Thursday 30 June 2016

Facial expression

When we interact with people our main focus is the face, whose expressions are at the heart of human communication. We are all intimately familiar with its shifts of meaning, having had a lifetime’s training. There are cultural differences in all forms of communication, and of course people sometimes interpret emotions incorrectly, but facial expression seems to be a universal language that has accompanied us for thousands of years.

The definitive study remains Gary Faigin’s excellent book The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression (1990), which I recommend to everybody. 

Our faces change by the moment as we respond to our environment. Even small movements can provoke responses from people, but, particularly for stronger emotions, our features usually act in combination. For example, when we smile we don’t only move our mouths, we crease up our eyes too. Smiling with the mouth and not the eyes looks fake – and people are sensitive to the difference.

We are so keen to communicate through our faces that we adopt ‘sympathetic’ expressions. If people around us are laughing it can be hard not to smile ourselves, even if we don’t know what the joke is; or if we see someone get hurt, we may wince as if we felt it ourselves. When you are drawing someone with a distinct expression, you may find yourself involuntarily mimicking it as you work. Similarly, when we are concentrating on an activity our faces will help it along, like the small child who sticks her tongue out when she’s intent on her classwork.

Facial expression is so important and powerful that your ability to get it just right can make or break a work of art. Some of art’s most famous works depend for their effect upon an expression, such as the anguished howl of The Scream. Other cases are more subtle. In his book Faigin uses the great example of this pair of portraits by Courbet:


The left-hand painting depicts the model Joanna Hiffernan admiring herself in a mirror. In the right-hand version, however, her bent-upward eyebrows make her expression more anxious. Faigin observes that the right-hand painting becomes ‘a meditation on the fleeting nature of beauty, or a study of melancholy’. A simple adjustment transforms our response to the image.

Muscles of facial expression


Our expressive faces are animated by a network of muscles, lying under the surface and concentrated in particular around the eyes and mouth. They are tiny and don’t really have any bulk of their own. Whereas most of our muscles work by pulling two bones together, the facial muscles attach to the skull and insert into the skin; when they contract, the skin end is pulled towards the bone end.

We have looked at the muscles of the head and neck before, but below I have annotated them with the origin and insertion of the major muscles and their role in facial expressions. My notes are only brief – I haven’t tried to list every single muscle that contributes.

You should be aware that not every anatomist agrees about which muscles do what. Unlike some muscles, those of the face are threadlike and complex and therefore can be hard to figure out.


Key


1. Frontalis. This is the forehead muscle. Origin: along hairline. Insertion: under eyebrows. Action: raises one or both eyebrows, wrinkling the forehead above.


2. Procerus. This fan-shaped muscle sits between the eyebrows. Origin: nose cartilage and nasal bone. Insertion: skin of forehead. Action: acts with the corrugator (see note 3) and the depressor supercilii (see note 4). Allows us to scrunch up our eyebrows into a frown. The procerus pushes down and the corrugator pushes inwards.

& 3. Corrugator. Lies underneath the orbicularis oculi. Origin: nasal bridge. Insertion: middle of eyebrow. Action: Lowers inner end of eyebrow downwards and inwards to create a frown.


4. Orbicularis oculi. This muscle encircles each eye socket (orbit). On the inside corner there is a triangle called the depressor supercilii, sometimes considered a separate muscle. Origin: inner orbit. Insertion: the skin of the eyelids and eye socket. Action: the inner portion of the muscle on the eyelids (not visible on my main illustration because the eyes are open) opens and shuts the lids; the surrounding outer portion squeezes the eye shut, e.g. when squinting. In time this action creates crow’s feet in the outer corners.


5. Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi (LLSAN). Runs down either side of the nose in long strips. Origin: root of nose. Insertion: has three branches that insert into the skin above the upper lip. Action: Lifts the upper lip and wings of the nose when we sneer and register disgust.



6. Levator labii superioris. Further out from the nose than the LLSAN, and known as the sneering muscle. Origin: Lower orbit. Insertion: skin of upper lip. Action: helps raise the upper lip. 


7. Orbicularis oris. This circular muscle surrounds the mouth and many other muscles weave into it, allowing a wide range of movements. Origin: upper and lower jaw bones. Insertion: the lips. Action: closes, compresses and puckers the lips, for example for kissing.


8. Zygomaticus major and minor. These are the larger and smaller cheekbone muscles. The minor is on top. Origin: zygomatic bone (cheekbone). Insertion: corner of the mouth. Action: both muscles work with the risorious to pull the mouth wide into a smile.

