Before you start - change how you think!Remember the Disney movie Aladdin? You always knew what that magic carpet was feeling and it was just basically a fancy rectangle.An expression is so much more then a tell tale glint in the eye, there is so much body language that we can focus on and amplify to leave one without a doubt as to what's going on in a mind.Expression isn't much about what you see. A character's emotion can be evident regardless of whether or not it even has a head. Back in the days, the story goes that to get into Disney studios, the real test wasn't your portfolio, but to sit down and bring to life a bag of flour! Certain things work in conveying an expression in a non - traditional object simply because there are certain universal truths in what our bodies do to convey an emotion - and it's an illustrators job to capture that and bring it out in the open.Just like caricatures, expression is all about exaggeration - but what to exaggerate? How can I show disgust for instance with or without a telltale sneer?This is where you have to abandon what you are looking at, and start thinking about what is actually going on in your own body.
Consider the following picture of me making faces:
A clear ICK! If looking only at the image and trying roughly to copy what I see, I end up with this -
The expression still comes across. It's not exact (but that's because I almost never draw what I see so it's hard for me to accurately produce a copy of my own picture. my hands have a real life of their own, and I am completely separated from my brain when drawing. The hand does as it wills, and in this case, did not capture the recoil angle of the picture, but my hand told me 'draw it like this!) ((that's why I'm terrible at portraits!))The drawing however lacks any kind of real punch. No real life to it. The idea is there, but not so strong that it leaps out of the page and slaps a person in the face with what is going on.[Edited by User on 10/19/2011 10:40:32 AM]
So back to the original picture. What SHOULD I have been thinking about when I created the drawing?Well, I did say forget what you see - you have to physically get up off your chair and strike the pose you want - but imagining yourself completely overdoing it like a bad actor and then focus on what your body is doing. I end up with a mental image that looks much like this:
Despite the fact that blobs and colors aren't drawn like real body parts, one shouldn't have trouble noting that I am focusing on the upper body and that the expression is very compact. The eyebrows, mouth, shoulders and fingers, along with a purple area of information is present. The mouth, chin and shoulders are key points where the muscles are working overtime, flexing the body into a tight ball where they meet, yet somehow still managing to thrust the shoulder, especially the right one outwards. The fingers I envision as a spidery mess - I'm practically wrenching them out of their sockets to express my revulsion at whatever it is that I'm looking at.***It's the places where the muscles are doing the most work that must become the visual focal points of the character! These are the things we'll need to exaggerate
How does this translate? Let's look at a possible outcome through drawing a translation of what I see in my mind as the visual representation of the expression above (I say possible because there are 100 different nuances I could have added to the general 'ew' expression through various means)
Here is a general breakdown of what happened between the image and the drawing (just to note - this is just to give you an idea of the sort of thinking to adopt rather then a lesson to follow)1. Eyebrows - in the original picture give the impression that I'm not only repulsed, but seriously angry that this freak of nature has invaded my personal space and disgusted me. I'm probably about to show it a lesson.In the drawing however I'm softening up the expression and give it a more wtf look by mixing and matching eye styles (more on that later). (note - I don't do that kind of thing consciously. When I sketch characters I tend to let my subconscious do the work and I'm more of a conduit. I could just as easily take out the eraser and bring in the eyebrows to a more angry look but I didn't wanna - this happens a lot. I'm kind of at war with what I want to draw and what my brain produces instead and I've learned that about 98% of the time it's idea is better)anyway...2. Mouth/chin - I'm tackling both at once, because both are quite tied together in the 'feel' of my expression. My mouth is so distorted, with the bottom lip so retracted that my entire face pushes back and creates this triple quadruple chin I've got going. Trouble is, my character is quite thin. I could approach this two ways.Method 1 - No neck. No neck implies what I'm already feeling - as if my neck/chest and chin have become one. Method 2 - Longer neck. Why? This is a 2D image. Without painting, we can't possibly know that in fact the clavicle is pushed forward - however if we lengthen the neck we know instinctively that in order to do that the person must be forcing their head at a backwards angle to show more neck (try it you'll see what I mean). In a 2D drawing this serves to actually show depth when there's a lack of light and shadow to reference. If you still don't believe me, compare the two side by side - the right one clearly appears to have her head pulled back in disgust
