How to Draw Emotions: An Easy Guide to Expressive Faces

1. Hi!: Hi, everyone. I'm Carla. I've been an illustrator for nearly ten years now, and while I've done a lot of editorial work, one of my absolute favorite things to draw is people and expressive faces. Faces are storytelling machines, and in this class, we'll focus only on facial expressions. How tiny changes can completely transform mood. I'm going to share my favorite quick and easy ways to draw emotions using simple shapes. In this class we'll not only practice drawing fun facial expressions, but also build confidence in your doodling. Create a simple system you can replicate anytime and learn how to tell little stories through expressive faces. By the end, you'll create your own mini comic script told only through expressions, no words, just emotions. So wrap your pencils. Let's loosen up, and let's do some feelings. 2. Materials: For this class, you'll only need three simple things paper, any sketchbook or even printer paper works, simple drawing materials, pencils, markers. Feel free to use any digital media. That feels more comfortable. We'll also need a mirror or your phone camera to reference your own expressions, and that's it. Keeping it simple takes a lot of pressure off. You don't need fancy tools to have fun and experiment. 3. Anatomy of Emotion: Before we start, I would like to say something important. Don't worry about getting emotions right. Emotions are not as intimidating as they seem as humans were built to recognize and understand emotions. It's literally how we connect with each other. If our brains can spot faces and clouds, toast or coffee foam, that means we already have the instinct to see and express emotions through simple shapes too. Alright, let's break down what actually makes a face expressive. There are three new features to pay attention to eyes, eyebrows, and maths. That's it. Those three things do all the heavy lifting when it comes to emotion. The eyes set the tone. Let me show you what I mean. There's an experiment by Richard Weissman in which he showed the photo of a smiling man to a group. He wanted to see if people could identify a genuine smile versus a fake one. I'm going to show you the photo. Tell me what you me. So this is the photo. Which one do you think it's a genuine one? If you said that the left one is a genuine one, you would be right. The man is smiling in both photos. So what's the difference? It's just the eyes. A real smile also called a Duchenne smile engages the muscles around the eyes, creating a sub squinting. A fake or social smile doesn't really change the eyes. So even a tiny little thing can tell us a lot about emotions. Now, here are some tips to draw expressive eyes. First, focus on the eyelids. Let's start with a neutral expression. Notice how by just adding eyelids, the expression has completely changed. Is this character bored or perhaps tired? Now, notice what happens when we draw the eyelids a little bit smaller. Even that changes the mood. My second tip would be to think about the size. Big eyes would make us think that we're looking at something appealing, or perhaps our character is just cute, but it can also indicate sadness if we have the right mouth. Smaller eyes could indicate tension as if our character is shocked or scared. Medium sized eyes could indicate that our character is attentive or alert. The next step is to consider asymmetry. You could draw eyes of different sizes. For example, this character could be shocked or scared. You could also create asymmetrical eyebrows. For example, is this character tipsy or confused? You could also think of asymmetry and position. I really like this character. It could be silly or dizzy or just be showing contentment. Play with different positions and shapes and see what emotions come up. Now let's do a little exercise. I'm going to show you some eyes. Try to guess the emotion. Okay, first one. If you said bored or uninterested, you will be correct. Okay, what about this one? If you said scared or shocked, that's also correct. And lastly, this little guy. If you said happy or Ah, that would be correct. But if you also said that is a Duchene smile, that could be also true. Now, eyebrows, they usually show us intensity. Paul Ekman did a study and concluded that all humans from people living in remote, isolated islands to people living in big cities, share the same micro expressions. In 2022, he confirmed that we humans shared 16 conflict microexpressions. Eyebrows are incredibly powerful because they control the intensity of an emotion, and go down can show us anger, high and arch, surprise, flat and low, tire or serious. Think of eyebrows as emotion amplifiers. The same facial expression can go from mild to extreme just by changing your eyebrows. Here's how to draw them expressively. Pay attention to the angle. The angle of the eyebrows tells the emotional story. We usually have three main ones. When the angle goes down, it usually tells a story of anger or concentration. Usually, our characters with an angle down eyebrows will show us intense focus. The second one is when the angle goes up, and we