Facial expressions

In my previous lesson I mentioned about the many moods and expressions of humans . Today's lesson will help you to capture some facial expressions and moods of women. In Figure 1 I have sketched the outline of a frontal face and profile (side view of four faces expressing anger, sorrow, happiness, and surprise. Lots of other emotions could also be drawn if you observe how the features alter during different moods. Observe how the eyebrows go up, the mouth curves to a side and lines appear on the forehead in the face showing anger. I have also used lines to show wrinkles on both sides, to express anger. Have a look at the third face. It shows a moment of joy or happiness. A gloomy facial expression is the opposite of a happy one so it shows sorrow or sadness. You will observe this the bottom left.

One of the many things to remember when drawing a human face is the way people differ from one another, in every feature. Practise drawing basic facial expressions with H.B. or 2B pencil.

When drawing eyes there is a great variety of expressions and moods that can be captured . The eye lids can be drawn thick, thin, heavy or bulging. The master eye varies according to the moods.

Figure 2 shows the eye in a sad mood. Observe how the hair of the eye brow has been drawn. The upper eyelid extends to either side, beyond the surface of the eye ball. The lashes curve gently up from the top lid. The tear drops can be seen at the inner end of the eye.

Copy these examples in pencil, using thin and thick lines. Then go over your illustration with a fibre-tip pen.