Drawing Facial Expressions

Drawing Facial Expressions
An easy way to start

Grab any old piece of paper, or if you like, your smartphone, iPad or other tablet. There's sure to be a drawing or painting app you can use. Working digitally gives you a usefully adaptable image.

However, whatever, pitch in. Get something down. Draw a circle, two marks for eyes and another for a mouth.

We are wired to see faces and read what mood they're in from the moment we're born. Our survival depends on it. However rough your scribble, rest assured that not only will it be seen as a face. It will have an expression, even if it's only bored or neutral.

The aim is now to change and intensify the mood of the face you have drawn. Do you want this face to look sadder or happier? How about angry, frightened or surprised?

Say you choose happier. Draw another face and make it look a little happier. (If you are drawing on a phone or tablet, you can simply alter the first face.)

Could that face look even happier? Draw another. ...And another, until you are satisfied your face has achieved the maximum in bliss.

You'll find a few ideas on how to make a happy face happier here.

happy face

You may find your creation is very like a smiley face. Whether or not you use or like them, smileys can still throw some light on drawing expressions.

Now have a go at a Gloomy. (A sad smiley is rather a contradiction in terms so why not a Gloomy?)

Once you get started, you may find it difficult to stop!

Drawing faces and expressions is at once the easiest and the hardest form of art

Yes, almost any shape with two dots and a dash in roughly the right place will be seen as a face.

BUT once the face is seen, the artist's easy ride comes to an abrupt end.

The minutest variation in a line can completely alter the character and expression of a face. If you've ever tried painting a portrait, you'll know that it only takes the tiniest dot of white in an eye to turn a lively gleam into a mad stare!

Finding the features that make the expression

You may find it's the mouth that makes the difference to the facial expression of emotions. Sometimes it's the eyes, or it could be the eyebrows. You may not think of eyebrows, but they're important. I'm always intrigued by Gromit of Wallace and Gromit fame. Gromit uses his mouth to drink the odd mug of coffee, but that's about it. He never makes a sound. All the facial expression comes from his eyes and eyebrows - yet you can almost hear him think.

DRAWING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS