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Jan 2021

I use these little Figma figures I found on ebay. I think they were about $25 at the time? Pretty good range of motion for plastic figures, and they come with little stands and alternate hands/feet and a set of tiny guns.

Lately tho I've been eyeing the more expensive Ficen seamless figures on Amazon, wondering if I really want to drop $70-$100 on a fancy anatomy figure. I don't think they were originally created to be artist tools, but they're pretty perfect from what I can tell. I imagine their arms would fall off less than the figma figures cause there'd be skin holding them together.

Also, having multiple art diciplines is dope af, and I highly recommend it. I'm a game artist by trade, so 3d models are my bread and butter. If I design something complicated for my comic (which is often) I'll often just whip up a rough block out for it as an internal reference. Plus, printing it out on a 3d printer makes a custom little model that's constantly at my fingertips for tough subjects, or things I really want to keep consistent, like Savina's horns, or various weaponry / ships.

Blender is a good free piece of software if you're looking at getting into this kind of thing.

I have both the male and female Phicen figures, which are pretty solid heavy-duty construction. They weigh quite a bit compared to a Barbie doll. The only problem is that the "skin" is starting to wear on the elbows, though I am pretty rough with them. It is nice though, you can usually get them into a good standing/kneeling position and they will hold if they are balanced.

Oh nice! A real honest review, thank you! How long did it take for the skin to start to wear down? How's the range of motion? Can you lift the knees up to the chest?

One of my old art teachers used to use a posable Spiderman action figure as a pose reference, and when I started doing the same thing it seriously was a life saver. I pretty much only use it for perspective, but it's a great tool. I didn't know they made articulated Barbies, I might have to spring for one since that's closer to most of the body types I draw.

i tend to default to magic poser's app and website whenever im in need of a 3D pose reference. i could also use CSP's base character model's but ive yet to figure out how it actually works :sweat_smile:

I think I've had them for a couple of years now.


It's tearing on both elbows on my figure.



Some examples of range of motion. There's a warning that comes with it to not overextend the joints, so I try not to get too crazy with them.

What I was interested in was the fact that the skin folded and stretched. I didn't believe the photos so I had to look up some review videos to see it in action, and it does look and feel really nice. I think there are figures out there that have a better range of motion, just depends on what you want in a figure.

When I was researching these figures I also found a blog reviewer for just these types of figures.


But honestly, I still use photo reference for mostly everything; my figures are used as a last resort when I just can't get what I want from photos.

This channel has some videos on how to use CSP's 3D models, it's been a life saver, and he's got several.

and this channel has an entire playlist of videos for using them as well.

I have a wooden mannequin I named Sheldon. I never used him for posing though because his joints never really bent properly so I just have him on my desk as decoration. These days I just use Clip Studio and sketch over its 3D models which helps me set the scene and saves time.

I dont have the patience to figure Blender out for the world- same with SketchUp to a certain extent.

MagicPoser for your phone is also pretty great if you got a weird ass pose you can't really take a photo of--you have to compensate for the render of the 3d program kinda distorting stuff, but it's easy to set up and doesn't involve learning a 3d program.

I have some skulls, I can recommend getting the one from Proko, it costs 80$ but it´s worth it, you can put it on a tripod and it´s the perfect
size so can hold it in your hand easily and turn it around and you can even open and close the mouse which works with 2 magnets attached
to it. In general I think it´s good to have anatomy pictures hanging around everywhere, so you can look at it often and remember it.
It´s the next thing I do, I order some to hang them in my house. I would love to have a human skeleton model, future plans :smiley:

I just have a crazy amount of figure reference kicking around on my computer. :sweat_02:

I also have ArtPose on my iPad, for those rare occasions where I can't just find a good figure ref, and I'm having a hard time drawing from memory.

oh, now that's neat haha! 3d printing has really upped the prop replication game too, just wow. Those figures look nice and having a stand is about the only thing extra I think I'd want for my figures for more dynamic poses.

The Phicen figures look nice, but you right that's an investment. True that lol, fleshy bits keep the insides inside, though I imagine a dislocated joint looking wild on one of those figures. Horn and weapon references for the win bc they change so much in perspective.

I really want to get better with 3D, It just makes my eyes cross whenever I try and work in it. Do you have a program or place you recommend learning how to do some 3d modeling?

Perspective is what I find these figures mad crazy useful for too! I recently learned about the Made-to-Move Barbie line so I'm not surprised. I was just as shocked bc I just remember them being stiff popsicle dolls lol.