Alexander Lyubimov
Facial expressions, first of all, convey emotions. All these are annoyed, offended, excited, happy, joyful and surprised.
Emotions appeared a long time ago, all higher mammals have them: dolphins, cats, dogs, monkeys ... We have a lot of common emotions with them: joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, grief, shame, interest, guilt, embarrassment. People have an order of magnitude more emotions, I won’t list them all - just a lot.
And facial expressions in monkeys (and in humans) just developed to demonstrate emotions - as a means of communication. So the story about facial expressions will be strongly connected with the story about emotions.
Illustration and reaction
Emotions can be divided into those that occur as reaction: they told him - he was upset. These messages are more "sincere", but often less pronounced. And there is emotions-illustrations: visual demonstrations of the state. They are more deliberate and grotesque, but more understandable. Their "wrong" demonstration is like saying very slurred and unintelligible: "I want to tell you something important." It is very difficult to communicate with such a person: “speech” is illegible, what he wants to say is incomprehensible.
It is clear: emotions-illustrations are more for communication
And if emotions-reactions it’s just more convenient to calibrate - they report a “sincere” assessment of the situation, then emotion-illustration it is worth learning how to show it “correctly” (that is, the way it is customary to show it in a given culture) and decipher it correctly.
But, most importantly, train to distinguish the first from the second. Emotions-illustrations for obtaining information about a "sincere" reaction are of little use.
At the same time, emotions-illustrations are by no means something “bad” - we use them all the time. That's why they are "illustrations" - they help to better understand words, hold attention, convey "intonation", etc. “Correct” emotions-illustrations are one of the main tools of a speaker, politician, actor. Yes, and in everyday life, when we tell something, we must correctly broadcast this very non-verbal information. And when we listen - to show that we hear and sympathize.
And one more important thing:
most people show the same emotions in more or less the same way.
At least emotions-reactions. There are problems with illustration emotions, because not everyone understands how to demonstrate them correctly.
Microexpressions
All the same Paul Ekman, who is engaged in the calibration of lies, speaks of microexpressions - very fast mimic demonstrations of emotions. People regularly try to control their own emotions. Rather, their demonstration. But the unconscious is much faster than consciousness, and the emotion-reaction usually always has time to show up before the person decides to demonstrate something else instead.
Naturally, it is not at all necessary that a person will hide his emotions. But this happens quite often. Well, another emotion is expected or demanded from him, it is indecent in this society, its demonstration leads to unpleasant consequences, and the demonstration of a more suitable one leads to the right ones.
True, these very micro-expressions work only for strong “basic” emotions. And their Ekman stands out only seven: contempt, disgust, anger, surprise, happiness, fear and sadness. And these emotions really must be strong.
In general, how many experts on emotions - so many opinions, what emotions are basic.
What to look for
I will give again a picture with demonstrations of "basic" emotions.
And, you can see that in the first place you need to pay attention to just a few things:
lips, eyebrows, eyes.
What a woman paints - we look at that;).
Actually, emoticons, which are used just to indicate emotions, just have only eyebrows, eyes and lips. And that's enough.
We train
In everyday life, we do not often come across terrible specialists in hiding emotions - most people demonstrate them quite clearly. You just need to learn how to calibrate them (and demonstrate them “correctly”). So let's train. Basic emotions: joy, happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, contempt, disgust, anger, indignation, discontent.
It is clear that there are many more emotions and they are often “mixed”. But we will talk about this in more detail when we analyze meta messages.
Look at the picture and identify the "primary" emotion. I remind you, we look first of all at: lips, eyebrows and eyes. Under the picture conditionally correct answers.
Pictures from Canadian channel videos Just For Laughs Gags: they create various situations and remove the reaction of bystanders. So the emotions here are quite sincere, and not played by actors.
1. The upper lip is tense and raised, the eyebrows are lowered, the crease between the eyebrows, the cheeks are raised: disgust.
2. The muscles of the face are relaxed, the lips are relaxed, the mouth is parted, the eyes are wide open: surprise.
3. Symmetrical relaxed smile, relaxed eyebrows, tense muscles at the corners of the eyes: joy.
4. The muscles of the face are tense, the eyes are wide open, the eyebrows are raised: fear.
5. Lower eyelids relaxed, upper eyelids slightly lowered, lips relaxed, corners of lips down, eyebrows raised: sadness.
6. Symmetrical smile, wrinkles at the corners of the eyes, relaxed eyebrows: joy.
7. Lips tense, upper lips pursing lower, corners of lips down, eyebrows tense: discontent.
8. Eyebrows lowered and tense (crease between the eyebrows), lips tense, corners of the lips down, cheeks tense, eyes open: anger, indignation.
