Facial Expressions- How to Draw a Smiling Face With a Pencil

Quick! Look in the mirror! I am hoping that you are smiling. If you are, you are seeing the Zygomaticus major, Zygomaticus minor and Risorius muscles working together to retract the corners of the mouth upwards and towards the back of your head. But, smiles are not just limited to the mouth. Your orbicularis oculi muscle has raised your cheeks and compressed your eyes.
Face proportions face anatomy head
Lets look at a smiling face and compare it with a straight face. Here are a few tips to remember. The forehead is very relaxed during a smile. The two eyelids get closer together and the top lid forms a less curved rainbow shape. The cheeks become pushed up like a mountain growing in height due to the movement of continental plates. In other words, the cheeks are literally pinched between the eye and the mouth, and this pushes the cheeks flesh away from the skull. There is little change to the nose.

There are common features to smiles. Notice how straight the top lip becomes and notice the trapezoid shape that forms above it. The corners of the mouth usually extend past the mid point of the eye. The eyebrows of most people remain neutral during a smile. Notice the symmetrical arcs that form which seem to connect the eyebrows to the folds in the cheek. Finally, notice that when people smile, the top row of teeth are often the only teeth, which are visible.

Now lets learn how to draw a smiling face. Please note that this is only the first of two videos which I plan to release on the topic. In this video, I will make eight cartoon like sketches. In video two will do a realistic two hour drawing. I hope that you will watch both videos, because they will give you a solid understanding of how to draw a smile. But, before the demo, we have an incoming message from the moon. Aw thanks, Little Old Man. It is OK to leave the whites of the eyes a little darker when drawing a smile! Trapezoid shape between the nose and upper lip. Slightly darker shadows around the eyes...especially if you are drawing an older person. This figure has eyes which seem totally shut (which is OK). Notice the strong line (arc) from the eyebrows to the folds in the cheek. Everything on the face can be a bit tighter. A smile tightens the skin like a face lift (with the exception of the neck). If the lighting calls for it, you can be more distinct with lines on the face. Notice the dark edges at the side of the mouth. These occur due to the rounded shape of the gums and teeth. Notice this in all of the figures so far. Drawing the head from three quarters (3/4) view.....General Tip: The eyes get foreshortened and the inner corners are slightly closer together. The trapezoid becomes more triangular. The rule about the mouth reaching past the middle of the eye becomes skewed. A more subtle smile. If the smile was more intense, his facial muscles would be more taut. Crows FeetT happen to older people when the eyes are taut!!!! CAW! The raising of the cheeks can affect the appearance of the jaw bone. (Mandible)

The song is called "Alien Restaurant" from Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com- a site recommended to youtube partners in the partner tutorial. The audio at the beginning is from Creative Commons Search and is listed in the public domain- http://blip.tv/file/2363588/. Some images are from creative commons search. For example the image of George Clooney- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi....kipedia/commons/e/e9 The image of Beyonce- www.army.mil/.../army.mil-2007-08-30-154516.jpg "free online art lessons"