Express yourself: Expressions

Now something a bit more fun to do when drawing is playing with expressions. You will primarily see this done with concept art, of characters from animators at Disney to Game developers like Naughty dog and Insomniac.

Dudley the dog  by Butch Hartman

These are drawing of faces and emotions correlated into an Expression sheet. These expression sheets are a reference for an animator or artist so they can use it to convey the emotions of the character accurately. There is also Reference sheet which is similar but it also includes how to draw the character. But these are not limited to a professional artist. From time to time we have had an idea for a funny or cool character in our head and these have bled into online communities and fandoms. 

These are a few examples of both reference and expression sheets I have found from artist around the web. (All art here belongs to its respective owners)

Alem by ScarfofSilver

Expression sheet by Vincent Sanyoto

Try it yourself

Now here is a template that I created for you guys to use. The idea is to mainly capture the emotions you feel fit the character the best.

My Expression Sheet

Here is the link to the cloud so you can [Share Your Stuff]

Your Best Friend: The Sketchbook

One of the major tools that we discussed in the last post was the sketchbook. Now I want to share some simple practices with using the sketchbook as an artist.

First and foremost, keeping your sketchbook near you is one of the most important things you can do. This is for accessibility whether you need to capture an idea or study from life. Without your sketchbook in a book bag or purse, it’s hard to capture these moments or ideas and they won’t stay around for long.

Now that have we have brought it along, we need use our sketchbook. Even a sketch as quick as a minute or two is great for developing ideas and doing a few sketches like helps build up speed and usually helps with conception of larger piece. That’s not to say you shouldn’t also take your time on a single piece either for that allows you to develop a sense of refinement. Both are techniques we will use every day.

Finally, use your sketchbook for a variety of things such as, concepts, faces, poses, cartoons. Don’t feel as if everything you do in your sketchbook needs to be perfect. Use it as a medium to track you progress of how you draw now and improve upon what you don’t like. Basically what I’m trying to say is just try things in your sketchbooks you never know what will stick.

Try it Yourself

Now to practice and build on to these techniques, take out a piece of paper and pencil, pick out an item (ex. a shoe) and spend 10-15 minutes drawling that item.

15 minute sketch

After that, take another paper and do it again but faster. (like 5 minutes)

5 minute sketch

Finally repeat the process again faster. (1 minute)

1 minute sketch

This is will help you to get the concept of quick and refined sketch and develop you own techniques.

-Update!-

I made a google drive link if you feel like you want to share your art. just make a folder with your name on it and [Share Your Stuff]