How to do âextraâ facial expressions!
Drawing basic facial expressions is not the hardest. Most people can draw a sad face, a happy face, angry etc., but making more multidimensional expressions is more of a challenge. I have gotten a lot of compliments on how I draw facial expressions, (specifically âangsty onesâ) telling me that they are very dramatic and well⌠expressive! And there are actually only a few things I think about when I draw faces that take them to the next level, so I thought iâd illustrate them all here!
SUPER IMPORTANT TIP BEFORE WE START: Look at your own face when you draw faces. Even making the face when you are drawing (you donât even have to look at it), will give you some sense of how the face muscles pull and where things fold and stretch, because you can feel it. You are the best reference when it comes to facial expressions!
AnglesÂ
Draw the head in an angle that matches the expressions you want to make. It is not a requirement, but is going to add to the effect.
Symmetry vs asymmetryÂ
A face is rarely symmetric. Unless the face the character is making is 100 % relaxed or even dissociating, the eyebrows, mouth and facial muscles will have different placements of their respective side. This image shows the dramatic impact asymmetry has on a face:Â
Thatâs the difference between a smile and a smirk!
The first oneâs like âoh yeah?â and the second is like âoH YEAH??â
The âballoon squishing principleâ
This is something I did subconsciously, and I didnât know about until I made this tutorial. And this principle goes hand in hand with an asymmetric face. Basically, if you squish one part of the face, you need to even out the empty space by âinflatingâ the other part of the face so that it doesnât appear shrunken. The picture hopefully explains it:
TeethÂ
Donât forget to add the gum when the mouth is open to its full potential!
Squinting and folding
Adding folds around the eyes when a character is squinting makes a HUGE difference. It makes a smile more genuine and a growl more intimidating. Adding folds to the face in general makes your characters more lifelike and âvisually relatableâ. Like, they look human, and less plastic or fake.
and so on..
Pupils and irisesÂ
The placement of the iris and pupil in relation to the eyelids is very important! The less of the white you see, the more relaxed the character is.Â
And then of course eyebrows and eyes go hand in hand!
Gestures, spitting, sweatingâŚÂ
Adding more elements than just a face is key to making the character actually look like they are feeling what you want them to feel. Just the tiniest sweat drop adds to their anxiety, spitting adds frustration to their rage, slouching shoulders, waving hands, a double chin, extreme angles, the list goes on! Add whatever and see what kind of impact it makes! Does it do the trick? Great! Add it!Â
Over exaggeration!!Â
Remember that you can almost always exaggerate more. Donât be afraid to do draw âtoo muchâ because youâre just experimenting. See what works and what doesnât. What do you like to exaggerate?
Now that you know some theory, itâs time to practice!
Practicing!!Â
The 25 Essential Expressions (a classic! Iâve done it multiple times)
And the one I do when Iâm bored:
Fill a page with circles and fill them in with different expressions. Try and exaggerate as much as you can!Â
This is mostly for experimenting. They are quicker to draw than complete faces, but the same rules should apply!
And thatâs about it!
I donât know if I covered everything in this tutorial, since some things might be obvious for me, and this post perhaps only scratches the surface. So feel free to send me a message if you want an explanation about something more in depth! Thank you for reading! And now DRAW!!! â¨đ¨
Damn I feel like this sure was appreciated!! Iâm just reblogging from myself again bc I changed my URL.Â
But I also realized, now months later, that I COMPLETELY forgot one of the most important tips I have when drawing convincing facial expressions, and that is drop the entire âtrying to draw prettyâ thinking.Â
What I mean by that is to stop focusing so much on making the character express their emotions whilst still looking conventionally attractive, because let me tell yall, thatâs not convincing at all.Â
In the heat of the moment, a person automatically drops their facade, no matter how vain or insecure, and will show their most inner raw self, even if it is only for a split second. They donât care right now. Thatâs when you see ugly crying, snot dripping, spitting, sweating, gritting teeth and lips pulling in different directions to their extreme..Â
If you donât show this âuglyâ side, the observer will not be able to relate to your drawing, because nothing there is familiar. Itâs not what THEY (aka real people) look like when they are expressing extreme emotion!
Here are some examples of mine! Here I focused on trying to make them look sad. Not just crying, I wanted them to look genuinely heartbroken or distressed out of their mind. So I tried to focus on scrunching their faces up real good, REALLY open that mouth and show their teeth and gum, adding lots of folds around the eyes because they are closing really hard, resulting lotâs of squish, etc etc. Lots of subtle detail that can all be exaggerated. And remember that a lot of the emotion is in the eyebrows !! Maybe even the most!
Anyways, I could go on an on, but itâs really just about practicing and not being afraid to draw âuglyâ. Really push those boundaries and draw draw draw!! â¨â¨
