how do you draw different expressions with your style?
the concept of asking me for drawing advice is so funny i really just fuck around, but by god we'll try!
ive watched many a cartoon in my time so a lot of the initial development of it is just. looking at how different shows i like have captured certain vibes with their characters features and emulating whatever parts of those expressions Worked Best (i find steven universe was a big one for this ngl, steven universe has some crazy crazy good expressions), then you kinda build a mental library of stock expressions from that that u can swap around for more specific moods or characeters.
when im doing screenshot redraws this is even easier bc you have a reference you can trace from and think. ok so what part of this is giving me the impression the character is sad, happy, etc. then i just combine that with how cartoons exaggerate stuff and all is well in world. like if im doing my cql drawovers + lwj isnt giving me a whole lot in the actual screenshot but i know hes sad in the scene im drawing, then i can give him some sad eyebrows and be done with my day, because im trying to get the right feeling for the scene, not the screenshot pixel for pixel with no changes.
anyway long long longer explanations with my beautiful wngxn assistants below the cut
here are our beloved examples WY + LZ, our Expressive to Brick Wall emotional range!
a lot of expression drawing guides mention squashing or stretching the face shape itself (like when your mouth is hanging open, your face appears longer bc ur jaw is lower) but if im being quite honest i dont do that a lot in my style personally unless its for Really Pushed expressions or comedic effect? its worth looking into if u want more realistic or fluid expressions but i dont bother with it 90% of the time
if we're getting angry or sad, we wanna narrow the eyes Down as if the eyelid or eyebrows are coming down over the eye, if you do this a whole bunch and make them really angled like \/ then it looks angrier (See my darling xianxian) , if you don't move them a lot or theyre less angled it looks less intense overall (which is perfect for my darling zhanzhan!), and obviously if you do more of a /\ angle, then you can make them sad rather than angry.
mouth wise for angry or sad expressions im usually making the lips thinner, maybe the mouth a little wider overall (see: LZ's example) because the mouth is pressed in a hard line. or in the case of more of a disgusted vibe like WY's example, the lip comes out past the mouth a little more than usual to make a bit more of a curled lip/sneer impression.
and wrinkles ! love em! a wrinkle between the eyebrows makes them look furrowed + therefore more angry, sad, confused, etc. and u can push a bit more with wrinkles at the top of the nose (like when you scrunch your nose up!) + under the eyes, which is very helpful for making characters look Even Squintier or tired. i dont usually do it around the forehead or mouth unless im going for smth real pushed, just bc i personally think it ages them a bit too much, but when it works it works!
happy/lovey dovey ass expressions r my fave thing in the world and one hundred percent something ive stolen hardcore from cartoons and anime LAWLLL
in the case of more expressive characters like WY i tend to scrunch the eyes UP from the bottom, as if their cheek is coming up over the eye (rather than their eyelid or eyebrow coming down over it) like when u smile.
eyebrows wise i like to at the very least Slightly raise them or angle them Up. for characters that are being super sappy and lovey dovey if you make the eyebrows. look...kinda sad? like angled in a similar /\ way as you would if they were sad. but with the slight raise + the slightly smiley scrunched up eye, then it makes em look sooooo hearteyed <333
the joy of drawing simplistic ass eyes that r just a plain colour + a pupil is that taking away/adding that pupil, or changing its shape or colour immediately changes everything, if i add the white pupil they look way happier than if i dont include it, if i make it a black pupil (when the eye is coloured and not just a black blob) it looks a little bit like the smile is fake because their eyes arent 'lit up', and if i make it a heart then theyre even More hearteyed than previously stated, wow, joys.
mouth wise, the lil ovals at the ends of the mouth do a LAWT of heavy lifting, angle them up and uve got a smile even if the mouth otherwise is perfectly flat, angle them down and its a frown
shocked expressions.... my enemy... drawing eyes wider is such a pisstake to draw most of the time for some reason! just make the top of the eye more round instead of the flat thing ive got going on usually and it already looks more wide-eyed, even if i keep the iris exactly as i usually draw it. usually when i draw irises theyre sort of. more of a slanted rectangle than a circle, so when i make the shape more circular literally just by erasing part of the iris that meets the top of the eye, it looks wider and more shocked p much immediately. just make everything rounder.
lighting + colours + shading do SO much heavy lifting also, like if you add shadows around the eye area it looks much more ominous than without, a little shadow under the eyes and youve got some eyebags going, blush is obvious, eyeshines, etc etc
TLDR TLDR: scrunch eyes, move + angle eyebrows like youre making a mii, and play with the shape + thickness of pretty much everything, steal expressions from references until u got your go-to's ready to go, wrinkles forever.
"the disneyfied ouat characters never ever changing clothes is fucking hilarious" vs "the disneyfied arcs would've been improved if they had separated from those instances a bit, and if, by god, they'd gotten different clothes" FIGHT
