All artists are tired of persuading their nearest and dearest to look sad…look glad…look mad…madder…no, even madder…okay, hold it. For those artists (and their long-suffering friends), here is the best book ever. Facial Expressions includes more than 2,500 photographs of 50 faces—men and women of a variety of ages, shapes, sizes, and ethnicities—each demonstrating a wide range of emotions and shown from multiple angles. Who can use this book? Oh, only every artist on the planet, including art students, illustrators, fine artists, animators, storyboarders, and comic book artists. But wait, there’s more! Additional photos focus on people wearing hats and couples kissing, while illustrations show skull anatomy and facial musculature. Still not enough? How about a one-of-a-kind series of photos of lips pronouncing the phonemes used in human speech? Animators will swoon—and artists will show a range of facial expressions from happy to happiest to ecstatic.
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839 reviews for Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists
4.5out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
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★★★★★
Kitty Ross –
The negative reviews that point out the small images misunderstand what this book is, and is not.
This book is not an anatomy book, not an introduction to portraiture, and not a basic life drawing reference. To use this book you have to have a good base in art anatomy, and either drawing or sculpture -optimally both.
If you do have that base this book is incredible.
It is absolutely packed full of images of male and female heads of all ages (arranged chronologically) and ethnicities. Each model has 32 or so images from different angles and with a wide variety of expressions.
IF you have the base knowledge I mentioned this is fantastic for inferring the large masses after which your knowledge fills in the minutiae.
If you just bought your first sketchbook this might not be for you. If you’ve taken some classes and are tired of drawing/sculpting neutral faces with a 1000 yard stare this is well worth the cost.
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★★★★★
philippe orsi –
Ótimo livro.Recomendo.
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★★★★★
Alejandro The Great –
This is a great book for referencing faces at different angles in different poses such as laughing, smiling, grumpy, angry, sad and so on and on ,there’s more than enough faces in here to reference and there’s faces of different ethnicities as well so if your into art such as sketching ,inking ,painting and your looking for facial reference book I can definitely recommend this book
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★★★★★
Selena –
Davvero stupendo e utilissimo. Chiaro e fatto bene con tantissime espressioni e visi diversi. Utilissimo x illustratori e fumettisti. Super consigliato!
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★★★★★
Six Anne Mercer –
I bought this book used under the “good” category, meaning one step above heavily used, old and damaged. If I could put a stamp on it I would have put “very good” (and the only reason I can’t stamp it higher is because it’s been used gently and isn’t “like new” meaning no damage or use at all). It’s in excellent condition. I highly recommend buying things from Goodwill. Some of them even make donations to Raster Seals or some charity from the sale of what you buy. That out of the way, I clearly bought this because I’m am artist and this is a must have reference for anyone who does really any medium of art that has ant semblance of a human face in it, or monsters or character animals etc. It helps with gestures, expressions glasses sun glasses, hats/headgear of literally any means (ethnic headdress, Sombrero, sports face masks, hats, visors and helmets, snorkel and scuba headgear, safety masks such as gas masks, COVID/medical masks 😷 etc. And it shows them in different positions). There is even a section of two people kissing, a few full pages of them in different types of embrace from the shoulders up which also shows their hands and that’s so helpful. There’s a section for phonemes. The way different people look when making the sounds words make. Especially vowels. And there’s expressions showing different types of emotions, yelling, grimacing anger, laughter, you name it. The book is absolutely packed with 3 pages for each model (sometimes 2) and then examples of absolutely astounding ways artists have used their likeness from one or more of their pictures in their sculpture, comic, painting, drawing… 253 pages of non stop headsets from all different angles with all different expressions from the skull with muscles and without which is really cool all diagramed hen with a page of pictures for each.. And models of all ages of very uniquely different people young and old. The only thing I didn’t see was children. That would probably fill another book this size if done by this amazing author. He was VERY kind as to not only thank the models in the front of the book, but he listed all of their contacts should anyone want to use them for more of their work. He also listed all the artists and their websites and contacts and gave them very kind praise for their skill and talent of imagination and creativity. So….this is one heck of a reference that EVERY artist should have on their shelf (mine rarely gets put away which accounts to a lot of the wear you might see in the pictures). Although if your groove is painting watercolor meadows full of beautiful flowers, or oil paintings of giant landscapes, maybe you could pass on this. Otherwise, if you can, don’t pass this one up. If I could, I would give it 10 stars. It’s absolutely fantastic.
