How to Draw Expressive Faces

1. Introduction: Hi, my name is C7 level. I am a writer, photographer, and cartoonists based in Mexico City. I mostly draw comics to express myself and my favorite thing to draw our people, particularly faith. I draw a lot of faces. What I love about faces is that they can tell you a lot of butter character, every detail counts. This is why they can be tough to get right? If you don't know where to begin. We'd like to improve in this area and are passionate about drawing. Then this class is for you. You'll be learning how to draw your cartoon self and draw different expressions using a photo of yourself as reference. I'll also be giving you a brief intro into sequential storytelling, aka comics. The class project will be to make a short autobiographical comic about events that impacted you emotionally. All you need for this class is some paper and pencil. I'm excited to begin this project with you. 2. The Class Project: Welcome more details on the class project coming your way. First, we'll start off drawing a cartoon version of ourselves using a selfie or photo as a reference. Next, we'll draw ourselves and more. Creating an expression sheets will be going over what it is and what it's used for in a future video. But basically, we'll be drawing basic expressions like happiness, anger, surprise, and set this. We will then write a short story about an event that emotionally impacted. It can be something that made you laugh, cry, or screaming, terror. Whatever you choose, you will be writing two to three sentences to describe the situation and your reaction. Once you have this, we can move on to the final project. Then lastly, for your comic, you'll be drawing at least two panels, again, depicting the situation and we're reaction. You can see an example of what the finished project could look like in this slide. 3. Drawing Cartoon You: Drawing cartoon you. So when drawing cartoons, you have to keep in mind that you're drawing does not need to be a copy of whatever you're drawing. It's worried about condensing, simplifying what's before you. In this case, what was before me was a picture of a cupcake I found on the Internet. I've never drawn a cupcake before. And at first, I spent a long time trying to depict the cupcake as it was exactly. But neither of my tenths looked right. In fact, I started to curse the day I decided to draw a cupcake. Just what had I gotten myself into. I don't draw cupcakes. I draw faces. Well, long story short. I finally tried to simplify the cupcake, focusing on the three swirls of icing and adding in a few lines just to indicate a flow. And to my surprise, it worked. You could even simplify further and just outline the ice if you wanted to. But how do you do this with a face? Well, the way I do it is stare at my own face for awhile. Think like, what are my main features that make me, me? If it helps, you can even draw over your photo using Photoshop or a marker over the printed photo to identify them. Arc has mainly been about self-expression for me and as a result, I have drawn myself a lot, has been through trial and error that I realized that my main features are the follow-up. There's my small round knows my main effect, curly hair, that will not be controlled ever. Possibly. My large round glasses, which by the way, I don't really use anymore, but they feel very nice, so I keep them. That's artistic license for you. These are all the details that I keep, whether I draw myself in a more simple style, a QC style, or a more realistic style. I suggest you draw yourself a lot as well. Experiment. Ultimately have fun with the process. See what comes out. Now, after you've taken some time to find your main features, start drawing. 4. Creating an Expression Sheet: Reading and expression sheet. So what is the character expression sheet? It's a tool used by illustrators and character designers to get to know a character and how they express themselves. It usually shows a character's expressions. For example, happy, sad, surprised, board, etc. These are some of the main ones, but it can include more. Now that you've drawn yourself, you can begin creating the expression sheet for this exercise. You will draw the following expressions. Happy, shocked, sad, and angry. My advice, be as creative and dramatic as you want. Remember that it does not have to be a 100% accurate. For example, I'm not a very expressive person in real life. So what I do is I tend to draw my expressions to reflect what I'm feeling inside rather than what expression you'd actually see on my face. I draw them to scale with that feeling. What I mean by this is that if I'm feeling extremely happy, then I draw a massive smile that takes up most of my face, is the feeling is more subtle. I draw my mouth smaller. This applies to any other feature, face. Your eyes could be super bait when you're surprised, for instance, you can take inspiration from other artists work social media and animated movies. Neutral, they draw expressions. There's no right way to do it as everyone has different techniques. 5. Comics 101: Comics one-on-one. So what are comics? There's actually several definitions, but the main thing about comics is that they are sequential. Renowned comics artist Will Eisner use the term sequential art to describe comics. And what he meant was an art form that uses images in a specific order for the purpose of graphic storytelling or communicating information. Comics have to be read in a specific order to be understood the way the artist meant that this can be from the top, bottom, or from left to right. Each sequence is made up of panels. They are typically squares, but can be any shape. This first example, which coincidentally was one of my very first comics, has five square panels and it's meant to be read top to bottom. Most traditional comics look this way. A panel size or position on the page can be used to indicate its importance within a sequence. If a specific scene is particularly important, you can even have a panel that covers the entire page. This was the first page of a comic I made titled What roller skating taught me about self-love. I wanted to begin with a feeling of terror and emotion that I have along associated with dancing. And it's a strong emotion that still affects me today. And so I decided to start with that, give it its own page. Other comics or just one panel, comics like this one. Another important aspect about comics is that they blend texts with visuals. When I was a kid, I used to measure him that I was the director, writer, set designer, casting director, and costume designer of my own stories. In innocence you are, which is undeniably cool. If you want to know more understanding Comics, Scott McCloud's book is a great resource. 6. Your Story: Panel by Panel: Your Story panel by panel. You'll start by writing your story. It can be as long as you want, but I recommend you do two to three sentences. Since we're making a comic, the words will only be telling part of the story. You can think of one sentence representing the beginning and the other representing the end. The aim of this is to clearly establish what the situation is and what your reaction to that was, as well as what expressions you'll be portrayed. In my case, the first part of my story and first panel goes like this. I went to a rank to try ice skating. I was scared to do so. The second part goes like this. It was fine. And I found myself really enjoying scaling. The two motions I will be portraying will be caution, enjoy. I'll be making my comic on Photoshop, but all you need is a pencil and paper. A ruler is advisable but not necessary. Remember to experiment with what goes in each panel and have fun. 7. Final Thoughts: Final thoughts. You made it to the end of this video. Congrats. We have covered how to draw a cartoon version of yourself, how to make an expression sheet, the basics of comics. And you will be leaving with a completed comic. I hope you've found this course useful introduction into how to draw expressive faces. Please let me know what you thought of this class. Any feedback means a lot. If you'd like to get in touch and follow me online, you can find me here on Skillshare and on Instagram. And don't forget to post your project in the project gallery. I'd love to see what you've come up with.