Alternatives to the "Pose File" books?

[Minagi]

As the title tells, I'd need to find some alternatives to the Pose File book series. I'm not looking for an anatomically correct cut-in-half-and-all-the-red-stuff-is-showing- book, but a reference guide to different poses (since I am too poor and too shy to get a life model *laughs*)

(I ordered Pose File #1 on July 23th. The bookshop's representative said "oh yes, it'll take two months but we've got it, just you wait!". Well, guess what? I got a call about a hour ago and they said "uh, sorry, we don't have it." Yes, I would have needed that book ages ago -_- )

- So, any opinions on what book to hunt next?

[mame]

THE MALE AND FEMALE FIGURE IN MOTION, 60 Classic Photographic Sequences
-Eadward Muybridge
Dover Publications, Inc. 1984
ISBN 0-486-24745-7

PS - Powell's is a great source for used and hard to find books.

Huge Art selection: I did a simple search - here's the URL

http://www.powells.com/subsection/ArtAnatomyandFigureDrawing.html

[Minagi]

Thanks, mame...
it's just that I live in Finland and don't have a credit card (<- I'm 17 years old; makes online shopping usually hard) and so on so it's quite difficult for me to get any good books. *sigh*.

[mame]

Minagi - take a look at Powell's for titles any way. then go to your local University/Public library to borrow. Libraries here will even "borrow' from other libraries for you. Can you do that there?

Or find a couple of titles and search on e-bay. I use money orders rather than credit cards myself.

Or find a couple of titles you want and maybe folks here are willing to sell to you. Again money order and prepaid shipping.

Good luck!:)

[Leslie M. Ficcaglia]

Believe it or not, you can sometimes get quite decent poses out of clothing catalogues. They're not as off-the-wall as the sorts of poses seen in fashion magazines, and can be a good resource. I've used them when I needed to change a face because I didn't have permission to paint the subject I was working on (from photos.) Speaking of photos, you could also work from those. Parks can be good places to do some grab shots, or if you know anyone who takes ballet lessons or is fencing....

Anyway, you get the idea! Good luck.

Leslie

[Minagi]

Thank you... yes, I've also taken some poses out of clothing catalogs but this time I'd need reference photos of the nude. The women in the clothing catalogs are so... non-intresting looking (being all "perfect" and all that) and the lighting is always very boring, so...

I've found one nice use for the clothing catalogs, anyway. Once I collected a pile of them, clipped out all of the useful-looking pictures of hands in various positions and then glued the little clips to an a6 notebook. Instant and definetly cheap hand reference guide.

And yes, since I've had a digital camera for years now I also have a habit to take loads of photos of my friends and of the people at the city/park (I have a few Gbs of reference material on my hd X))
- But as I already mentioned, I need some nude poses and my real life-friends (most of them being under 18) aren't too happy with the idea of posing nude or even semi-nude. (Well, one boy actually *did* agree to pose for me - but only if I'd pay him $1000 per hour ;D

My father is a professional photographer, and I've promised to arrange his collection (about 400 000 photos) when I have the time. Maybe I'll find some intresting reference material there.