drAWING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Being able to identify which areas of the face are responsible in their movements for creating specific emotions is a handy skill for an artist. The main areas are eyebrows, nose, eyes and mouth. The more of these areas involved, the more intensity in emotion achieved. If you want to delve very deeply into this subject, there is a great book by Dr Paul Ekman, entitled 'Unmasking the Face'.

SHOWING ANGER 

* The eyebrows are pulled down and closer together at the inner corners. 

* There are often little wrinkles appearing vertically between the brows. 

* Strangely, the eyes appear wider and the lower eyelid can appear to stand out more because it is tenser

* The nostrils may be flared

* The neck muscles may stand out, the jaw clenched

* The lips may be compressed and thinner or the mouth open with teeth showing more

SHOWING HAPPINESS

* Mostly there is a smile or laughing with joy and happiness

* The mouth corners will be turning up in a smile or out and often wider in a laugh, hence the cheeks will lift up and out and the nasolabial fold will appear more pronounced, any dimples or creases will deepen in the cheeks

* The raising of the cheeks can cause the eyes to appear not as wide and crows feet will be more obvious at the outer corner of the eyes ( in a sincere smile)

SHOWING SADNESS

* The eyebrows will be pulled up and together as will the inner most corner of the upper eyelid, tears may be present, the eyes may appear to droop if open.

* The corners of the mouth may turn down and droop, the lip may tremble

SHOWING FEAR

* Brows are raised (as in surprise) and often pulled together in the middle (as in sadness)

* The brow may wrinkle with shorter lines focused in the middle due to the up and inward pulling muscles

* The eyes will be much wider than normal

* The lower eyelids are raised and tense (unlike surprise where they are not tense)

* There is tension in the lips and the corners of the mouth are pulled down and back

SHOWING SURPRISE OR SHOCK

* The eyebrows are raised

* forehead may have multiple long deep wrinkles

* Eyes are wider than normal, maybe showing white all around

* Mouth many be open, jaw slackened and dropped

SHOWING DISGUST

* The intensity of revulsion or disgust will be shown by the amount of wrinkling at the bridge of the nose and on the sides of the nose

* The upper lip may curl upward on one or both sides, the lower lip may do the same in reverse or purse together, the corners turning down

* The jaw may be pulled back into the neck

* The eyes may become wider or completely closed

* The eyebrows may pull together at the inner corners as in anger or sadness