I often find myself wanting to take a picture of something from real-life to aid me in creating a picture. Sometimes it is my hand holding something, sometimes it is a facial expression that Bing just can’t help me with. Other times, it is entire poses. Alas, my frame is not of model proportions, and if I require a female pose, then you can count me out altogether. This is where this book: The Colossal Collection of Action Poses comes in. Over 1,200 poses (some of them not strictly action, but useful nonetheless), ranging from running and jumping, to lifting and weapon wielding, to kissing and fighting – covering both the male and female varieties of human. Facial expressions are featured quite heavily too. Most of them are natural and believable, a few are over-egged and look a bit put-on, but it’s the nature of the beast, isn’t it? Comics are all about over-exaggeration.
I’ve already used one of the poses to bring something to life in ArtRage, but I cannot reveal it until the new year I’m afraid as it is a gift for someone and I’d rather not let it loose on to the internet just in case! Rest assured, I will post it here and on eyess.net as soon as I can. The tutorials really helped me realise that you can use as much or as little of the photo as reference – it doesn’t have to be an exact replica of the pose just with your choice of clothes on it. It’s also very useful if you want to get musculature right. Most of the male models are quite buff (I believe I can get away with using that word), so having such a wide variety of angles of deltoid, trapezius and latissimus dorsi on show is always handy.
Going back to the tutorials, they range from serious comic book art to over-exaggerated, cartoonish characters. Remembering that the person is a 3D object in space rather than a flat photograph is also good advice – I’ve done a few test runs, envisioning a pose from another angle – It’s a nice exercise, keeps my arty juices flowing. They touch on things like composition and storytelling – aspects I still consider as weaknesses with my stuff – all unexpected bonuses in a book I assumed was just going to be people posing. I think I’d also recommend this book to anyone who feels they may lack inspiration. Opening the book at any page would most probably set the creative fires burning, the artist in them thinking “I could do such and such with that pose”.
Very useful!
