Quick Tip: How to Draw Facial Expressions to Show Emotion.

Quick Tip: How to Draw Facial Expressions to Show Emotion

FINAL PRODUCT.

Step 1: Head Base

Start by drawing out a simple head shape, an oval for the skull, two ears, a neck and the start of the shoulder. Then we will start placing in the grid that will help us place the facial features. Now draw a vertical line that separates the face in half and make sure either size are about the same width. If one side is obviously wider than the other, adjust them until you are satisfied. Then drawing the eye line and the nose line. For the eye line, simply draw a straight line (Line Segment Tool (\) or Pen Tool (P)) from one top of the ear to the other. For the nose line, draw a straight line from one bottom edge of an ear, to the other. To define the height of the brow line, cut the section between the eye line and top of the skull into three. Only keep the line closest to the eye line and remember it to be your brow line. For the mouth line (that line will define the center/opening of the lips), cut the section beneath the nose line and above the chin in half, draw the line and remember it to be your mouth line.

Step 2: Features Base.

The nose is the one that will help us with all the other facial features. Using the nose line, shape out the nose you want; Narrow, wide, sharp, round, etc. The width of the nostrils is a great way to determine where the inner corners of the eye should begin and where the top lip should start to curl down. And when you cut that width in half, you have a great reference for the temples (they are located on the eye line, started beside the top of each ear).

With the temples created, you’ll also know where the outer corners of your eyes are located; so, with the inner and outer corners determined, you can shape out the eyes. For the mouth you want to make sure to draw the upper lip on top of the mouth line and the bottom lip beneath the mouth line. Finally, for the eyebrows, make sure to have them slightly bowed and that the line is slightly longer both on the inside and outside of the eyes. I then cleaned up the base with the Brush Tool (B), color black, Stroke Weight 0.3pt and the round brush in Illustrator’s default brush panel.

Step 3: Smile

Much like the eyebrows, you want to draw a simple bowed line, the corners going upwards, to define the center line of the mouth and then shape the top and bottom lips to that line. While the eye shape doesn’t change, adding one or two small lines on the outer corners to hint to subtle laugh wrinkles will add to the expression, since when you smile, your cheeks push up.

Step 4: Grin

Here you want to use the smile expression for a base. To make the mouth show some teeth, only move the bottom lip down and draw a new center line that defines the top of the bottom lip. In the newly created gap, draw some small straight lines for the teeth. Make the crinkles beside the eyes more prominent and even add a small bowed line beneath each eye to show the top of the cheeks pushing up.

Step 5: Surprise

All facial features move upwards and become rounder/wider. The brows arch up, like trying to shoot its way up into the hairline and because they do, you want to slightly lift the nose up a bit since the nose moves along with the eyebrows. The eyes are almost completely circular with the add on of the inner corners of the eyes. The mouth is the most expressive feature in this expression. You want to make the mouth less wide, but taller. It helps to create an oval for the mouth opening and then draw the lips around that oval (teeth inside the oval).