Like To Draw Kids? Some Books I Recommend

In my opinion, the best way to learn how to draw children is to draw from life. Of course, the way they move around like mosquitoes can make it quite challenging. And I felt a little weird once when I sat at the playground with my sketchbook (I was the only adult without a child, and the parents were looking at me funny). Also, I don't have kids of my own. All of this makes it a big challenging to learn to draw the little buggers so I've acquired a growing collection of reference books. These are two of my favorite.

Virtual Pose by Mario Henri Chakkour (Hardcover)
This reference book should be in every picture book illustrators library. There are loads of poses to choose from. All the models do a fine job of looking quite natural, though I wish some of the poses were a bit more varied and dynamic. The book even comes with a companion CD with additional poses. It's viewed through QuickTime so be sure to have it installed in your computer. You can rotate the poses horizontally!

Facial Expressions Babies to Teens: A Visual Reference for Artists by Mark Simon (Paperback)
I keep this one by my side at all times, at all costs. Thousands of black and white photographs of real kids making really great expressions - angry, startled, shy, you name it! Once again, they are very natural and spontaneous looking. There's an excellent range of ages, from babies to teenagers and a variety of ethnicity's as well.

I highly recommend you add these books to your library, especially if you're a children's book illustrator.