Sketching-People

SIMPLIFIED EXPRESSIONS
I think the face is often neglected because we’re focused
on getting the body and the clothes right, and the expressions
change so rapidly. The face may be an afterthought to us,
but it is the first thing the audience looks at.
Because it’s impossible for anyone to hold an expression
for more than a few moments, you need to learn to capture
them quickly and simply. Practicing expressions is fun. You
can use a mirror or the reference photos on pages 76–77
to sketch out how the features squash and stretch into
recognizable expressions.
SIMPLE EXPRESSIONS
Practice drawing particular expressions as clearly and as simply
as possible. Don’t worry about defining the head or hair—just
get the features to work together to create an expression. It’s
really pretty surprising how far you can distort individual features
and still maintain a natural look for the overall expression.