Animation References & Tips

[zanekohler]

I thought I would start a thread like the inspirational only dedicated to posting animation references out and about on the web.

Start it off with a pdf from spungella blog called Animal Locomotion for Animators - by Stuart S. Sumida. It is a 105 page pdf chalk full on information on how animals walk/run.

I heard about this while listening to the AHAA podcast and thought it would be cool to pass along.

Live action Reference:

Animal Locomotion (http://spungella.blogspot.com/2010/02/animal-locomotion-for-animators-by.html)

Cartoon & Animation Reference

Tex Avery Model Sheets (http://comicrazys.com/2010/02/20/model-sheets-tex-avery-the-mgm-years-1942-1955-various/)

Cartoons, model Sheets and stuff... (http://klangley.blogspot.com/)

Preston Blair's "Advanced Animation" on Animation Archive (http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/media-preston-blairs-animation-first.html)

The Art Center (http://theartcenter.blogspot.com/)

Pencil Test Depot (http://www.penciltestdepot.com/)

Golden Gems (http://goldengems.blogspot.com/)

Michael Sporn's Blog (http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/)

Jason Ryan's Tutorials (http://www.jasonryananimation.com)

Jason Ryan's Webinars (http://www.jrawebinar.com)

Dan Kuenster and John Hooper's Animators Bootcamp (http://www.animatorsbootcamp.com)

Animator's Bootcamp Free Lessons (http://www.animatorsbootcamp.com/mini_lessons/mini_lessons.html)

Character Animation Crash Course (http://www.goldbergcrashcourse.com/)

Pose maniacs (http://posemaniacs.com/)

Sandro Cleuzo (http://inspectorcleuzo.blogspot.com/)

Bobby Pontillas (http://bobbypontillas.blogspot.com/)

Temple of the seven golden Camels (http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/)

Golden Age Comic Book Stories (http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/)

On Animation (http://onanimation.com/?page_id=1646)

Hans Bacher's blog (http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/)

Karl Gnass (http://spirit-of-the-pose.com/home.html)

ARC Renewal Center (http://www.artrenewal.org/)

Bill Peet (http://www.billpeet.net/)

Animation Meat (http://www.animationmeat.com/)

ASIFA (http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/)

The Animation Podcast (http://animationpodcast.com/)

BBC motion gallery (http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/)

[Richard Willimot]

Awesome find thanks zane.

[joedorsey]

Here's a couple links I've found helpful.

Tex Avery Model Sheets (http://comicrazys.com/2010/02/20/model-sheets-tex-avery-the-mgm-years-1942-1955-various/)

Cartoons, model Sheets and stuff... (http://klangley.blogspot.com/)

Preston Blair's "Advanced Animation" on Animation Archive (http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/media-preston-blairs-animation-first.html)

[jeremyhopkins]

Hope you guys don't mind but I moved this thread to the techniques section and I'll edit the first post, if Zane doesn't mind, as new links come up. That way new users have a great resource for information when they first sign up. Thanks Zane!

[zanekohler]

No problem, sorry I should have thought to put it in this section.

[arif]

Thank you so much for sharing with us these Zane.......got lots of stuff here..thanks again,,

Regards,
Arif.

[jeremyhopkins]

The Art Center (http://theartcenter.blogspot.com/)
Pencil Test Depot (http://www.penciltestdepot.com/)
Golden Gems (http://goldengems.blogspot.com/)
Michael Sporn's Blog (http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/)

[zanekohler]

Here is another one I like to use. It is called Posemaniacs. It has rotating 3d skinless models for muscle reference. Fun to draw or reference for life drawing.

http://posemaniacs.com/

[segun]

Books:

Wayne Gilbert's "Simplified Planning for Animation"
http://anamie.com/anamie_book.html

Videos:

Jason Ryan's Tutorials on
http://www.jasonryananimation.com

Jason Ryan's Webinars
http://www.jrawebinar.com

Dan Kuenster and John Hooper's Animators Bootcamp
http://www.animatorsbootcamp.com

Dan also has some free mini lessons at:
http://www.animatorsbootcamp.com/mini_lessons/mini_lessons.html

Chuck Jones- Extremes and Inbetweens
http://www.amazon.com/Chuck-Jones-Extremes-Betweens-Animation/dp/B00006JDV4

Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit DVDs
http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/volumes_1_4.html
(if you can afford them!)