usually think of sadness or a softer focus. Lastly, we have arch. And usually we show emotions of surprise or curiosity with this type of eyebrows. Use the distance between the eyebrows, how close or far apart the eyebrows are create different feelings. Pinched together could mean intense focus, anger or confusion, separated, surprise, fear, openness. Normal spacing is just relaxed and neutral. Don't forget asymmetry. Asymmetrical eyebrows create complex, interesting expressions. When eyebrow raised, could be skepticism, curiosity, uneven angles, confusion, mixed emotions, internal conflict. Now, a few common eyebrow mistakes to avoid. Making them too symmetrical, imperfect. Real emotions are a bit messy. Drawing them the same on every face, vary the angle and shape. Forgetting, they can move independently. One brow tells a different story. Now, let's do a quick exercise. We're gonna drop three simple faces with the same eyes but only change the eyebrows. Okay, this is the expression we're starting off with. Let's add asymmetrical eyebrows. It seems that our character is saying, I'm not sure with an skeptical undertone, isn't it? What if the angle of our eyebrows goes up? Now it seems that the character is saying, I'm not sure while being sad or tired. Now, if the angle of the eyebrows goes down, it seems like he's saying, I'm not sure, but he's not amused by what he's being told to do. Okay, New expression. Let's use asymmetrical eyebrows. It's like the character is saying, You did what in an angry way, but also curious. Wants to know more. Now, if the eyebrows go up, it seems like now the character is saying you did what? As if it's been told something really sad and the characters in disbelief. And lastly, if the eyebrows go down, now the character is saying, You did what in a very angry way. Okay? This is the last one with asymmetrical eyebrows. It's like a character is saying, I've got a plan, and it's determined. Perhaps a little bit hesitant. Now, eyebrows up. It's like the character is saying clease and fawning over. Now, if the eyebrows go down, the character is showing the termination. It's like it's saying, I can do it with an intense focus. Notice how the eyebrows completely change the intensity and meaning of the same face. And lastly, the mouth. This one sets the tone. The mouth is the mood dial. I think it gets a lot of context, a smirk, a green, a trembling line. I one changed the story. Here are some practical tips to help you draw more expressive mouths. Start with a simple line. Before adding detail, sketch the basic curve or angle of the mouth. This sets the emotional foundation. The corners of the mouth are emotional anchors. Lifted can show warmth, positivity. I barely changed the curve in the mouth, and I just changed the corners. Just by drawing them downwards has really changed. Again, it's just in the little details. How you draw the line affects the emotion. If it's a smooth, confident line, it shows genuine strong emotion. If it's broken or trembling, shows vulnerability or sadness. A sharp angular line will show amber, aggression, or determination. Now, let's do a quick exercise. We're going to draw the same face five times, and we're only going to change the mouth. I am going to choose a pair of eyes that shocked. Now, let's draw a straight line that has a confident stroke. This mouth emphasizes the motion that I want to communicate. And a word mouth will communicate surprise, but in a positive way. A trembling line could also indicate pain in this context. A trembling line definitely depicts a feeling that you're not expecting to experience. Like when you hit your little toe? Something like that. What about a downward mouth? To me, this is like the character wanting to buy, I don't know, maybe some doughnuts, but his favorite flavor was already sold out. An angular mouth could depict aggression. So maybe this character is about to scream. Notice how dramatically the mooth shifts with just this one feature. Now, when you start mixing and matching the three eyes, eyebrows and mouth, there's endless possibilities. So the eyes will set the tone. Think of the emotion you want to depict and considered eyelids, size, and asymmetry. Brows and the mouth will create context. They can support or contradict the emotion that the eyes are depicting. So consider the angle and the stroke, and remember, it's all in the little details. 