As a note, I draw in teeth rather then an open mouth gape. Teeth give the impression of exaggerated reaction that illustrates a part of thinking that the person is trying to hide with the smile but in fact reveals something deeper - like a overly enthusiastic hopeful smile, or in this case, the feeling of a person thinking eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee An open mouthed gape would have appeared rather like she'd just been lobotomized as it tends to represent a sort of vacancy of thought. If I had drawn the mouth larger, it would have appeared even more appalled as size is equal to intensity of a feeling (again more on that later)3. Shoulders - In this case, when I strike the pose I can feel myself forcing my shoulders out and down. The right on in particular is notably more prominent than the left in my 'mind's eye' so in fact, I'm going to rotate the body just enough so that the right shoulder can be clearly seen whereas the left shoulder is more hidden. A visual note that in fact, a chunk of the expression is weighing on that side as opposed to the other.In doing this, we are in fact really going against what the picture seemed to show visually in recoiling backwards and instead using theory to create a more notable intent in the image to show what a person in disgust would feel - the desire to turn away - supported by the fact that when striking the pose I was indeed thrusting out that one side, implying it had more importance and should be seen in that way.4. Arms tightly held against the body - Obviously the arms in the drawing will need to at least in the upper part point downwards to reinforce the fact that yes they are being held against the body. The more contact the forearm has the more tightly the arms appear to be held. For the most part I adhere to this, only veering off in the waist to ensure the body angle is retained as a notably off balanced posture reacting backwards against the repulsive object 5. Fingers - As I mentioned, I envision the fingers as a spidery mess, stretched at all angles - and angles are exactly what I am going to use. Straight lines and sharp angles translate as more intense emotions in character drawing (ie. Fear, hate, anger). The rest of the body matters very little, aside from the angle, which lends to the idea of recoiling from something. If I were to draw the legs, they would be unnotable, simple without strong angular lines or eye-catching positional differences so as not to distract from the fact that the expression is focused on a very compact area of the body.
But where to start? That's a lot to take in!For the first lesson you we are going to focus on eyes and mouths, and the different 'truths' that exist regarding their sizes shapes and so on and how that translates to an expression.Ok so let's get down to some basics, starting with Eyes
The three basic expressions that anyone could recognize with ease are 1. The vertically elongated round eyed surprise look 2. Worry and 3. Anger
Creating other emotions involve alterations of these three in different ways - the first being size
1. Using a 'normal size' (whatever that may be in your style) the expression gives the idea that the person has noticed something and is maybe alarmed.2. By increasing the size, the emotion, whatever it may be is more strongly felt and more outwardly expressed. Now he's not just alarmed, but very alarmed, and can't hide his emotion3. Narrowing/decrease in size means a more inward thought. His alarm is now something he is thinking about, not sharing with those around him - more suspicion - nagging alarm in the back of his mindSummary: Larger mean stronger, more outwardly showingSmaller mean it's felt internally, less strong
The placement of the pupils are not just as an indicator of where a person is looking but can also show what a person is thinking
This sequence show a story really. 1 - Searching the mind - the person is looking up and back, as if searching deep in their brain for something stored on a back shelf - in fact this person could be drumming up an idea, or trying to retrieve a memory (it's back there in some far corner somewhere). Visually, it's being represented by looking at some extreme corner of the eye - a metaphor really for some dark cobwebby corner of the mind.2 - Focusing thoughts - As the mind narrows this down to a certain idea or memory, the eyes come inward, as if focusing closely onto a object held just in front of the face. The 'idea' is now locked/targeted.3 - Checking if the coast is clear to apply the idea - a sudden shift in the mental process. The idea is there, now you need to figure out how to apply it. In doing so the eyes dart over to side to take quick check of the back corner. As if checking the shadows the shadows before you act4 - Pause/time to act/etc - at this point the engine is being cranked. A 'non-expression' that tells us the body is getting ready to move rather then the mind being the active part. This guy is primed to act now. Summary - Eye position can be used as a metaphor of sorts for thought processes
Mixing up eye types
Complex emotions are best shown through mixing of eye shapes, sizes and or pupils. In this case I've show confusion - part anxiety/worry part anger/irritation. As the pupils are drawing inward it also adds the idea that this guy is trying to make sense of things, trying to in fact bring into focus the confusion in his head much in the same way he's trying to focus on that invisible object.