Notes:
John Hooper, Dan Kuenster and Jason Ryan worked with Don Bluth at some point in their careers. They both offer tutorials similar in style to Don's, you look over the shoulder of the animator and watch them animate live, hear their thoughts...

[joedorsey]

Here's one that's on my list of books to get.

Character Animation Crash Course (http://www.goldbergcrashcourse.com/)

[Rich-E]

cool book. how are you joe???

[jeremyhopkins]

Just curious, would you guys like to have books & DVDs listed here too or is thread (http://donbluthanimation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=126) ok?

[jeremyhopkins]

Sandro Cleuzo (http://inspectorcleuzo.blogspot.com/)
Bobby Pontillas (http://bobbypontillas.blogspot.com/)
Temple of the seven golden Camels (http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/)
Golden Age Comic Book Stories (http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/)
On Animation (http://onanimation.com/?page_id=1646)
Hans Bacher's blog (http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/)

[joedorsey]

cool book. how are you joe???

I'm good Rich. Got a sick wife, so I haven't done alot of drawings as of late. Here's another link. The latest podcast covers Disney's Talent Development Program.

The Animation Podcast (http://animationpodcast.com/)

[jeremyhopkins]

Karl Gnass (http://spirit-of-the-pose.com/home.html)
ARC Renewal Center (http://www.artrenewal.org/)
Bill Peet (http://www.billpeet.net/)
Animation Meat (http://www.animationmeat.com/)
ASIFA (http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/)

[Rodney]

I had not seen this one before... thanks much! :)

Dan Kuenster and John Hooper's Animators Bootcamp
http://www.animatorsbootcamp.com

I always get a kick out of seeing animators who have worked with Don.
Their enthusiasm is contagious.

[ryan888]

Thanks a lot buddy...these are really very good link to know about animation and 3D.....this is what i was looking for.
i also got link which i would like to share with u all...
http://maacdelhi.blogspot.com/
Thanx once again

[melinda]

check this one out - great human motion reference
http://endlessreference.com

[zanekohler]

That is some beautiful reference! thanks for posting that one!

[ryan888]

thanx @ melinda...this is really an wonderful link.
i am getting lots of things to learn...
:)

[zanekohler]

During the seminar Don talked about Don Graham. I found this pdf of some notes he had on forces vs form.

thinkinganimation.com/handouts/DonGrahmNotes.pdf

[Rich-E]

During the seminar Don talked about Don Graham. I found this pdf of some notes he had on forces vs form.

thinkinganimation.com/handouts/DonGrahmNotes.pdf

the link doesn't go anywhere for me.

[zanekohler]

the link doesn't go anywhere for me.

It's a direct link to the pdf file. Could be a pop up blocker? Try right clicking it and select save as.

[Rodney]

Hans Perk has copies of the original notes available (circa 1936/37 as they were working on Snow White) via his blog:

http://afilmla.blogspot.com/search?q=graham

The pdf file Zane posted will be easier to read of course.
(the link worked for me)

[Rich-E]

got it.


thanks

[Stewart]

Hey guys, I found these pdf's whilst searching for 'The Analysis of Action' papers on the internet. They are a collection of lecture notes by Eric Larson, Ham Luske and Ollie Johnson and look like they might be really useful.
There's also some interesting thumbnails from The Rescuers.

Stewart.

http://www.animationmeat.com/notes/nineoldmen/nineoldmen.html

[jeremyhopkins]

Owen pointed us towards the wonderful BBC motion gallery (http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/).