4. Center of Gravity: I talked about this briefly in my expressive portraits class, but I would love to revisit it here because it's honestly one of my favorite tricks when throwing emotions. I like to think of the nailse as the center of gravity of the face. Everything, the eyes, eyebrows, and the mouth, kind of orbit around it. Now, here's where it gets fun. I also like to imagine that emotions have weight or even also think it as energy. Some emotions are heavy, like anger, frustration, determination, and they cool everything inward. The eyebrows pinch together, the mouth tightens, and the whole face sits to collapse toward the nose as if gravity just got stronger right in the middle. Other emotions are light, like sadness, surprise, or curiosity. Those heel looser, more open, the feature drifts away from the nose. The eyebrows rise or separate, the mouth drops or open softly. It's almost as if gravity weakens and the features start to float outward. And then there's mixed emotions like disgust or confusion. These are fascinating because parts of the face pull inwards while others push away. It's like the face can't decide, so there's tension and release happening at the same time. So when you're drawing, try thinking of your nose as your emotional compass. Before you start, ask yourself, is this emotion heavy, light, or maybe somewhere in between. Are the features pulling in or drifting away from the nose? That simple question helps you find the right gravity for your emotion. No need to overthink anatomy or complex details. Now, we're going to draw three simple heads side by side. One heavy with features close to the nose, one light with features floating upward, and one mixed with one side pulling in and the other side stretching out. Let's start with heavy emotion like anger. I'm going to draw smaller eyes indicating shock or attention. And here we have our nose. Now, there are several ways in which we could draw an angry mouth, but let's just go with a downward one. But let's have the central part close to the nose. Again, let's imagine that gravity is pulling that part inwards. Now, the brows angular and pushing downwards. This face looks pretty upset already, but what if we add this little detail here? As if the cheek muscles are also pulling inwards. Notice how most features are pulling towards the nose. Now let's go with a light emotion like sadness. I'm going to change the size of the eyes here, and the mouth, it's going to drop really, really low. As if the nose didn't have enough gravitational energy to pull it close to it. Same with the browse. Notice how the features are far apart from the nose. And finally, let's try a mixed one. Again, I'm going to change the size of the eyes, and they're not going to be big or small. I want my character to look unsure, though the right side of the face is going to be pulling inwards. The left brow is going to be pulling outwards. As you can see, the closest part to the nose is the one that is drifting away a bit more. Same thing with the mouth. The left side is going to be dropping a little bit more than the right one. Now let's look at the faces side by side. We can clearly see that it's the same character, but it's experiencing different emotions. This wasn't difficult to do at all, right? We could even create a narrative around these three emotions if we wanted to, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll do that in the class project. But before we get there, let me share with you a couple tips. Before you draw anything, think of the emotion you want to draw first and not only think of it, actually feel it and make sure your face is feeling it and showing it too. Hold the face and grab your mirror or your phone. A huge integral part of art is observation. So notice your face and pay attention to your eyes, brows, and mouth. What are your eyelids doing? What's the angle of your brows and your mouth? Is the emotion you're feeling heavy or light? And what are your features doing in relation to your nose or the center of gravity? Considering these elements whenever you're drawing a face, we'll create a system that will work anytime. No need to look for references or overcomplicate things. Now you're ready to add a narrative to any emotion, which we will do in the next part of this class? 5. Class Project: Alright, it's project time. For your final project, you create a three to four per comic strip that tells a story only through facial expressions. No words, just emotions. You can choose one of the story pranks or you can make your own. We have the ice cream disaster. You can create any narrative around it, but the emotions that I would like us to portray are devastation, hope, and joy. Next idea is waiting for a text. Again, it could be any story that portrays anxiety, surprise, relief, and then excitement. And last one is a little bit more free is before coffee and after coffee. Or you can invent your own story, too. Remember, the goal isn't to draw perfect faces, it's to make us feel something just by looking at them. Oh, but wait. I nearly forgot to say something really important before we start our project. Don't worry too much about style. Let's try to see this project as sketching. You can refine it later if you want to. Let's focus on simplicity and exploring emotions. I think that sometimes we may worry too much about how beautiful something looks, and we forget about communicating a message effectively. So let's keep it simple for now. Personally, I am going to go with a waiting for a text one. Let's start with our first emotion, which is anxiety. Let's start with the eye. I want to draw a smaller pair of eyes because anxiety makes us feel more attentive to our surroundings. And now let's draw our nose. Is anxiety heavy or a light emotion? I would say it's a mixed one. I think the eyebrows curve upwards a little bit, but