Customer Reviews
Facial expressions 
2008-02-19
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.
Facial Expressions 
2008-02-11
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.
Indispensable 2007-12-16
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.
Great reference for artists 2007-11-14
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.
Facial Expressions 2007-09-29
This is a wonderful resource for artists. It offers a variety of models with a wide range of expressions. I Highly reccommend it.
Good resource for 2D artists 2008-06-22
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.
A great resource for an artist 2008-06-18
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.
Good, could have been better 2008-04-26
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.
Not good for serious sculptors 
2008-03-24
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.
Returned 
2008-03-06
This book was just what it stated, however, I was looking for a book of instruction for the photos included. The book was returned.
