensive!

It's unfortunate but true: some of the *greatest* photo reference books ever created seemed to quickly go out of print. Sometimes they popped back into print; sometimes they didn't. The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual series is a great example of this, as is the Elte Shuppan Pose File series (currently a 9-volume series). Awareness seems key to their survival. It's just a simple reality: these books are intended for a very special & specific audience, and if demand for these books fades, even for the briefest of times, these books go out-of-print & then often become extremely expensive to get. I've written a few reviews for these out-of-print books, but happily *this* book is still available today. Get it while it's in-print!

Also recommended: George Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy & Head's, Features and Faces; Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head and Figure; Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy & Drawing the Human Head; and even How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Check 'em out!

The Good: A wide range of ages and ethnic groups represented, which is better than the average reference book of this type.

The Bad: Gurning, most of the models seem to thing they are in a cartoon. The photography is average and the reproduction is not great. The "Art Inspired By..." is absolutely dreadful for the most part and a waste of space. If we bought the book I should think we know what to do with it and don't need the, mostly poor, "inspirational" illustrations.

I'll use this book, but I was hoping for better.

'Facial Expressions' is an excellent reference book for artists who want to practise drawing and sketching the human face, enlivened by any number of evocative expressions. I am using it to improve my figure drawing, and to give the anthro characters I like to try and draw some life... it's great for that!

The models cover a huge cross section, ranging from around 20 to the late 70's, both male and female. The expressions cover a wide range also, and there are more than enough angles to get the pose down.

If you're a developing artist - like me - who struggles with the expressive human face - and particularly if you want to do anthro or furry art - I think this book is a must!

From the first page to the last one is full of pictures of people's expressions and some characters draws based on these pictures. It's very useful for animators. I recommend it. Nora (Euskal Herria)

This book is chalk full of great facial expressions and several angles. The author being an artist created this book for artists at all levels. A must have for a serious illustator, storyboard artist, or animator.

The book is really well made but has a major flaw, it's organized by age, resulting in more than half of the models being old, overweight and most of their facial features are very far from the artistic "ideal". Bad model casting in my opinion I would rather have actual actors not only the facial expressions would have been more natural and not so overdone but they would also be much closer to the ideal face, it's easier to adapt a photo-model face to a round face than doing the opposite. I have no problems with everyday people being used in book but I wished that they were about 15% of the models and not ~80%, the other ~20% are good to great models and they should have been the majority, I really liked Sallie Glaner expression gallery for example, it's what the book should have been all about, great expressions that you can apply to all characters. There's also no kids models or babies I think they would have been a nice addition to the book. Another negative aspect is the size of the pictures compared to the really low printing quality, it's a bit hard to read the photos.
None the less it's a very interesting book and I will give great use to it, I really liked about 3 of 4 models in the book and they make the book worth it for me, it has other sections that are very useful too like the skull in varies angles, the hats and accessories section, the kissing, phonemes...
Hopefully it will sell enough to catch the attention of other publishers and this time investing more in high profile models like actors and photo-models and better printing. I understand it's always hard being a pioneers and it's easier to make mistakes early on so I thank the author Mark Simon for the very thoughtful initiative of doing a book like this.

This book has very good assortment of faces that go through a set of emotions. The pictures are small and the paper isnt the greatest for photo reference, but they give you enough information.
This is a good book to have in your artist reference set.

In my 19 years as a professional animator I've never seen a book of facial expression references as extensive and well thought out as Mark Simon's book. I was pleased to see that the expressions portion of the book was organized by character types rather than expressions because the animation thought process works in the same order. The type of character needs to be established first before storyboarding and animation can begin. Gender and Age are typically a great place to start. Another great thing about this book is the uniqueness and diversity of artwork from various artists. It clearly shows how a human facial expression can be applied to a wide range of character types - from animals to mythological creatures.

This book is a must buy for any artist. The variety of expressions and models is awesome and I particularly like the photos taken at low and high angles. I also like the way the book is organized. It's perfect to have expressions grouped by person because when I'm drawing a character I need to see how that character's expressions look. As fascinating as the photos are of different people, the artwork inspired be each model is so creative! The galleries in the back of the book of a kissing couple, phonemes, and models wearing hats are an invaluable resource.

Every artist should have a facial expression book on the shelf--but maybe not this one. The most baffling deficiency of this book--and it's a biggie--is that the faces are organized by age, not emotion!! Maybe someone can convince me that a 33-year-old face differs from a 34-year-old face in displaying emotion and that should be the basis of organization in this kind of reference book. So each age-identified model gets a gallery of random mug shots which are unlabeled to emotion. Apparently the author "inspired" each model with a laundry list of emotions and they twisted their faces this-way-and-that before the camera and you can make of the results what you will. So if you need a quick facial reference for "thinking" or "rage," for example, you have to thumb through countless pages until YOU believe you've spotted the correct visage. The author then throws in a "kissing gallery" out of the blue as the only pages on two-person interaction. (Why not a "fist-fight gallery" instead?) What maybe salvages this haphazard work is the phonemes gallery of mouth shapes from speech sounds if you're into animation. For better books on this subject, I recommended, first off, the great Stephen Roger Peck's Atlas Of Facial Expressions. Peck not only organizes his book by emotion, he elaborates on the elements that go into each facial expression. Also worthwhile is Illustrator's Reference Manual Hands & Faces which presents the material in color and from different perspectives. And you can never go wrong with Jack Hamm who covers the subject in his typically succint and understandable way in Cartooning The Head And Figure.

Capturing a person's expression is often the key to a successful illustration. Sometimes you have to translate your own features from a reflection and apply them to the face you're drawing. This book alleviates a lot of guesswork and opens up scores of options with the variety of kinds of faces included, the range of distrortion the models allow, and the multitude of angles from which we see the faces. What's great about the collection is it isn't just faces, it's the other details that can sometimes present challenges, from hairstyles to types of shirts and collars, to a specific section devoted to various hats and headgear. All these seemingly obvious things are necessary to include at one time or another, and can present challenges to an artist. Just a sliver of the possible interpretations are included in the book as well, as several artists have contributed sketches based on the actual photos you see. Caricatures, animal characters, sculptures, it goes on and on.
I see this as one of the few staple books for any artist to keep on their shelf, that covers a broad ground within a single volume.