& 9. Risorius. Sits on either side of the mouth. Origin: Zygomatic arch / tissue around the parotid gland. Insertion: other muscles around the mouth. Action: sometimes termed the ‘laughing muscle’, it contracts upward and outward to extend the mouth in a smile, creating dimples.


10. Depressor anguli oris, a.k.a. triangularis. Drops from the corner of the mouth to the jawline. Origin: bottom of jawbone. Insertion: skin and muscle at corner of mouth. Action: pulls down the corner of the mouth as in a grimace or expression of sadness. 


11. Depressor labii inferioris. Sits under the lower lip. Origin: bottom of jawbone. Insertion: skin and muscle of lower lip. Action: Contracts to pull bottom lip downwards and/or to the side, for example while speaking or in sad expressions.


12. Mentalis. A V-shaped muscle on the chin. Origin: lower jaw just under the teeth. Insertion: skin of the chin. Action: Pulls the skin of the chin upward, creating a pout.


13. Platysma. A broad sheet that extends up the neck. Origin: chest and shoulder muscles. Insertion: jawbone and skin of lower face. Action: Helps pull down the corners of mouth and the jaw.


Some areas of the face are more expressive than others. Our expressions are created by many muscles working together across the face, but the main centres are the mouth and above all the brows and eyes, which often work in combination. Compared to them, the nose moves little, aside from the occasional flaring or wrinkling, and the ears barely play a role at all. People are very good at interpreting expressions going by the brows and eyes alone.

Important facial expressions


Psychological research, in particular the work of Paul Ekman in the 1960s, has suggested that there are six facial expressions universally recognised in every human culture: sadness, anger, joy, fear, disgust and surprise. In Making Comics Scott McCloud labels these ‘emotional primaries’, arguing that we can expand our palette of emotions by mixing two or more of the primaries.

From McCloud’s Making Comics (2006).

It is clear that facial expression is to a large extent universal across all humanity, but whether there really are ‘six basic expressions’ is debateable, and I’m not convinced it’s a useful concept. So what follows is simply a set of illustrations and notes on a handful of common expressions – you will find plenty of similar, more comprehensive studies in books and online.

Please don’t treat such guides as definitive. Human expression is infinite, and often takes forms you won’t find on a chart. There is not one sort of smile, for example: smiles can be broad, proud, fake, sexy, appeasing, rueful and so on. And every emotion has a range of intensities: sadness can range from feeling a bit off-colour to a fit of heart-rending grief. As always you must rely on observation of real behaviour to get things just right.

Sadness


There is a general downward pull at the sides. The eyebrows slant upward at the inside, and may knit the brow. The eyes narrow. The mouth forms a pout, with a long, squared-off upper lip.

Accompanied by slumping shoulders.

Anger


The eyebrows draw down low, furrowing the brow and wrinkling the top of the nose. The eyes stare. The nostrils flare and the mouth snarls.

Accompanied by an aggressive forward tilt of the head and shoulders, and a reddening of the face.

Fear


The eyebrows rise. The eyes widen, with raised upper lids that show white above the pupil, and the pupils contract. The mouth opens and stretches.

The head may flinch backwards.

Joy


The eyebrows rise. The lower eyelids rise too, creasing the skin at the outer corners. The cheeks bunch and lift. The mouth opens wide to reveal the teeth, curving upwards at the corners and creating a nasolabial fold.

Surprise


Eyebrows lift up. The eyes open wide, exposing the eye white at least above the top of the iris. The mouth drops open.

Accompanied by a backwards jerk of the head.

Cruelty


This is basically a combination of anger with a smile.

Disgust


To express disgust the face creases up. The eyebrows drop and the brow creases at the top of the nose. The eyes narrow. The nose wrinkles and the nostrils pull upwards. The mouth opens and narrows, pulled down at the bottom corners and filled by the tongue. The chin wrinkles up.

Contempt


The brows and eyes remain neutral while the lip pulls back and up, raising the nostril and creating a nasolabial fold. Tends to be asymmetrical with the sneer or half-smile appearing on one side only.


Wrinkles


When muscles contract, the skin has to bunch up to fill a smaller space, and this creates wrinkles. Some of the most obvious wrinkles are the furrows on our brows, or the nasolabial fold that appears between our mouths and cheeks. These wrinkles appear on everybody, but the older we get, the more the years of contracting and expanding deepens them. Eventually old age creates a pattern of characteristic wrinkles on our faces – someone who smiles constantly and strongly will wrinkle differently to someone who smiles rarely.

