Rating: 
Summary: Lacking in the basics
Review: As with most pose books, there is a severe lack of detail and contrast in the photos. The purpose of this book is to provide an alternative to life drawing, but fails in the very aspect of life drawing that makes it so effective. With such poor photography, it is extremely difficult to discern the surface features that are so important to learning artistic human anatomy. While the poses have a slightly more natural bend than most books in this genre, there is still an unnatural stiffness, or exaggeration of movement that is rarely every desired in figure references. In addition, all of the models are young college age people, with little or no ethnic diversity.
The overall direction of this book attempts to provide the artist with a holistic smattering of references in anatomy, movement and lighting, but fails in all three catagories, badly. I don't recommend this book to anyone with serious ambitions in learning to draw the human figure.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing learned here.
Review: Can sum this book up in one word: disappointing. There is nothing artistic in any of the pictures. No commentary given. As amuturistic as nude photos can be.
Rating: 
Summary: The Nude Figure
Review: I am an art student and just recently got this book, I find it superb. The black and white pictures have a sort of romantic quality. I loved the varying poses taken by the models, quick and dynamic in quality. But there was one drawback, some of the pictures were dark and moody, but regardless of this fact I would highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Do yourself a favor . . .
Review: I bought this book as a freshman in college, it being my first artist's manual on the human figure. And because it was my first, and I hadn't really shopped around for any other manual, I believed at the time that this was the best I could get. And it turns out that this book IS the best I could get, if I'm ever in a pinch for bonfire fuel. And why such a harsh (and admittedly cheap) shot, you ask? Well, this book is just all-around awful. The photos are dull and grainy, with practically no contrast. How am I supposed to read muscle definition or the interaction of skin and bone? The models look as if they would REALLY rather be somewhere else, with their tired mien and sagging, unoriginal poses. I don't know if that was the fault of the photographer or the models themselves, but in the figure classes I've been in, the most successful models were the ones that were motivated, molding themselves into their own dynamic poses without inch-by-inch direction from the instructor. This is a sad, sorry, artless book -- downright ugly. If you have to spend your money, please buy Sarah Simblet's 'Anatomy for the Artist.' Simblet's book is a work of photographic art in itself, as well as a thoroughly informative resource. Do yourself a favor, and leave 'The Nude Figure' on the shelf. Or, you could always set it aside for those unexpected bonfires.
Rating:
Summary: Do yourself a favor . . .
Review: I bought this book as a freshman in college, it being my first artist's manual on the human figure. And because it was my first, and I hadn't really shopped around for any other manual, I believed at the time that this was the best I could get. And it turns out that this book IS the best I could get, if I'm ever in a pinch for bonfire fuel. And why such a harsh (and admittedly cheap) shot, you ask? Well, this book is just all-around awful. The photos are dull and grainy, with practically no contrast. How am I supposed to read muscle definition or the interaction of skin and bone? The models look as if they would REALLY rather be somewhere else, with their tired mien and sagging, unoriginal poses. I don't know if that was the fault of the photographer or the models themselves, but in the figure classes I've been in, the most successful models were the ones that were motivated, molding themselves into their own dynamic poses without inch-by-inch direction from the instructor. This is a sad, sorry, artless book -- downright ugly. If you have to spend your money, please buy Sarah Simblet's 'Anatomy for the Artist.' Simblet's book is a work of photographic art in itself, as well as a thoroughly informative resource. Do yourself a favor, and leave 'The Nude Figure' on the shelf. Or, you could always set it aside for those unexpected bonfires.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than "The Figure In Motion"!
Review: I bought this book when it first came out a few years ago, and I have to say it both does even better than its predecessor, "The Figure In Motion", and takes it a step further with the quality of its artistic reference; I have done several drawings using the photos from this book, and the people I showed them to were impressed, to say the least. My only real complaint about "The Nude Figure" is that all of the nude models in the photos should have been women, as I prefer drawing female nudes over males; otherwise, this is a great reference book, and I can't wait for Mark E. Smith to come out with a third such book (only next time, featuring all female models, maybe with a bit more range in age and physical type) in the future. I'd recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: The Nude Figure by M.E.Smith
Review: I find this book more varied--numerous models and poses--and easier to use than the Ruby book. There are not many books of photographs for students of the figure, and I find this one very useful.
Rating:
Summary: Where do they come up with this stuff?
Review: I was looking for a book with some good posing of just a natural figure for some sculpting and art work. The cover of this book looks like what i was looking for. When I opened the book i found several body types(some were older and some rather bony which wasn't so good) and very poor posing. There are both men and women in this book, however, some of the poses are so ridiculous that i have no clue how they could be used for anything constructive. I find about half the book useful. The other half is grainy photography and crazy "what are they doing?" poses. I must say that I still have not found exactly what i am looking for in one single book. And this one, i know isn't it.
Rating:
Summary: Where do they come up with this stuff?
Review: I was looking for a book with some good posing of just a natural figure for some sculpting and art work. The cover of this book looks like what i was looking for. When I opened the book i found several body types(some were older and some rather bony which wasn't so good) and very poor posing. There are both men and women in this book, however, some of the poses are so ridiculous that i have no clue how they could be used for anything constructive. I find about half the book useful. The other half is grainy photography and crazy "what are they doing?" poses. I must say that I still have not found exactly what i am looking for in one single book. And this one, i know isn't it.
Rating:
Summary: I expected more
Review: I was quite disappointed with the quality of the pictures in this book. They were very grainy, some without much contrast. As far as the poses go, there were only a handful that 'worked' in terms of composition. Also the models tended to be too similar in size, shape, and ethnicity. The point of figure drawing is to develop skills to draw ALL shapes and sizes! There are other books on figure drawing that are much better in terms of skill development but I am still looking for a good book of photos to draw from. However, this one is not it.
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