9. Eyebrows drawn together and lowered, lips tense, corners of the lips down: discontent.
10. Eyebrows drawn together, nose wrinkled, upper lip raised, corners of lips down: disgust.
11. Face relaxed, lips relaxed, eyebrows raised: surprise.
12. Symmetrical smiles, lips relaxed, eyebrows relaxed: joy.
The meaning of emotions
One of the functions of emotions is informational: they tell us about the assessment of the situation. And to others, about our attitude (to ourselves, information or the listener).
Emotions are so-called meta-states: they are evaluative states “about”. That is, “just like that” emotions do not happen - there is always an event about which this assessment is made.
The situation itself can be both in the past and in the future, and occur in the present - emotions are always now. So they convey to us our unconscious assessment of the situations to which they relate. And how do the illustrations communicate our attitude.
Joy: some value is satisfied.
Fear: there will be a very unpleasant event. (Fear always refers to events in the future.)
Astonishment: an event has occurred that greatly violated expectations.
Discontent: some values are violated.
Happiness A: the core values are satisfied. (Happiness is not actually a very long-term experience - it only occurs when we begin to evaluate the situation.)
sadness: there were pleasant events in the past that will not happen again, missed opportunities.
Woe: loss of something important.
Irritation: serious violation of expectations.
Excitement: there is a probability of satisfying important values (winning).
Disgust: The person's behavior or event is unacceptable.
Contempt: feeling of superiority.
Delight: expectations are more than met.
Have you ever noticed the features of a human face on a wood surface, in an electrical outlet, or on a crispy, delicious melted cheese sandwich? Aside from the fact that you might have been coughing up some cough syrup right before, this is because humans are by nature machines for recognizing familiar patterns. With a particular penchant for recognizing faces and the information they display. Our brain automatically notices them even where they are not.
Being a character artist, it's a big omission to not be able to bring life to an inanimate object with an expressive physiognomy; convey the feelings and thoughts of its owner; make us feel for this character, empathize with him, and even with age continue to feel special sympathy for ordinary drawings on paper. This is akin to magic (and maybe even a little absurdity).
…However, since you're reading this, I guess it doesn't make sense for me to promote the benefits of letting characters get emotional. Instead, I will spit at myself as I present my chaotic notes and subjective judgments regarding the drawing process.
WHAT YOU SHOULD GET OUT OF
There are many tricks that allow you to avoid painstaking work on the emotionality of the character. It's not that they're all harmful, it's just that if you call yourself a character artist, you have to decide how much you will limit yourself (and your characters) by relying on these tricks. Some examples:
Zaurya-zheniya
Yes, I understand that they are “fashionable” (like the plague in the Middle Ages), but besides that, they are absolutely monotonous, which makes them look like emoticons, and not like real emotions.
Instead, you can take advantage of the distinctive features of your characters to make their emotions unique. Or you can continue to rivet those ordinary emoji right on their faces, every time you need to revive them. And I will remain passive-aggressive in everything related to this topic.
Permanent "C" shaped mouth(1 drawing) .
The emotions created by an open mouth are incredibly energy and time saving... but they also look incredibly boring and monotonous.
Flounderface Trouble(2 drawing) .
I am familiar with the practice when some of the features of the character's face, like that of a majestic flounder, were located on one side of the face. It's creepy as sexy. In low-budget animation, they sometimes resort to drawing the mouth in profile in order to avoid animating the lips and chin. This is by no means a separate style and certainly not an excuse for not learning how to draw emotion in profile.
HOW TO LEARN TO DRAW
A couple of mixed tips (It all comes down to observation).
TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
Think about everything you study! (Maybe it doesn't do much good, but it's worth it.)
Think over the structure of the character: what three-dimensional shapes it consists of, and how they are connected to each other.
This is incredibly helpful to figure out how to draw a character from different angles with a face deformed from emotion.
(a.) Do not forget that all facial features are simultaneously involved in creating emotion. And the eyes, and eyebrows, and mouth contract, stretch, move and twist at the moment when emotion appears on the face.
(b.) Multipliers, when recreating such compression and stretching, resort to a deliberate violation of the anatomical structure of the body. The more they exaggerate, the more cartoony the emotion looks.
A slight change in the focus of the gaze already significantly changes the facial expression. The pupils drawn in the very center of the eyes depict surprise, as if the character was staring blindly into the distance.
Pupils drawn closer together look as if the gaze is focused on a close object, the face looks more fascinated, anxious.