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★★★★★
Claritza I Rosario –
This is one of the best reference books available for artists. No need to doomscroll for hours on pintrest for reference photos! There are a diverse set of models and expressions in this book which will keep you busy for a long time. Regular practice with this book will significantly improve your portrait drawing skills. I’m only disappointed that I didn’t buy this book sooner!
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★★★★★
Kitty Ross –
I love it so much! and thank you Mark Simon for doing this! Because you can see the differnt expression: sad, joy, mad… All kind of expression, in one book! This book have a tons of facial expressions and different ethnic people, so you can drawing, painting, and practice expression. And it’s very important for practicing the multiples expressions. But unfortunately the details in their faces are not clear, I can’t see the details, like the details of the nose, the shadows are very dim, don’t have much contrast. The size of each heads are little… And it’s a very good book, but I can’t see the details. It’s very hard to see it. So, for drawing with a good shadows and contrast, the book it’s not have it. But I recommend this for a variety things that you can do.
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★★★★★
Selena –
Se ajusta a la descripcion dada por el vendedor. Excelente calidad de impresion. El libro es una coleccion de imagenes de expresiones faciales. En mi caso es muy util a la hora de dibujar porque ofrece un gran numero de referencias. El producto llegó en la fecha prevista. Ninguna queja. Lo recomiendo.
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★★★★★
Six Anne Mercer –
I bought this for my mom who wanted labeled expressions, but the have no labels on any so she wasn’t happy and wants to return it. Great condition and very fast service. Unfortunately not what she bought it for. If you’re an artist this would be perfect for drawing faces. She misunderstood and hopefully someone else can use it.
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★★★★★
Philip Miller –
ouvrage qui propose de nombreux visages figés dans de nombreuses expressions sous des angles differents, ce qui permet de pouvoir les transposer sur des creations originales.je recommande.
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★★★★★
Claritza I Rosario –
I got recommended this by another friend who I had address my issue on finding a visual reference of expressions from different people, gender and all.
And boy, she didn’t fail me. This book has young adults to elderly, each model having three pages of worthy expressions that are fun to sketch. All photos are from the neck up, giving different perspectives and facial expressions. They even have a little gallery of kissing, wearing hats, and mouths showing certain ways of how to say a vowel or consonant.
My only consis that I was hoping for them to input children expressions in, but I will take what I got with all the other models. The photo quality could be considered average if you are looking for in-depth details of the face to be clear. Not the best, but I manage with it just fine. Another thing would be that they don’t identify which facial expressions are which, but I don’t mind since I can tell through common sense on most.
Other than that, I fully recommend getting if you are looking for visual references of expressions to use! 🙂
Kitty Ross –
The negative reviews that point out the small images misunderstand what this book is, and is not.
This book is not an anatomy book, not an introduction to portraiture, and not a basic life drawing reference. To use this book you have to have a good base in art anatomy, and either drawing or sculpture -optimally both.
If you do have that base this book is incredible.
It is absolutely packed full of images of male and female heads of all ages (arranged chronologically) and ethnicities. Each model has 32 or so images from different angles and with a wide variety of expressions.
IF you have the base knowledge I mentioned this is fantastic for inferring the large masses after which your knowledge fills in the minutiae.
If you just bought your first sketchbook this might not be for you. If you’ve taken some classes and are tired of drawing/sculpting neutral faces with a 1000 yard stare this is well worth the cost.
philippe orsi –
Ótimo livro.Recomendo.
Alejandro The Great –
This is a great book for referencing faces at different angles in different poses such as laughing, smiling, grumpy, angry, sad and so on and on ,there’s more than enough faces in here to reference and there’s faces of different ethnicities as well so if your into art such as sketching ,inking ,painting and your looking for facial reference book I can definitely recommend this book
Selena –
Davvero stupendo e utilissimo. Chiaro e fatto bene con tantissime espressioni e visi diversi. Utilissimo x illustratori e fumettisti. Super consigliato!
Six Anne Mercer –
I bought this book used under the “good” category, meaning one step above heavily used, old and damaged. If I could put a stamp on it I would have put “very good” (and the only reason I can’t stamp it higher is because it’s been used gently and isn’t “like new” meaning no damage or use at all). It’s in excellent condition. I highly recommend buying things from Goodwill. Some of them even make donations to Raster Seals or some charity from the sale of what you buy.