Though eyes are certainly important the mouth can add more information or simply reinforce what has already been shown.Mouths Mouths are not quite as set in stone as eyes. There are some rules of thumb but depending on eyes, context and even pose, as well as drawing style meaning can change
Your three basic mouth types and some general rules1. Line - Basic emotional level. 2. Open - Uninhibited emotional expression. Character can't help show what he feels. Can also indicate a 'blank mind' - such as in sudden horror when character is momentarily stunned (in effect the same as a inhibition - character is speechless and simply can't help but show it)3. Teeth - Can either indicate emotional extreme (character is not just happy but insanely so), or 'intentional expression' - character is making a point to show precisely what they want the other person to believe but could in fact be hiding true intent.
Length/Size of mouth
1. Short - Emotion is internalized. The uncertainty expressed is representing a myriad of thoughts going through his head, rather then as an outward attempt to show what he is feeling. (ie. In real life person is hiding what they are thinking, and this would be that subtle twitch of the mouth or other body language that's not overtly obvious but betrays that someone is in fact going on inside)2. Long - Outwardly obvious what character is feeling. 3. Dot - SpeechlessSummary - the shorter the more internalized the emotion. The longer, the more outwardly obvious what the character feels.
Mouth position
1. In the standard position expression is relatively neutral. No special nuance that is.2. High on face - pride. This can be expressed as simply proud of one self or even smugness. Using other mouth/eye types still reflects a selfish/egotistical viewpoint3. Low - less definitive and dependent on context. In general tends to reflect thought borne out of lower intellect
Rounded vs. Angular lines
In mouths as with anywhere else such as arms, the use of severe, straight lines or harsh angles is like adding bold exclamation marks at the end of a sentence. Curves however soften expression. In the example above, the character appears shocked horrified. At the left he seems to be really gritting his teeth, clenching the jaw more severely - thus increasing the intensity of his feeling. On the right however, the same expression is being shown, but the curves lines now give the impression that he's making a knee-jerk reaction to an event.
Putting it all togetherEntire thought processes and even dialogue can be summed up with a combination of many different things shown above as in the following:
"I can't figure out if I should be offended or not. Is he cracking a joke, making a stab at me, or is he actually serious?"Mixed eyes - one big and elongated to imply surprise/disbelief, with added 'angry' to show outrage, other eye more subtle angry to show only mild anger. Mismatching of severity indicates unclear stance on just how angry he is.Short mouth - shows internal thought. Whatever he is feeling, it's a storm of emotion/thought raging inside, and not being projected outwards. Other elements - ragged hair - emphasizes the idea of being caught off guard/stunned as the characters appears more to have just been stopped in his tracks with a WHAT!? Even his hair doesn't know what to doHunched shoulders - evident tensionOverall lack of motion through stiff straight line use - A freeze in time - If the context were a conversation, it just came to a momentary shocking halt.
So be it cartoonish exaggeration or subtlety in a real piece, the ideas are the same! Even a slight size change or placement might not be what you see, but it can express what your character or subject is feeling. Good luck!