there's also a slight tension. So I'm going to draw an eyebrow a little bit lower than the other one for the mouth. I think it needs to be closer to the nose because there's tension there. And I also think that a squiggly line is perfect for anxiety because when it happens, we cannot usually sit still. Think of anxiety and feel it in your face. Where are your eyebrows? Where's your mouth? I'm now going to add a few little details to my drawing just to give it a little bit more character. And now, since she's waiting for a text, maybe I'll draw her head resting on her hand with her arms crossed. And maybe her hand is pushing her cheeks. Upwards a little bit. So let's draw that. Okay? This is it. We have our first panel. Our next emotion is surprise. I'm going to use the same drawing as a base just to show you a little bit better what I'm doing. Let's start with the eyes. I think that I would like to draw them a little bit smaller than the previous ones just to show that shock factor. Okay, here we have our nose. So now let's think about our features. I think surprise is a light emotion. So let's draw the mouth a bit lower, and the eyebrows are going to go way higher. Now let's draw some details. I'm going to draw her hands a little bit lower as if she's no longer resting her head on her hands and as if the character is ready to perform the next action. I'm also going to draw the phone here. She just got the text, so she's looking at it. Maybe she's thinking, Oh, the text is finally here. And this is our second panel. Next up, we have relief. Once again, I'm going to use the same character as a base to show you what I'm doing a bit more clearly. As usual, let's start with the eyes. I think it's time to add some eyelids. How does relief feel in your face? Even the eyelids relax and drop a little bit. I'm going to go for a medium sized eyes because the character is not experiencing a strong emotion. Now, relief is a light emotion. Definitely don't want to show any intention, so the mouth is gonna go a bit lower and the brows higher. In relation to the nose, I decided to draw the mouth as a little circle as if the character is exhaling, and now I'm going to add some details. She'll be holding her phone, feeling relieved that she finally got the text that she was waiting for. And now we have the third panel of her comic. Okay, we're nearly there. Let's do our fourth emotion. Excitement. For this one, I want to go a little bit over the top. And let's go with the eyes, and I think that I want the size of her eyes to be quite big. Now, excitement is an interesting emotion, because if you feel it in your face, it kind of makes you feel that everything wants to collapse towards the nose, but the rest of the face is fighting actively against them. As in, it feels a little bit different from surprise, doesn't it? Now, since there's a little bit of tension, I would like to make the cheeks tense pulling a bit towards the nose. Now, let's draw the line of the mouth. I want her screaming almost of excitement. So this would be my guideline to draw the mouth. Let's emphasize the corners of the mouth a little bit. And once again, the brows will go up. Now, we can tell she's excited just by looking at her face. But why don't we just draw her body a little bit differently? As in, she is too excited, so her arms are going to go up and she'll be holding the phone. And my personal narrative here is that she's excited because she got a text saying that she just got the cat that she was hoping to adopt. And that's definitely a reason to feel very excited about. And this is our Ford panel. Now, place your panels side by side. What do you think of them? Do you think they communicate a story effectively or perhaps little changes are needed? Please loc your comic strip to the project gallery. I would love to see it. I love to see processes. And, of course, feel free to do a more refined version if you have a very defined style. 6. Bye!: Alright. We are at the end. Congratulations for finishing this class. Let's do a quick recap of the things that we've learned. So today we work confidence through clay. Expressive faces don't require anatomy Mastery, emotion and exploration. We also created a repeatable system. Eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and nose as gravity center can tell us any emotion. Storytelling through faces because every expression is a tiny story. I hope that you walk away from this class with more confidence, feeling that you can draw expressions. With clarity, now that you have a system that you can repeat anytime and feeling more creative, knowing that you can draw any emotion through a simple system and simple steps. And, of course, a comic strip that gathers everything we have talked in this class. Forget to upload your expression comic strip to the graphic gallery. I can wait to see your emotions come to life. This is my favorite part of class is just seeing your pretext. And if you have enjoyed this class, please leave a review. It really helps me plan future lessons and keeps our community fing. Thanks so much for joining me, and I'll see you in the next class. Bye.