Drawing Facial Expressions
Senior 3 · Fine Arts
Drawing Facial Expressions
Lesson 4 of 4
25 min
Rembrandt's set of expression etchings from 1630 did not stop at laughter. In the two below he is startled and then glaring. You now know the three zones that every expression changes: brows, eyes and mouth. In this lesson you will use them to draw three more emotions, collect all six on one sheet, and finish an expression study in tone, the way an exam drawing should be finished.
Definition
Expression sheet: a page on which one face is drawn several times with different emotions, keeping the same proportions each time. Animators and illustrators use them to keep a character consistent. Example: Figure 1.
Intensity: how strongly an emotion shows, from slight to extreme. The same zones move in the same directions; they just move further.
Shadow shape: an area of the face that the light does not reach, drawn first as one simple flat shape before any detail.
| Emotion | Brows and forehead | Eyes | Mouth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surprise | raised high and curved; long horizontal lines across the whole forehead | upper lids raised, white showing above the iris | jaw dropped, mouth open and relaxed, roughly oval |
| Anger | lowered and pulled together, inner ends down; vertical lines between the brows | hard stare; lower lids tense; the brow presses on the upper lid | lips pressed thin, or open and squared as in a shout; nostrils flared |
| Fear | raised and pulled together, inner ends up; lines in the centre of the forehead | wide open, white above the iris, lower lids tense | stretched sideways towards the ears, often slightly open |
Notice that fear borrows from two other emotions: its eyes are those of surprise, and its brows are those of sadness. Surprise is also the shortest expression; it lasts about a second before turning into another feeling, such as joy or fear.
A line drawing tells the viewer which emotion; tone makes the face feel solid and sets the mood. You practised hatching and blending in S1. Here is the order to use on a face.
Worked example: planning a timed expression question
A practical question gives 45 minutes: "Draw the head and shoulders of a person who has just received surprising news. Show light and shade."
Step 1. Name the zones (2 minutes). Surprise: brows high and curved, forehead lines across, white above the irises, jaw dropped. Write these words lightly in the margin so you do not forget one.
Step 2. Grid (6 minutes). Egg, centre line, eye line halfway, five eyes, nose base, mouth line. Because the jaw drops, move the chin a little lower than in the neutral face.
Step 3. Features (15 minutes). Draw the brows first, then the eyes, then the open mouth, then the neck and shoulders.
Step 4. Tone (17 minutes). Light from one side, shadow shapes, hatching, accents and highlights.
Step 5. Check (5 minutes). Cover the mouth: do the brows and eyes still say "surprise"? Erase any guide lines that distract.
<em>The Secret to Drawing Emotions</em>, from the Proko channel. Watch for how the artist uses the brows and the muscles around the eyes rather than the mouth alone, and how mixed emotions combine features from two simple ones, as fear does.
Warning
Keep the proportions fixed. On an expression sheet, beginners often make the head bigger for a happy face and smaller for a sad one, or slide the eyes up and down. Only the jaw moves the grid: when the mouth opens wide, the chin drops. Everything else stays where the neutral grid put it.
Smudging: rest your hand on a clean sheet of paper, not on the drawing, and shade from the top of the page downwards.
Tip
Brows talk first. Surprise: up. Anger: down and in. Sadness and fear: inner ends up. Happiness: cheeks up. If you can say this sentence, you can draw any of the six.
Practice
Describe the brows, eyes and mouth of a surprised face.
Which two emotions does fear borrow from, and which zone comes from each?
Why does the chin move lower in a surprised face, and which other features stay in place?
List the four stages of finishing a face in tone, in order.
In a drawing lit from the left, a pupil shades the left cheek darkest. What is wrong, and how should it be fixed?
Studio task. Make your own expression sheet of six faces, each about 8 cm high, using one classmate or yourself as the model. Then choose one expression and finish it in tone at 15 cm.
Evaluate. Compare Rembrandt's frowning self-portrait with the anger face in Figure 1. Which communicates anger more strongly, and what does the light contribute?
1. Brows raised high and curved, with horizontal lines across the forehead; upper lids raised so white shows above the iris; jaw dropped and mouth open in a relaxed oval.
2. Surprise (the wide-open eyes) and sadness (the brows with their inner ends raised).
3. The jaw drops to open the mouth, so the chin moves down. The eyes, brows, nose and ears stay on their neutral grid lines.
4. Choose the light; block in the shadow shapes as flat tone; build the tone with hatching (cross-hatching in the darkest areas); add accents and highlights.
5. The left cheek faces the light, so it should be the lightest. Lighten it and move the shadow to the right side of the face, away from the light.
6. Check: the same head size and grid in all six; correct zone changes for each emotion; in the finished study, one consistent light direction and a highlight in each eye.
7. Most viewers find the Rembrandt stronger. The diagram shows the shape of anger clearly, but Rembrandt adds deep shadow over half the face, so the eyes glare out of darkness; tone adds mood that line alone cannot.
Further reading
Sources and credits