[arif]

i have just collected the `Animals in motion` by Eadweard Muybridge.....i have been looking for long this book for to understand how animals move......as Don said that start collecting Run, walk and others action.......i have collected BBC wild life series and now capturing the frames from various animals and birds of the world......their flight, landing, run....hunting..everything........i can post them here also if anyone wants to see.....i think, this research will help me to understand how the living things moves in the real world....then, i will caricature them exactly the way what Don showed us in the book `Art of animation drawing`..i have done a little animation of Chicken.....and i can see the the result........

Regards,

Arif

[Stewart]

I know that a lot of us have already have found John Kricfalusi's blog a useful resource but I recently came across some short videos which I've never seen before on using construction.

Stewart.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/10/heckling-hare-step-by-step-construction.html

[segun]

'Not sure if this goes here but I thought you should know that

- Tom Roth's Animation Alchemy series is now live,
Animation Fundamentals for 3d Animators or any kind of animator for that matter. I first found out about it on www.animationmeat.com, Tom Roth worked as an on movies like Disney's Hercules[with Eric Goldberg], Disney's Dinosuar, Dreamwork's Shrek. He worked with Richard Williams as well.
http://www.animationalchemy.com
Payment method: Paypal, you will need internet access to view the videos

- Sherm Cohen's Storyboard Elements DVD
http://kunaki.com/MSales.asp?PublisherId=119023
Sherm Cohen is an awesome guy, the videos on the storyboard secrets link below are free, he gives solid advice about the modern storyboard industry.
http://storyboardsecrets.com/blog/
He also has lots of gems of wisdom on his blog at:
http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/

- John Nevarez Design 01 DVD
If you're interested in visual development for animation, this is a must see.
http://kunaki.com/MSales.asp?PublisherId=119023

- Michael Matessi's Drawing Force online videos
http://www.drawingforce.com/index.cfm/enroll/
* I haven't looked at this yet, but his book is awesome.

- Glen Vilppu goes Digital
Glen villpu now offers downloadable video versions of his awesome training dvds, you'll have to browse through this yourselves
http://www.vilppustore.com

[dartzy]

Hi everyone...

Got an email this morning and it had a new book of interest to some of you (SpiralFX, Ithought of you)..so I thought I'd share...not sure how good it is but I have to say its the first book I have seen on the subject...

Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0240811631/ref=pe_606_16037910_pe_ar_t3)


Enjoy!

[jeremyhopkins]

I thought this clip had some amazing animal and natural acting reference:
ADGn1GABF0Q

*the clip is somewhat disturbing. Just wanted to give a warning before everyone checked it out.

[Rodney]

*the clip is somewhat disturbing. Just wanted to give a warning before everyone checked it out.

I was trying to anticipate what could possibly be so disturbing...
I definitely wasn't expecting that.

Facinating footage! ...and a good lesson learned from nature.

[Moneyguns]

HOLY CRAP! I think that dog got the short stick.:( That's jacked up.

That deer is an idiot. And NO! I don't mean literally. (well...maybe) I just don't like him. or her.:mad:


But! Thanks for the reference. I... guess?

KILL IT WITH FIRE!

[Moneyguns]

I like this one better. It doesn't break my heart at the end.:)

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5K-CTyvNE04&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5K-CTyvNE04&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

KILL IT WITH LOVE!

[OwenWelsh]

For those attending the masterclass. This might prove helpful to study the barn swallow.

http://racphoto.com/Birds/Swallows/BarnSwallow.html

http://www.thelensflare.com/large/barn-swallow-in-flight_48875.jpg
http://actechnology.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/barn-swallow-0007.jpg
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/files/2008/07/barn-swallow220.jpg
http://racphoto.com/Parks/WA/Ridgefield/Birds/BarnSwallow/_MG_3049_acr441_1000.jpg

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_o7aFblRG1E&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_o7aFblRG1E&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7tn1B31HMyM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7tn1B31HMyM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

[Phrogger]

I love swallows! Their little faces are so cute. We had a nest in our chimney once.

[dartzy]

HI All!

Here's some neat sites for reference that a great artist, Cedric Hohnstadt, posted on his site. Thought they were too good to pass up on sharing.

For animation reference:
http://digiref.ca/videos.html

A neat collection of video clips taken from a recent tribute to legendary animator Milt Kahl. Some funny stories and insights about the master draftsman.
http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2009/kahl.html

Enjoy!

[Rodney]

Thanks for those references Owen. I've been meaning to search out some good sparrow reference but kept putting it off.

Here are some various videos of sparrows in action.

[arif]

Great posted Owen..........ahhhhhhh!!..i was just thinking to post here something like that and already did some research from Wikipedia about the swallow....but..you are so ahead of me........:laughing::laughing:.....great...
and Dartzy...thank you also for the links...

Regards,
Arif

[Rodney]

Rad Sechrist is a regular contributor over at 'The Art Center' blog.
Every time he posts I gain some new tip, techique or perspective.

This time he's got something to say about keeping things simple in designs. The 'Construction Tips' can help tremendously as we try to turn an object in space.

http://theartcenter.blogspot.com/2010/07/construction-tips.html

If you haven't visited his 'How to' blog you should... go there (http://radhowto.blogspot.com/)!


Cheers!

[Moneyguns]

I just watched the show Time Warp on the Science channel the other day.
It has some awesome stuff you could use for animation reference in it.:)

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/90VyvOhPmA0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/90VyvOhPmA0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90VyvOhPmA0

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/63Ch2pNkZwU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/63Ch2pNkZwU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ch2pNkZwU&feature=channel

[Seth]

Wow! Those are crazy! They wouldn't happen to have one of a Gun Wielding Lioness fighting off a Samurai Gorilla would they? :laughing: Thanks for sharing.

[feliceworkshop]

Very cool!.... I've always imagined the tongue of a dog bending in the opposite direction when scooping up the water....It's nice to know that I had it figure it out all wrong for the longest time. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

[Rodney]

Seeing that cognitive anticipation before the balloon hits the guy is priceless.
He knows he's going to get hit, tries to remain motionless yet the defensive reflex kicks in regardless.

That's awesome.

Such a subtle yet important difference between 'knowing' and 'surprise'.

Nice.

[segun]

For your animal motion reference needs:
The Animation Motion Show Vol1 & 2 DVDs
http://www.rhinohouse.com/web-rhino/volume01/volume01.html
http://www.rhinohouse.com/web-rhino/volume02/volume02.html
here's a link to a review of it:
http://features.cgsociety.org/story.php?story_id=1766

[joedorsey]

Here's a book by Don Graham (http://filmic-light.blogspot.com/2010/07/don-graham-how-to-train-animator.html) called "Composing Pictures". Don was an instructor at Chouinard Art Institute and Walt Disney hired him to train his animators. This book has been out of print for a long time and I just found out it's back!

Composing Pictures (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193524700X?ie=UTF8&tag=animationblast08&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=193524700X)

Edit: Looks like Amazon is out of stock already. They better get to printing more! :) Here's a Barnes and Nobles link.

B&N Composing Pictures (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Composing-Pictures/Donald-W-Graham/e/9781935247005/?itm=1&USRI=composing+pictures)

[Rodney]

Joe,
Thought I should add this about Don Graham's book "Composing Pictures":

It should surprise no one that this book is about 'composing pictures'. ;)
This includes a lot of great information about layout and composition and he really digs deep down into the theory and practice of art.

I suspect aspiring animators that have spent most of their time studying animated movies will feel a twinge of disappointment in this volume. Only one of the latter chapters contains what will be considered on the surface as 'animation art'. By this I mean examples of drawings from animated film.

For those looking for illustrated animation art you're more apt to enjoy the time exploring Frank and Ollie's "Disney's Illusion of Life".

I'm very happy to hear the book is being published again but the 'Out of Stock' tag makes me wonder if it's really out.

Has anyone else seen a copy of the new publication?