Practice. And as often as possible.
It is best to start with a casual sketch. Most emotions can be depicted with a couple of lines, so there is no need to do a detailed outline to experiment with facial expressions.
These quick sketches are a good way to create more detailed drawings like the ones below.
(Just in case, below to all the others, I also set out notes on expressions that can be called arguably useful.)
To tone up your muscles, come up with different situations for your characters. This will make you think about how to portray emotions more seriously than the usual emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, etc. A specific situation usually requires a specific type of emotion: feigned curiosity, slight notes of rage, irritation, a sardonic smirk ...
For example, here is a passage with an incredibly stupid situation. In fact, this is an exercise in drawing gestures and emotions.
Copying of this translation is allowed only with a link to this page.
Marina Davydova
Drawing lesson "Image of human emotions" (for children of middle preschool age)
Program content
Teach depict human emotions in various situations (broke a cup, bought a doll)
Bring up emotional responsiveness
Material
Cards by number children with faces(without eyebrows and lips);
Landscape paper for teacher's drawings;
Colored pencils, markers
Cards - schemes emotions
vocabulary work:
Enter in dictionary children - strokes; fix in the dictionary - contour, line, portrait.
Previous work:
Examining the illustrations (character facial expressions);
Lesson progress
Educator. Want to see how I draw? (Children sit at tables set in a semicircle)
Now I will tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a kindergarten teacher. And she was like this. I draw a face with a calm expression.
She woke up one morning, and outside the window was rain, mud, wind! So sad. And when man is sad show me what kind of face he has. Eyebrows up, corners of lips down. Like this (drawing).
She went to wash herself, but there was no water in the tap! Wow, the teacher got angry! And when man angry show me what kind of face he has. Eyebrows with a corner down, lips with a thread, wrinkles on the bridge of the nose. Like this (drawing).
The teacher began to get ready for work. While dressing, putting on shoes, going outside, the weather changed. The sun is shining, the puddles are shining, the birds are singing! She was surprised. It just rained, but already the sun! And when man is surprised show me what kind of face he has. Brows "they climbed on the forehead", forehead wrinkles, mouth parted. Like this (drawing).
The teacher came to the kindergarten, and there the kids are playing, having fun, "Hello!" they scream at her. She was happy with her children. And when man rejoices show me what kind of face he has. "Mouth to Ears"! Like this (drawing).
Here is a story about how the man was sad at first(show me a card with a sad face, then got angry (show me a card with an angry face, then got surprised (show me a card with a surprised face, then got happy) (show me a card with a happy face).
Physical education minute
We saw an elephant - we were surprised! spread your arms wide, open your mouth
He ate our candy - so we got angry! frown, stomp your feet
The elephant asked for forgiveness, treated us with a banana! How glad we are! smile, jump
Now try you draw your portrait.
Anya, imagine that your mother bought you a beautiful dress. Are you happy? So paint yourself a happy face. (And so each child is invited draw your portrait in a certain situations: broke a cup, quarreled with a friend, saw something unusual)
Children on cards with ready lips are painted with the image of the face, eyebrows according to emotion. The teacher helps if necessary.
Next, the children are invited to play "Surprised, angry, mourn, cheer!". Distribute flashcards to four children. human emotions(surprise, sadness, anger, joy). four more portray on the face corresponding emotions. Children with schemes find their mate.
Example? Please.
Bruce Willis - sideways glance, asymmetrical grin. Marilyn Monroe - raised chin, squinted eyes, parted mouth. Try to mentally imagine that the faces of these people will take on each other's expressions, they will seem strange and completely unfamiliar.
Facial expressions really express the character of a person. There are many books on how different emotions affect facial muscles. For example, "Body Language" by Allan and Barbara Pease or Paul Ekman is the first thing that comes to mind (not including anatomy for artists, of course). If you want to draw emotional portraits, information about the work of the muscles of the face will not be superfluous at all.
And for those who would like to try their hand at the image emotions already now, I would advise you to start with sketches and quick sketches. And for starters, I suggest you watch one lesson on this topic:
The lesson was prepared by the artist Olenchinkova Tatyana.
Emotions attract attention, it's hard not to agree with that!
Here are some more image examples for inspiration. emotions in the paintings of the great masters:
Repin, "The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan"
Ribera, "Hawkweed"
We see millions of eyes, mouths, noses, ears and chins in this world, and each of them is special. At the same time, to draw cartoon faces, knowing the basics is enough. Once you have mastered them, add to this an understanding of depth, then make sure that the drawing of the head looks three-dimensional (3D), and also master the technique of drawing from any angle. If you can do all of this, great! However, if you really want to draw attention to your art, you will need to master a technique that allows you to bring your characters to life with facial expressions!
