<img src="http://mag.awn.com/issue10.03/10.03images/reed01_FacialExpressionsCVR.jpg" border="0"><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font ="title" color="#000066" size="5"><b>Book Review: <i>Facial Expressions, a Visual Reference for Artists</i></b></font><br><font ="desc" color="#999999" size="3"><b><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Libby Reed cracks open Mark Simon?s new book </span><i style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Facial Expressions, a Visual Reference for Artists.</i><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> What face did she make after reading it?<br>
</span></b></font></font><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Anyone
who has worked at or toured an animation studio has seen the small
mirrors at each animator?s desk. And no ? despite rumor, animators are
not all narcissistic. The mirrors have a purpose. Animator?s drawings
convey emotion through expression. It is important how the character?s
legs and arms are posed, the amount of ?stretch,? the depiction of how
the wind is hitting the character, but especially important are the
contortions of the face. It isn?t unusual to see an animator grimacing,
yawning, or laughing maniacally into their mirror just to see what the
action looks like. (Laughing maniacally may be observed at other times,
of course). </font>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Mark Simon has come up with an unusual book, very reasonably priced, that may possibly save a few dislocated jaws in <i>Facial Expressions, a Visual Reference for Artists. </i>This
is a volume of photographs aimed primarily at the animator, but could
be used by any artists who put people in the artwork they do. Mark came
up with the idea for the book while he was building his own reference
library of different faces to draw. He says, ?I realized that I was not
the only artist to need this type of reference.? </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>A Wide Range of Faces</b><br>
Each of the more than 3,500 black-and-white photos conveys a particular
emotion ? fear, amazement, surprise and our friend ? the maniacal
laugher. In addition, the photos are of different face and nationality
types, giving the artist a wider range of face types to draw from. The
photos are of 50 male and female models, ages 20 to 83. Some are fat,
some thin, longhaired to bald, glasses and no glasses in full front,
three quarters and profile. All of the models are identified by name
and age. At the end of each group of photos is an example drawing that
has been made from observation of the pictures, in a great variety of
styles. All of these are credited with the artist?s name. Model and
artist contacts are thoughtfully provided in the back of the book. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">In
addition to a being good reference work for the professional, this book
could be a powerful teaching tool, with the artist studying the photos
and using them as a take off point for dozens of drawings. Just picture
one of the old masters using this book to draw the faces in one of
those crowded forum or market scenes. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Galleries of Photos</b><br>
The table of contents tells a lot about the book. It is divided into
sections titled, ?Skull Gallery,? Kissing Gallery,? and ?Hats and
Headgear Gallery,? to name a few. The ?Expressions Gallery? is the main
meat of the book, and is sub-divided by age. This section is all
photographs. Actually, there isn?t much text in the book, but it
doesn?t need it, the photos are what you buy a book like this for. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The
first ?Gallery? is appropriately Skulls, because, as Mark says in the
opening paragraph of this section, ?The shape of the skull determines
the structure and look of the face, and the movement of the jaw affects
how we look when we speak.? Then the muscle structure is shown by
covering the bare skull with an overlay of clay. This illustrates how
the working of the muscles in various positions of the mouth can alter
the shape of what you are seeing. Most animators have taken at least
one anatomy class, and they know how invaluable this knowledge is in
drawing an exaggerated expression. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">A
real help for animators is the ?Phonemes Gallery,? a section that is,
in essence, a panorama of mouth charts. These show the shapes made by
the mouths on the different letters and sounds of speech used most
often. Mouth positions are shown both front and side view, with a
variety of head types. This is very useful when marking up a scene. The
?Hats and Headgear Gallery? has all sorts of hats on all sorts of
heads. It also has things like a gas mask, a helmet with spectacular
horns, scuba gear, and an astronaut ? all in full face, three quarter
and profile. The one that looks like it was the most fun to do, though,
is the ?Kissing Gallery?. Buy the book and see.<br>
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<b>Book Review: <i>Facial Expressions, a Visual Reference for Artists</i></b><font ="subtitle2" color="#400040" size="2"><br>(continued from page 1)</font>
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<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Impressive Credits</b><br>
Mark?s experience in animation is impressive, with more than 25 years
of entertainment experience. Mark co-developed and co-directed the <i>Timmy?s Lessons In Nature</i>
animation series seen in the Spike & Mike Sick & Twisted
Festival of Animation. As an animation producer and director his
credits include <i>Timmy?s Lessons In Nature</i>, <i>My Wife Is Pregnant</i>, <i>Scary Things</i>, <i>Suburban Cinderella</i>, as well as commercials and industrials. Other credits include <i>The Waterboy</i>, <i>seaQuest DSV</i>, <i>Two Much</i>, <i>McHale?s Navy</i>, <i>In Search Of</i>, <i>The Cape</i>, <i>Second Noah</i>, <i>1st & 10</i>, <i>Midnight</i>, <i>In Dangerous Company</i>, <i>Deathrow Gameshow</i>, <i>Kill Krazy</i> and the ever popular <i>Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity</i>.
Mark, at 12 years old, was designing his own line of skateboards for
Schwinn Bikes. He has won more than 36 international awards for
animation. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Mark?s Other Books</b><br>
This isn?t the only book he has written. He is the author of the excellent
<i><a target="_top" href="http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=Mark%20Simon" target="_blank">Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making and Selling a Short Film</a></i>, which was excerpted on <i>AWN</i>. He also wrote <i>Storyboards: Motion In Art, and Expressions</i>. He has published articles in <i>Animation Magazine</i>, <i>Animation World Magazine</i> and <i>Cinefex</i>.
He is the owner of A&S Animation Inc. (funnytoons.tv) and Animatics
& Storyboards Inc. (storyboards-east.com). Mark?s comicstrip, <i>Hollyweird</i>, is now appearing daily online at www.SunnyFundays.com.
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<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">One
of Mark?s is many sides is as president of Animatics & Storyboards
Inc., the largest storyboard studio in the southern United States. Its
website has this to say about him, ?Serving as company president and
chief inquisitor, Mark is widely regarded as one of the nation?s
leading storyboard artists and scholars. (He?s written a definitive
book on the subject and tours the country lecturing to anybody who?ll
listen.)? </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i>Facial Expressions</i> should be in any serious artist?s library, for, as the back of the book says, if you want to make faces, here is the resource.
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<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Facial Expressions, a Visual Reference for Artists, <i>by Mark Simon Watson-Guptill Publications, 256 pages, $19.95</i>
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<p><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i>Libby Reed started out at Walt Disney Studios in the ?50s on</i> Sleeping Beauty <i>as
a painter. She has worked at numerous commercial studios, spent 16
years as a fashion illustrator and wound up at Film Roman as a color
designer under Phyllis Craig. Libby has two children, (one is Alex
Reed, animation producer at Electronic Arts) and four grandchildren.<br>
</i></font></p>
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