“Modelling and Painting Figures” by Osprey $17.95 USD retail; available through Amazon and the usual book dealers ISBN-13: 978-1-90257-923-8 64 pages; illustrated with (many!) full-color photographs   By Ward Shrake

This book really impressed me; right from the first flip-through! It had been sitting on my Amazon.com “Wish List,” but I hadn’t been in any particular hurry to get it – mainly due to knowing zilch about the contents. Well, after having skim-read through all of it several times now, my (already high) estimation of the Spanish School of figure modelers continues to climb; as does my impression of Osprey’s “signal-to-noise” ratio.

I feel this book does a wonderful job in several areas; especially given available space. The first thing I give them high marks for is that it’s hard for me to just sit down and read this thing, from start to finish. I get to a certain point and find I have to put the book down, to go work on something related to what’s being taught. It’s that inspiring!

You’ll find eye candy galore, throughout this book! The sheer amount of colorful photos was what initially caught my attention. What they were teaching, in those photos, was the second thing that really impressed me. Having had some formal art training, I have a pretty fair idea of how much information is compressed into each image. The idea that many of those images exist, really pushes their “signal-to-noise” way up there! I’d give super-high marks to the editors of this book, along with the featured artists.

Even the obviously unfinished, cut-and-pasted figures from random plastic kits are brimming over with life – and it’s mostly due to how well they repositioned all of the limbs; along with taking care in areas such as the spine or neck. Some of the figures have big chunks missing from them, or are completely headless – but they still look “alive”.

It’s not all super-advanced stuff. After they’ve grabbed your attention, but right before they’ve frightened the reader, they slow down. They spend five pages of detailed, step-by-step information about how to use putty and simple sculpting tools, to change the uniform on a simply-posed (seated) figure. Next they spend six pages on transforming another relatively simple (standing) figure. They make it seem like, “You can do this”.

There are always a few nits a person could pick, just to show they’re paying close attention. (Available space is the biggie, for me – but that’s what other books are for, I suppose!) The only thing I wished they had done, that they didn’t do, was explain the idea of “Contrapposto” in some depth.

It’s something you’d likely only learn if you were studying human anatomy; to be able to do things like sculpting or painting. Basically, it’s a relationship between the angle of the hips and the angle of the shoulders. For a human body to maintain balance, if your hips are leaning one way, your shoulders have to lean the other way -- or you’ll fall over. I’d say that some of the people who worked on this book knew all about that (and much more!) … while some of the others seemed to be less aware of Contrapposto.

Keep in mind that I’ve not even mentioned the painting section of the book! Besides being able to admire many inspiring works of figure modeling art -- one or two photos of many such pieces -- there is a detailed nine-page demonstration on painting. To me, I think either the modeling or painting sections could make the book a good value. But you get both, in one slim package … and that’s a pretty darned good deal, I think.

I can’t get over how well balanced this book feels. I realize that what the editors sort of did was to show some of the very beginning ideas, in step-by-step form; as well as finished works of art by master craftspeople. What that could imply is they left out a lot of the middle ground. But, it doesn’t feel like there are any gaping holes. Instead, it feels like I ought to get a paintbrush or a sculpting tool in my hand -- and start creating stuff!

Very highly recommended. Thanks to my wallet for the review sample.