[jeremyhopkins]

Some Corgi reference:
glii-kazad8

[zanekohler]

Some cool slow mo cat footage

http://www.jokeroo.com/user-content/videos/animal/2010/8/41465-slow-motion-cat.html


slow mo lightning
http://www.jokeroo.com/videos/extreme/super-slow-motion-lightning.html

[Johnny]

Here's a site with many production artworks
http://www.animationsensations.com/drawdisneymenu1.html

[jtq3]

http://www.stopmotionworks.com/stopwatch.htm

found this today. very helpful info. scroll down to bottom of page for metronome beat number to frame (24 and 30fps) conversion charts.

[andrew sharp]

Wow these are great thankyou, It will take me a bunch of time to get through this but gems they all are:)

[zanekohler]

I saw that CTN has posted a lot of the seminars from 2010 online now.
Some pretty cool panels worth checking out.
http://vimeo.com/ctnanimationexpo

[BookLover]

These references are so helpful!!! Thanks to all of you who have posted them!!

[Stewart]

A great resource of photos showing different body shapes that I found recently online and thought it might be useful.

http://ninamatsumoto.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/athletic-body-diversity-reference-for-artists/

[Rodney]

A great resource of photos showing different body shapes that I found recently online and thought it might be useful.

http://ninamatsumoto.wordpress.com/2...e-for-artists/

That's a great reference.
I would note that compositing makes some of these athletes look taller/shorter by comparison. For example; Tara Lipinski (5'1'') next to Erik Elias (6'1''). The hockey skates alone don't make up for the apparent difference in height greater than 3 feet! So be careful there. Otherwise, great resource.

It'd be fun to realign those athletes based on their actual heights. Maybe someday if I get bored...

[zanekohler]

Here is a cool pencil test with commentary from the upcoming Charlie Brown cartoon "Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown"

iH3OugBy56o&hl

[Rodney]

Great find Zane.
Such a short piece and yet so much information is conveyed.

When I see stuff like this, I know hand drawn is still very much alive and well.
Good ol' Charlie Brown. :)

[Rodney]

Two updates to the last few posts here.
The first is to say that a few days ago I bought the "Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown' DVD. It was fun and I enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff. Not quite as in depth as I had hoped but still... very informative.

The film itself is a interesting piece that stays true to the classic Charlie brown features seen on TV. This is actually what makes it something of an oddity... it doesn't try to be hip and current in the style and pace of what we see today. The characters are 'modernized' for today's viewers. It's a Charlie Brown special... all over again. There was obviously a lot of attention that went into the work.

Second item of possible interest concerns the photo reference of atheletes. I ran across this site with photos from the series "Bodies in Motion" that complements the 'Atheletes' photos. Apologies if this has been posted before!

http://www.scott-eaton.com/category/bodies-in-motion

Neither of these two things is full feature animation but both provide good great references for approaching it. :)

[zanekohler]

I bought the Charlie brown as well. I have not seen it yet. Thanks for posting your review. From what I hear they put a lot of thought in keeping it true to the comic. From my understanding the based it more off of the classic comic than the last few animated versions. Too bad there was not a bit more extras.

Those body in motion images are pretty dang cool. Thanks for posting those!

[wolfsymphony]

Someone once posted a link on these forums, to a website with a bunch of illustrated tutorials on the basics of animation. I can't for the life of me find the website again, but I do recall there being a tutorial on squash/stretch/weight, showing you how to animate with a 'potato sack'. Sound familiar to anyone?

[Seth]

Someone once posted a link on these forums, to a website with a bunch of illustrated tutorials on the basics of animation. I can't for the life of me find the website again, but I do recall there being a tutorial on squash/stretch/weight, showing you how to animate with a 'potato sack'. Sound familiar to anyone?