When you draw wrinkles bear in mind that they are not just lines on the face. They are forms in themselves and lit the same way as other forms: in normal lighting they will be darker in the folds and lighter on the peaks, and when the light on them is intense, they become less obvious.


Note how I have not made the wrinkles perfectly regular or symmetrical. Real faces are organic forms and when the skin is too perfect or the repetitions too exact, they can start to look artificial.

Expressions in context


Facial expression is a powerful means of communication, but we often express emotion with our whole bodies. The face acts as the focal point and the body language reinforces it. For example a sad person may have slumped shoulders and bury their head in their hand.

We also follow cues from the person’s environment, such as the reactions of people around them, and what we know of the person’s immediate situation. Some expressions, such as a bellow of laughter at a joke, are easy to read, but others are less obvious and invite interpretations – without supporting information it can be difficult to know whether, for example, someone is crying out of grief or happiness. It is up to you as the artist to judge whether you are communicating your intentions successfully.

What to do next


However subtle and accurate your reading of expressions in daily life, it doesn’t follow that you can draw them. Keep a library of images, whether physical photos or digital or both. If you search the internet for facial expressions you will find no end of material. You can also look up the countless ways in which artists past and present have tried to depict expressions in their works.

Rely above all on direct observation. Watching others is difficult, as expressions are fleeting, and the stronger emotions are unusual. If someone near you is furious you may feel self-conscious about looking in their direction at all, let alone pulling your sketchbook out! You could ask friends to adopt different expressions for you, but they’ll probably just start laughing. The best method is to observe your own face, using a mirror. When it’s just you and a mirror, you can contort your face however you please.

Get to know the muscles, because it is easier to understand the subtle forms of facial expression when you know the underlying anatomy. However I am going to be iconoclastic and say that it is much more important to notice the precise forms on the surface, which you will be doing anyway, than to try and memorise the names and details of all the invisible stuff underneath. I am in favour of study, but doubt whether anyone’s drawing of a snarl is better because they can recite the origins and insertions of the levator labii superioris.

Practice. You need to make lot of studies. Once you know what you’re doing, you can create quite complex expressions with a minimum of drawing if need be (good for cartoons). As an alternative to drawing random faces pulling random expressions, try drawing a group scene where for example one person is talking and everybody else has a different individual reaction written on their faces.

Further resources


I have already mentioned the books by Gary Faigin and Scott McCloud. If you only get one book, get Faigin’s. McCloud, whatever you think of his ‘emotional primaries’, has lots of illustrations of expressions in that section of his book. There are also anatomy books such as Stephen Rogers Peck’s Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist that include sections on the facial muscles and expressions.

Artnatomy (www.artnatomia.net/uk) is an interactive online tool designed to teach ‘the anatomical and biomechanical foundation of facial expression morphology.’ The Flash interface enables you to visually explore expressions feature by feature, muscle by muscle. It is free to use online or you can purchase the software. The images aren’t always perfect but it’s quite an achievement and you may find it insightful.

Sample expressions from Artnatomy.

I like Joumana Medlej’s article Human Anatomy Fundamentals: Mastering Facial Expressions in which she explores more individual expressions than I have done here.


Tuesday 7 June 2016

Drawing heads: ethnicity

Western art books and other materials, being mostly produced by white people, tend to assume the white European as a human standard. For example the Andrew Loomis classic Drawing the Head and Hands (1956) has no illustrations of non-white people at all. To an extent it is understandable if artists prefer to draw people who look like themselves, but in reality, of course, human beings are a very diverse species. If you are going to draw them, you need to know how their characteristics change according to their ethnic heritage. I will limit myself here to variations of the head, not of the body.

It is probable that humans evolved in eastern Africa 150-200,000 years ago, and eventually began to migrate into other parts of the world. As regional populations became established, some of them thousands of miles or even continents apart, they began to develop distinct physical characteristics, generally traceable to a quality of their environment. For example, skin colours are darker in hot regions – to offer protection from the sun – than they are nearer the poles. These variations are sometimes described as different ‘races’, but in reality ‘race’ is a meaningless term. Homo sapiens is a single species, and its ethnic variations superficial. Regional populations blend into one another, and the population of a given city or area is usually diversified by migrations of varying degree and kind.

