20. Fairburn System of Visual References
Two vinyl-bound books of photographs of men and women posing in cool 70s clothes (or in some cases nude) with multiple angles on every pose.
The Fairburn books, now out of print, are supposedly the comic book artists' holy grail due to the variety of poses and angles. There are pages of people standing, jumping, sitting, reaching, turning, reclining, leaning, lounging, bending, kneeling, falling, thinking, holding boxes, writing and, well, whatever. Frankly, though, I'm more into the wardrobe which is often reminiscent of Oliver Reed's from Ten Little Indians.
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Update (11/26/2002): Mitchell Press is selling the Faces and Heads and Children sets (3 volumes each). If you want the Figures and Hands (with the male and female full-figure books) set your best bet is still eBay (search for either Fairburn System or just Fairburn). I've seen a couple of complete sets as well as the individual books up for auction there over the past couple of months.



