Very dissapointing
I am a fine artist (NOT an illustrator), and I purchased this book in hopes of adding some reliable reference material to my growing stockpile. I sincerely feel that I wasted my money on this book.
For one thing, as stated by another reviewer, the photos are of fairly low quality. I prefer black-and-white reference because it allows me to see value more clearly and does not prejudice me when I am selecting the color for my subjects, but I would expect a "reference" book to contain sharp, clear images. This book does not; the images are grainy, the focus is too soft to be useful for a broad range of techniques and styles, and the lighting is uneven across all of the images.
Second, as also stated by another reviewer, every single pose in the book is of a reclining model. Especially in the case of women, this presents one major problem-- the effects of gravity on soft/fatty tissue. Women in particular look completely different when reclining, than standing, and this book offers not a single image that offers foreshortened views from above or below of a standing, kneeling, or sitting figure.
On the other hand, if you are an art student who is leery of using soft porn images from the internet to get your life-drawing practice, this book may be worth the investment. If you are serious about experimenting with different perspectives of the human body in fine art (or if you are an illustrator), spend the money on decent anti-virus software, and peruse the aforementioned soft-porn sites. You'll find a lot more usable reference, much better-photographed.
Color?
Really wish this book was in color or at least had more contrast in the values. Overall great variety and it made for a nice present for an artist!
Atlas of Foreshortening
This might have been more helpful just by improving the quality of the photos. Many poses are basically identical and the light and shadow is dim.
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