Guide to human types


The most thorough investigation of human ethnic variation I know of was created by the Lebanese artist Joumana Medlej. You can see charts of her amazing research on her website: http://cedarseed.com/tutorials/types.html.


Rather than try to compete with this, I will confine myself to a few studies and observations below, and suggest you consult Medlej’s research for more detail. Medlej demonstrates that it is possible to indicate a person’s ethnicity using only linework, and fairly simple linework at that. Discussions of ethnicity often focus on skin colour, but getting the facial features right is just as important – even more so.

Obviously you can also find a wealth of other information online, not least a vast number of photos of people from different parts of the world.

‘Average faces’ from around the world


An artist researching ethnic variation needs reference material. The blogger Collin Spears has combined faces from around the world using technology from FaceResearch.org’s ‘online face averager’ to approximate the ‘average face’ of men and women from 40 different countries. (The work is sometimes, but inaccurately, reported as being the work of the FaceResearch scientists themselves.)

A few examples from Collin Spears. Clockwise from top left: Brazil, Iran, Ethiopia, Germany

This sort of project raises plenty of issues of course, but collectively the images seem to me to offer an insight into ethnic variation around the globe, and are as comprehensive a reference as I have seen. The full sets are on Spears’ blog: here are the posts broken down by region.
Africa
Europe
Middle Eastern, Central Asian and South Asia
East-Southeast Asia & Pacific Islander
Americas

My studies


Here are some digital studies of mine of five broad types, each representing a man and woman from the indigenous or majority ethnic population of a major region: native American, sub-Saharan African, northern European, northern Indian and Chinese. These are merely meant to be individuals who could convincingly belong to those populations, and are not attempts at national ‘averages’. The notes below them are inevitably broad and incomplete, as there is huge variation within regions, let alone between them. There are plenty of other types I could paint too but as I say, I am not attempting a comprehensive study here. It’s easy to generalise about ethnic tendencies, like anything else, but obviously the world is always much more complicated than a quick survey can do justice to. I have posted a composite of the set on my DA gallery.

Native American



The forehead is receding. The nose is prominent and fairly broad, with a convex bridge. Wide, slightly prominent cheekbones create a wide face; the mouth too is wide. The hair is black and straight, and the eyes are dark. The skin is a reddish-brown. Male facial hair is sparse but pattern baldness is rare.

Sub-Saharan African



The brow ridge is not prominent and in profile the face tends to be prognathous – the mouth has very full, projecting lips. The ears are small. The nose is flat and broad with flaring wings. The skin varies from brown to black. The eyes are dark. The hair is black with a frizzy or woolly texture, growing outwards rather than down.

Northern European



The face is more narrow and the brow ridge is heavy. The nose is narrow, straight and prominent with a high bridge. The hair varies a lot, from golden blond to red to very dark, and from straight to wavy. The eyes vary too, mostly blue or brown, but green or grey also occur. Male facial hair is thick, the lips thin. Northern Europeans have the palest skin, which wrinkles more with age.

Northern Indian



The eyebrows are heavy and dark, the eyes large and almond-shaped. The nose is straight and long. The hair is black and straight, and the eyes are mostly dark. The skin is brown to dark brown.

People from northern India tend to look more Caucasian than people from the south, who are much darker and seem closer to Australian Aborigines.

Chinese



Wider cheekbones make the face more round and flat. The nose is relatively flat and small, with a low bridge. Facial hair is scanty. The hair is black and straight, and the eyes are dark. The skin is fairly pale to light brown, arguably yellowish-brown.

Print by Kitagawa
Utamaro (detail)
The most obvious characteristic of East Asian ethnicity, though not unique to them, is the epicanthic or epicanthal fold, a fold of skin on the upper eyelid which covers the inner corner of the eye like an arch. (It also appears in about half of Down’s Syndrome cases.) The fold may appear in young children of any race before the nose bridge starts to rise. The degree of the fold varies, and may cover all or only part of the tear duct. Eyes with epicanthic folds look almond-shaped rather than round; their ‘slanted’ look is explicit in Asian art, such as in the Japanese print on the right.

The East Asian eye comes in two kinds. Some people have a crease in the upper eyelid, quite close to the eyelash, which is known as a double-eyelid. Others have no crease, known as a single-eyelid. There is a cultural prejudice against the latter as ‘less beautiful’ which leads some East Asians to acquire double eyelids through cosmetic surgery.


If you have difficulty drawing this or any sort of feature convincingly, the best thing to do is of course to go and find some examples, whether real life and/or photo reference, and draw lots of them.