Live Encore: Drawing Expressive Faces
Charly Clements, Greeting Card Designer and Illustrator
Watch this class and thousands more
Watch this class and thousands more
Lessons in This Class
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1. Introduction
2:16 -
2. Drawing Eyes
7:14 -
3. Drawing Noses
3:39 -
4. Drawing Mouths
6:33 -
5. Creating Skin Tones
6:43 -
6. Pairing Colors
7:40 -
7. Drawing Figures
4:57 -
8. Adding Faces
7:26 -
9. Adding Hair & Clothes
3:46 -
10. Q&A
6:35 -
11. Final Thoughts
1:51
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About This Class
Grow your illustration skills and confidence—while having lots of fun drawing!
Illustrator Charly Clements truly believes that drawing faces doesn’t have to be scary—but she knows it’s something a lot of people struggle with when getting started on their illustration journey. In this hour-long class—recorded using Zoom and featuring participation from the Skillshare community—Charly will walk you through three fun exercises to help you get more comfortable with drawing faces and figures.
You’ll start by brainstorming as many variations on basic facial features as you can, quickly creating a library of eyes, noses, and mouths you can pull from when you’re feeling stuck. Then, Charly will walk you through how she creates natural-looking skin tones, and pairs them with clothing colors that really make things pop. Finally, you’ll bring everything together to create a whole page of quirky characters, practicing creating different body shapes, combining different facial features, and adding a lot of personality through hairstyles and clothing.
Throughout the class, Charly will encourage you to remove any pressure to create something perfect and instead enjoy being creative and playing around with your drawings. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned illustrator, you’re bound to learn something from Charly’s approach! Plus, students who participated in the live session were able to ask Charly questions, so you’ll get to learn more about her journey and process.
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While we couldn't respond to every question during the session, we'd love to hear from you—please use the class Discussion board to share your questions and feedback.
Meet Your Teacher
Hey, I'm Charly!
I’m a greeting card designer and freelance illustrator from the UK, mostly known for my stylised portraits and fun colour palettes. 4 years ago I decided to sell all my belongings and travel around the world armed with only my iPad Pro. I now run my creative business full time from my laptop and iPad, working on projects that I love, collaborating with dream brands and licensing my work out to stores around the world.
You can find my work online and in stores internationally on mugs, greeting cards, apparel, and more.
I love sharing my latest work, process videos and mini tutorials on Instagram and YouTube so feel free to check them out :)
Join our amazing creative communit... See full profile
Hands-on Class Project
Create your own page of expressive characters!
Let yourself loosen up by creating an entire page of people with different expressions, body shapes, and more. While Charly will be drawing digitally, you can do these exercises with whatever medium you prefer, though something that allows you to work pretty quickly is ideal.
To start, you’ll want to warm up by spending 5-10 minutes each drawing as many different eyes, noses, and mouths that you can. Try to push yourself to work from your imagination so you don’t get too hung up on drawing something exactly as it looks in real life, but if you’re feeling really stumped you can pull up some reference photos for inspiration. (We've included Charly's final page of features in the class resources if you need an extra boost.)
Next, set yourself up for success by creating palettes of skin tones that look great and clothing colors that pair well with them. We've also dropped Charly's final color pairings in the class resources in case you're having trouble getting yours just right.
Finally, play around with quickly drawing a bunch of different head and shoulder shapes, and then bring them to life by combining the different facial features you created earlier and adding fun clothes and hair.
Remember to let go of the need to create something perfect and just have fun! You don’t have to show these to anybody, but if you’re feeling up for it, share your final group of characters in the project gallery to inspire others with your unique style and creativity.
Resources
- Connect with Charly on Instagram and on her website.
- Check out Charly’s other classes on her Skillshare profile.
Explore More Classes on Skillshare
- Fun With Faces: Create a Stylised Digital Portrait — Charly Clements
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