Wolf,

Not sure, but I think you're talking about Karma Toons? http://www.karmatoons.com/
You'll find Animation Tutorials for a flour sack at the top of the menu. Hope this helps. :)

[wolfsymphony]

Wolf,

Not sure, but I think you're talking about Karma Toons? http://www.karmatoons.com/
You'll find Animation Tutorials for a flour sack at the top of the menu. Hope this helps. :)

Haha, my memory was a little hazy but yes! That was the one! Thanks Seth :laughing:

[frankenart]

heres a video link to one of my heroes--former filmation animator and animaniacs producer--rich arons you can find more of his videos on there also .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rbvv7eAsyE

[Rodney]

Here's a side by side comparison of the actors (primarily Ed Wynn) and the animated characters from Alice in Wonderland. This has been linked to before but I don't think in this isolated representation. It comes courtesy of Daniel Taylor's blog "On Animation (http://www.onanimation.com)" who found it posted at Spungella (http://spungella.blogspot.com/).

http://www.onanimation.com/2011/05/05/alice-in-wonderland-side-by-side/

Of note is that this test reference was deemed more appropriate than subsequent retake attempts and so the original test audio was used in the final film. A case (more or less) for the firstest often being the bestest. ;)

[zanekohler]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere already. It is chart going around about facial expressions that is pretty cool.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs43/f/2010/143/7/0/Emotions_and_Facial_Expression_by_Cedarseed.jpg

[arif]

Cool Zane...i am always struggling with the expressions and i have very limited expressions of mine:o..so, always suffered to portray various type of sensitive expressions....surely, this will help me a lot...

[frankenart]

i thought this was cool,i could watch him all day doing this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlpRoyjX-mQ

[arif]

Thank you Frank...from your post, i found more valuable a documentary about Chuck Jones ....if it is posted not here...then, here it is.....you will find rest of them by searching number on youtube

Chuck Jones Extremes & Inbetweens, A life in animation (3/9)

[frankenart]

yes sir,,arif,i watched all those too(thanks for posting those also i meant to but forgot)i just love watching the man in action.theres a doc called chuck amuck i wanna get a hold of. anyone have it or know where to get it?thats where that short drawing session came from.

[miriambalsano]

Hey guys I also found a great reference website for Life Drawing, for those who are not attending classes. This is the best website I've found so far: http://lifedrawingposes.com/
You have a free trial for one week to access the reference videos (360º view of the models)... You can save the videos in HD with Real Player, like I did, so that you can access them all the time without having to pay membership :o) The videos include great poses (both male and female models).
There's also an article with helpful figure drawing tips: http://lifedrawingposes.com/category/life-drawing-figure-drawing-tips/
And a helpful video about Gesture drawing:
http://lifedrawingposes.com/studio-warm-up-exercises/

Also there is another website where you can download the "Art Models" ebooks, with photos of models, plus you get to download 360º view of 2 models for free (like the Virtual Pose ones)! http://www.livemodelbooks.com/free.aspx

Finally, I found this awesome website with free tutorials on Physics for Animation, a very important topic for animators!
http://www.algarcia.org/database/index.php?pg=tutorials

Hope these links are helpful to y'all. Good studies! :)

[zanekohler]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere. ESPN has a pretty cool gallery of high quality athlete photos. All the photos contain the athletes in covered nude poses. Some good poses and various body shapes to draw from.

2011 Gallery (http://espn.go.com/espn/photos/gallery/_/id/7030506/bodies-want-2011#1)
2010 Gallery (http://espn.go.com/espn/photos/gallery/_/id/7030505/bodies-want-2010)
2009 Gallery (http://espn.go.com/espn/photos/gallery/_/id/7030499/bodies-want-2009)

[arif]

Oh...that's cool Zane....great post:D

[feliceworkshop]

Here's a great website for animation reference:

http://www.referencereference.com/index.html

....the majority of videos are from the out of business Principle of Motions - Animation Reference DVD's franchise. I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think that the owners of this new website are somewhat affiliated with the makers of the original POM DVD's....at list it feels that way.

Videos are mostly in Flash format, but with a little bit of time (..and patience) they can be downloaded and converted into a 24fps Quicktime movie, using software available on-line.
I hope you guys here at the forum find this useful!... :)