Anyone can draw a face. Draw a circle, add a few dots and lines - and anyone who looks at your drawing will say that this is a face. On the one hand, it seems to be so easy to do, but on the other hand, it can be very difficult when feelings and emotions appear ...
Human facial expressions
The facial expression of a person, as well as the tone of voice, is easy to change. Expressions appear on the face not only as a result of the contraction of certain muscles; in fact, some muscles contract at the same time, while the opposite muscles relax. For example, the same muscle groups are involved in both laughter and smiling, but with different intensity.
If I ask you to accurately name all the feelings you see in the picture below, what would you say?
I know what you will answer. You will surely say that you see an image of calmness and reflection. Maybe he was thinking about something. In reality, it's not like that! In this picture, we see a complete absence of emotions, since not a single muscle is involved. Since there are no emotions, the words "calm" and "relaxed" will probably be the best description.
It is perfectly natural to use this expression in your drawings. Why not? - 80% of people have this facial expression most of the day! However, people only have this facial expression when they are alone. After all, when a person looks at another person, or when he finds himself in a certain situation, a reaction inevitably arises. And it will have its own reaction! In animation, we blow this effect to the maximum so that it is clear to our audience exactly what emotions are expressed on the face.
Primitive emotions
Primitive emotions are those emotions that we, human beings, have little control over. This means that such an emotion is not easy to orchestrate. Let's say it occurs suddenly, in response to a primitive stimulus.
Primitive emotions are expressed regardless of our culture, nationality or age. Here are some of the most basic examples:
- Joy (1): the corners of the mouth are turned up, the eyebrows are raised, the eyes are wide open.
- Wrath (2): the corners of the mouth are down, the eyebrows are raised at an angle, and the inner edges are down, the eyes are wide open.
- Fear (3): the mouth is slightly skewed, the corners go down, the eyebrows are raised up, while the line of the eyebrows is uneven, the eyes are wide open.
- Sadness (4): the corners of the mouth are rounded down, the inner corners of the eyebrows are slightly raised, the upper eyelids hang over the eyes.
These are primitive facial expressions that appear quite often on our faces throughout life. To draw cartoon characters, you need to master these four expressions. Based on them, we can create all other emotions.
There are a couple more expressions, they are less often referred to as primitive, while they are also included in the group of basic expressions.
- Surprise (5): the mouth is small, half open, the eyebrows are raised, the line of the eyebrows is slightly uneven, the eyes are wide open.
- Annoyance (6): the mouth is twisted, skewed, the eyebrows are lowered, the inner tips of the eyebrows are directed downwards, the eyes are closed.
"Why on earth do you separate these two from the first group?"- The answer is simple: If you pay attention, each of these expressions is a combination of expressions from the first group.
Now that you are familiar with the basic expressions, you are probably wondering why there are so few of them. It's simple: we have primary colors, and there are enough of them to mix any colors you want. In the same way, other facial expressions can be made from primitive emotions! Take a look:
To create a sleepy expression, we took the eyebrows from the expression joy and added to them half-closed eyes from sadness. It's great, isn't it?
related emotions
That's not all! You can create related emotions, it is enough to take the most similar emotion and change only one element in the face, and another one emotion!
Note that only the mouth has been changed in these two drawings. We can express two kinds of disgust by changing one single part of the face! (captions on the picture: "Damn!" and "Stink!") Below is another example:
I remind you that we only needed to change the mouth to create the necessary emotion. (Captions on the picture: "amazed", "fears".) This time we are redrawing the mouth and eyes slightly to complete the main emotion. (Caption on the picture: "amazed" "confused").
Emotions can be drawn not only on the basis of basic ones. You can draw a third level of emotions based on secondary ones. Look:
As before, it was only necessary to redraw the mouth. (Signatures: "sleepy", "in love"). Amazing, right? With this technique, your designs can be brought to life with dozens, maybe hundreds of emotional faces!
Emotions express physical state
Physical state-based emotions rely on the same concept of basic emotions, but they differ in that they can take on various unpredictable forms.
Note that the emotions of the physical state are also drawn based on primitive emotions. Fatigue taken from sadness. Emotion can be expressed using an additional element, such as drops of sweat (Signed: "heat"):
Let's look at another example of a spontaneous reaction that we do not really know how to control. This time our character was electrocuted! In short, he has no control over his reaction!