That out of the way, I clearly bought this because I’m am artist and this is a must have reference for anyone who does really any medium of art that has ant semblance of a human face in it, or monsters or character animals etc. It helps with gestures, expressions glasses sun glasses, hats/headgear of literally any means (ethnic headdress, Sombrero, sports face masks, hats, visors and helmets, snorkel and scuba headgear, safety masks such as gas masks, COVID/medical masks 😷 etc. And it shows them in different positions).
There is even a section of two people kissing, a few full pages of them in different types of embrace from the shoulders up which also shows their hands and that’s so helpful.
There’s a section for phonemes. The way different people look when making the sounds words make. Especially vowels. And there’s expressions showing different types of emotions, yelling, grimacing anger, laughter, you name it.
The book is absolutely packed with 3 pages for each model (sometimes 2) and then examples of absolutely astounding ways artists have used their likeness from one or more of their pictures in their sculpture, comic, painting, drawing…
253 pages of non stop headsets from all different angles with all different expressions from the skull with muscles and without which is really cool all diagramed hen with a page of pictures for each.. And models of all ages of very uniquely different people young and old.
The only thing I didn’t see was children.
That would probably fill another book this size if done by this amazing author.
He was VERY kind as to not only thank the models in the front of the book, but he listed all of their contacts should anyone want to use them for more of their work. He also listed all the artists and their websites and contacts and gave them very kind praise for their skill and talent of imagination and creativity.
So….this is one heck of a reference that EVERY artist should have on their shelf (mine rarely gets put away which accounts to a lot of the wear you might see in the pictures). Although if your groove is painting watercolor meadows full of beautiful flowers, or oil paintings of giant landscapes, maybe you could pass on this. Otherwise, if you can, don’t pass this one up. If I could, I would give it 10 stars. It’s absolutely fantastic.
Claritza I Rosario –
This is one of the best reference books available for artists. No need to doomscroll for hours on pintrest for reference photos! There are a diverse set of models and expressions in this book which will keep you busy for a long time. Regular practice with this book will significantly improve your portrait drawing skills. I’m only disappointed that I didn’t buy this book sooner!
Kitty Ross –
I love it so much! and thank you Mark Simon for doing this! Because you can see the differnt expression: sad, joy, mad… All kind of expression, in one book! This book have a tons of facial expressions and different ethnic people, so you can drawing, painting, and practice expression. And it’s very important for practicing the multiples expressions. But unfortunately the details in their faces are not clear, I can’t see the details, like the details of the nose, the shadows are very dim, don’t have much contrast. The size of each heads are little… And it’s a very good book, but I can’t see the details. It’s very hard to see it. So, for drawing with a good shadows and contrast, the book it’s not have it. But I recommend this for a variety things that you can do.
Selena –
Se ajusta a la descripcion dada por el vendedor. Excelente calidad de impresion. El libro es una coleccion de imagenes de expresiones faciales. En mi caso es muy util a la hora de dibujar porque ofrece un gran numero de referencias. El producto llegó en la fecha prevista. Ninguna queja. Lo recomiendo.
Six Anne Mercer –
I bought this for my mom who wanted labeled expressions, but the have no labels on any so she wasn’t happy and wants to return it. Great condition and very fast service. Unfortunately not what she bought it for. If you’re an artist this would be perfect for drawing faces. She misunderstood and hopefully someone else can use it.
Philip Miller –
ouvrage qui propose de nombreux visages figés dans de nombreuses expressions sous des angles differents, ce qui permet de pouvoir les transposer sur des creations originales.je recommande.
Claritza I Rosario –
I got recommended this by another friend who I had address my issue on finding a visual reference of expressions from different people, gender and all.
And boy, she didn’t fail me.
This book has young adults to elderly, each model having three pages of worthy expressions that are fun to sketch. All photos are from the neck up, giving different perspectives and facial expressions. They even have a little gallery of kissing, wearing hats, and mouths showing certain ways of how to say a vowel or consonant.
My only consis that I was hoping for them to input children expressions in, but I will take what I got with all the other models.
The photo quality could be considered average if you are looking for in-depth details of the face to be clear. Not the best, but I manage with it just fine.
Another thing would be that they don’t identify which facial expressions are which, but I don’t mind since I can tell through common sense on most.
Other than that, I fully recommend getting if you are looking for visual references of expressions to use! 🙂