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Description
I spent a couple of hours trying to push the expression on Kiyoko's face, because I wasn't satisfied with how picturesque she was in the other studies. (I'm still struggling to avoid "dead face", but clearly I need more practice.)

I love her gobby lips; I think big lips run the gamut for being attractive and expressive, but I'm aware, as comedic instruments, they're incredibly delicate, especially when you push them hard in a given direction. (As an aside, I love that "push" is used so often in art tutorials, because, with expressions, you really have to shove aside your misgivings, go big, and then adjust; because it's much easier to pull back than push a face to extremes.) When I bust my ass off masking a face, based on a gorgeous reference--when I make a funny face--I want it to be entertaining, funny not ugly; but, here's the thing:

Ugly things are often very funny (because they're "funny looking"); so, yeah: that can make it difficult to decide what's funny and what's just "funny looking". What technically breaks the reality of a character's anatomy to express the full gravity of their emotions--how reality makes us feel--and what just isn't entertaining. In this case, watching a teenaged girl run the gamut of human emotions while irresistibly retaining her femininity. (Meaning she's making a face, but still looks like the character, a girl.)

A technique that I think is criminally undervalued--especially in anime--is facial wrinkles. Everyone avoids them! But they're part of the face! That's where the erase tool, with the airbrush switched on and the opacity dropped to 50%, comes in. I can't say I'm married to this method, but it's definitely worth exploring.

P.S. I love drawing her eyelashes, because they're so expressive. They were inspired by Jerry's in the old Chuck Jones cartoons, when he just had one long lash in the corner of each eye.

Description
I spent a couple of hours trying to push the expression on Kiyoko's face, because I wasn't satisfied with how picturesque she was in the other studies. (I'm still struggling to avoid "dead face", but clearly I need more practice.)

I love her gobby lips; I think big lips run the gamut for being attractive and expressive, but I'm aware, as comedic instruments, they're incredibly delicate, especially when you push them hard in a given direction. (As an aside, I love that "push" is used so often in art tutorials, because, with expressions, you really have to shove aside your misgivings, go big, and then adjust; because it's much easier to pull back than push a face to extremes.) When I bust my ass off masking a face, based on a gorgeous reference--when I make a funny face--I want it to be entertaining, funny not ugly; but, here's the thing:

Ugly things are often very funny (because they're "funny looking"); so, yeah: that can make it difficult to decide what's funny and what's just "funny looking". What technically breaks the reality of a character's anatomy to express the full gravity of their emotions--how reality makes us feel--and what just isn't entertaining. In this case, watching a teenaged girl run the gamut of human emotions while irresistibly retaining her femininity. (Meaning she's making a face, but still looks like the character, a girl.)

A technique that I think is criminally undervalued--especially in anime--is facial wrinkles. Everyone avoids them! But they're part of the face! That's where the erase tool, with the airbrush switched on and the opacity dropped to 50%, comes in. I can't say I'm married to this method, but it's definitely worth exploring.

P.S. I love drawing her eyelashes, because they're so expressive. They were inspired by Jerry's in the old Chuck Jones cartoons, when he just had one long lash in the corner of each eye.