When we are in shock, it is difficult to control, which gives us an advantage in drawing cartoon characters - you can exaggerate this expression as much as possible and achieve the desired effect. In this case, we have greatly enlarged the mouth.
Note that primitive emotions always dominate. Shock, even in its uncontrollable form, is nothing but fear. As for the emotions of the physical state, it is interesting that in real life we express them without really thinking about how they arise, since we are subject to external factors and other conditions.
The power of emotions and additional elements
Cartoon facial expressions can also change depending on the strength of the expression. By changing the intensity, we achieve very interesting results:
Vegeta? (If you don't know, this is a Dragon Ball character). (Captions under the pictures: "shock", "huge shock!") In addition to intensity, additional elements can be added to enhance the effect. In the first picture, we added a few drops of sweat flying off the face to emphasize the expression of fear. In the second, the tongue will stick out to enhance the desired effect.
Returning to fear, let's see how to draw a stronger feeling - panic!
We increased the size of the eyes and "forced" the character to cover his face - the result is an amazing effect! "Congratulations!" (Caption under the picture: "scared to death"). Change of angle
You can change the angle of the face to create a deeper impression and to achieve a more dramatic effect. That is, change the point from which you look at the scene: you can create unusual situations. If you place the point of view from an unfamiliar side, you will put your character in an "uncomfortable" position. This will give the scene more dynamics.
Here is an example of how changing the angle affects the strength of an expression. Notice that when viewed from top to bottom, the effect of humiliation of the character is automatically created, we kind of "force" him to shrink, he looks more fragile compared to the threat. In contrast, when viewed from the bottom up, the character looks more formidable. The protruding chin, smirk and wild look create the perfect atmosphere for intimidation!
In cartoons, bad characters often have large mandibles and small eyes. In this case, a weaker character will have large eyes and a more expressive, but small lower jaw, and the mouth is usually located lower at the chin. Try this technique in your designs to see for yourself!
Playing with common stereotypes and context
To create a stereotypical character, minor elements can be added to complete the context of the scene. Some of these methods can have an immediate effect, as we are used to holding stereotyped information throughout our lives. This is influenced by many factors, in particular: cinema, television and certain people from everyday life.
Let's take a drunkard for example. Tangled hair, unshaven, heavy eyelids, lack of teeth - and we have a classic drunkard slob. We grow up and get used to the fact that such features distinguish a person who has been abusing alcohol for a long time. The sick person is depicted as older, with a swollen nose. Closed eyes and drops of saliva indicate that something is wrong with his health.
Here is another example. The picture below fits different contexts. On the one hand, the person above can be in great pain, while the person below is torn apart by rage.
Let's add a few details to make a big difference. See what happened? It was enough to add tears and a handkerchief, and it becomes obvious that both are crying.
Additional elements change the context of the scene. Signal exchange
If we add to all of the above the numerous ways in which we exchange specific signals with other people, our face has many surprises in store for us. This is because, like physical states, we do not have much power over such "signs". Because of this, we sometimes react quite unexpectedly for ourselves, often succumbing to the will of the senses.
Below is an example of "signaling". Lovelace fixed a fatal gaze on the girl in order to woo her with his magic of seduction. She responds with a look filled with passion. Do you think she fell in love with him?
Let's look at another example. The picture below is quite typical in cartoons: a pretty girl "makes eyes" so that she always gets what she wants, and at the same time looks very cute.
Who can resist such a pretty face? Let's change the context. We change the direction of the gaze, and now she is already looking away from the character in front of her. Now she looks more timid. It's great, right?
In addition to the new direction of gaze, we added a little blush to her cheeks, and now we have a very shy girl in front of us. Conclusion
If you find it difficult to draw feelings and emotions in your characters, one of the best ways to learn how to do this is to try it yourself. imitate these emotions. This way you will train your personal perception and add new techniques to your arsenal.
The expression of emotions and feelings in animation is a vast topic for study and goes far beyond facial expressions. As stated above, we are in full control of our emotions as long as we do not lose control over them; for example, until a dog bites us.
Do you want to experiment? Invite your family to take a photo together and notice how they all smile the same way - this is a controlled emotion, we know how to express feigned joy if necessary. Now scare them well, and you will see how fear will be displayed in different ways on their faces!
I hope you are now inspired and ready to try what you have learned here - to draw different emotions on the faces of your characters. Keep in mind that in animation we exaggerate most of these expressions; it is also important for you to understand at least the basics of how emotions are expressed on the face - this way you will help your viewer see what you want to convey.
Well, who at least once did not use the power of seduction in an attempt to win someone's heart with a glance?
