i made some expression memes for yall!

This was a request and at first I wasn’t sure if I had anything to provide with, but as it turn out it got a little longer than I expected because there were actually things I had to say!! Wow!! 

Anyway, this is some guidelines I follow when I try to make the face expressfull, more specifically the mouth! It is often neglected, since it’s actually pretty hard, I’ll admit. But I’m here to help (hopefully…)! A mouth expression tutorial as per request. Enjoy and hopefully it will help some a little. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Draw the teeth at the right angle. 

This is super important. The upper jaw follows the angle of the head, and the lower jaw will depend on how open it is. Make sure you have a rough estimate of where the teeth are, and how much of them you’re going to see!

The lips will VERY roughly follow the same angle as the teeth. It really depends on the character, but it gives you a sense at least. 

If you DON’T do this, you’re going to lose so much volume and the mouth is going to end up looking unrelatable. I showed this example in this tutorial:

It’s not just the lips! 

The cheeks, chin, and tongue play a role too! 

Try look at your own mouth or references! I have a very pliable and large mouth, so that’s one reason why my characters have it too lmao.

ASYMMETRYYYYY (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง

I cannot emphasize how important asymmetry is when drawing expressions. It applies not only to the eyebrows to achieve the Dreamwork Face™, but also the mouth. Seriously if you draw a symmetric mouth I will deliver myself to your mailbox and then shout at you until you fix it. 

Look at the difference between these two for example: which one has more “life”? 

I think you get the idea.

Push and squish - give it flow

Here’s an old drawing I have but it illustrates how I think when I squish the mouth, and use folding and wrinkles to my advantage.

Look at your own face and see where skin bundles up, where it creases the most and when bumps appear on your chin. Subtle details makes all the difference! 

One VERY effective detail is illustrated in the first sketch, where I pull upwards on one side, and downwards on the other. That’s a good detail to use when the character is making a skewed expression, or is extremely frustrated. I encourage you to play around with that concept bc it’s ~super effective~!

EXAMPLES:

Happy: Your entire mouth is pushed upwards, not just the corners of your mouth!

I tend to draw a :3 mouth bc I’ve been drawing Lance too much….. You don’t have to but it’s basically imprinted in my motor memory by now. 

Pouting/frowning: corners are pushed down, middle pushed slightly up. Sometimes, there’s a slight dip in the middle too. It can give a sense that the character is biting their lips.

Showing frustration/intimidating/is intimidated: basically showing a lot of teeth. The corners are as open as possible and the middle sorta more squished. An extremely important detail here is showing some of the gums, and open space between the cheeks and teeth. That way it looks like the mouth it open to it’s full potential. Here is also where you basically MUST add folds and bumps, or else it’s not going to look relatable. 

(Here I am again with the pulling upwards on one side and downwards on the other, as illustrated on the last sketch)

And then again, here’s just another doodle showing how important it is to show the gums. It’s the same face twice, but the second one looks slightly more frustrated doesn’t it?

(from my other tutorial on how to draw facial expressions)

As you can see, this last one is very versatile and I draw it a lot. Play around with the basic shape and see how much subtle details makes a lot of difference! 

That’s it! 

I decided to make my own couple meme since I already finished the last one and I still want to draw more~ ^^

And as much as I love romantic scenes, I thought it would be great to include poses that would work well with characters who are just friends or those who don’t get along at all. 

it is unlike all(most) others  1: What is your character’s full name? 2: What is their birth? 3: What is/are your character’s favorite show(s)? 4: What kind of drug(s) does your character do? 5: Favorite brand when it comes to shoes? 6: Where does your OC buy most of their clothes? Who pays for them? 7: Can your character cook anything well? If so, what? 8: Would your character sacrifice a friend for $10,000,000 9: What song does your character always sing in the shower? 10: As a child, what did your OC wanna be when they grew up? 11: Favorite kind of alcohol? 12: Who is/are your OC’s best friend(s)? 13: Favorite store? 14: Favorite book? 15: Most visited website(s)? 16: If your OC was a character from King of the Hill who would they be? 17: Propane or charcoal? 18: Favorite troll from Homestuck? 19: Has your character ever complained about how Invader Zim got canceled? 20: Nintendo or Sony? 21: Favorite video game(s)? 22: What’s the password they use for everything? 23: What was their email in the 6th grade? 24: Does your character tan or burn? 25: What invisible illness does your OC live with? 26: If charged by a swarm of wild animals, what wild animal would scare your character the most? 27: Everybody Loves Raymond comes on but the batteries in the remote are dead. Does your character watch ELR or get up and change it? 28: What was their favorite disney show as a kid? 29: If your character is LGBT+, when and how did they realize? 30: Who are your OC’s celebrity crushes? 31: How does your character want to die? How do they actually die? 32: How does your OC deal with having a crush on someone? 33: Did your OC cry at the end of Balto? 34: What Bands does your character own merch to? 35: Emo, scene, goth, or punk? 36: Does your OC use words or fists to argue? 37: Did your OC read the book The Secret? Did it change their lives? 38: Did you character get deeper into My Little Pony than they let on? 39: Spotify or Pandora? 40: Do they pay for music or download it off the web? 41: iPhone or Android? 42: Most used emoji? 43: Do they get lost on IMDB for hours looking up random movie trivia? 44: Remember when Donnie Darko was about to jerk off in his therapists office that was fucked up 45: Does your character think Elijah Wood’s is hot? 46: Does your character believe in the Illuminati 47: What do you think youtube would recommend your character watch? 48: Your OC stops at a gas station to buy a drink. What did they buy? 49: Does your character have an enemy/rival? 50: What kind of blog would/does your character have?(ie: food, aesthetic, SJW, porn, b&w, anime, etc..)

European Sword

Dated: circa 1630 — 1650

Culture: French

Place of Origin: France (production)

Medium: steel

Measurements: overall length: 116.2 cm; blade length: 101 cm; width blade at hilt, 2.5 cm

Inscriptions: an etched rising sun and “NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR”

The sword has a blackened steel hilt (Norman hilt type 108), cushion-shaped pommel, with a very tall button, rather crudely chiselled with a band of fleur-de-lis of alternating plain and twisted wire of varying thickness, with eight bands of thicker twisted wire. The knuckle-guard of diamond section is chiselled into a lightly reeded pattern with large opposed acanthus elements at midpoint, the top screwed into the side of the pommel.

The quillons of the same section are arched towards the blade, the rear one bent inwards, finished with elaborated and delicately fashioned little acanthus loops, en suite with the decoration of the knuckle-guard. Large ring-guard on the outside of the hilt, with opposed acanthus elements at midpoint to match those on the knuckle-guard. There is a large rectangular quillon-block, from which, inside the ring on the outside of the hilt, springs a small shall-guard whose edge is scalloped in the middle, half of which is repeated on each side leaving the next of the surface reeded like the rest of the hilt.

The pommel, though of the right shape, is clearly of a totally different style and quality of decoration from the rest of the hilt, though it does appear to be contemporary association. The blade of vague flat diamond section is engraved at the forte with a panel containing: a laurel wreath, below which is an oval cartouche within an impression; a smiling feminine face enclosed by a riband containing the legend “NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR”. Below this is a second panel with a laurel wreath against a black background, below which is an engraved fleur-de-lis. The reverse of the blade is engraved with similar panels, but they are merely outlined and not filled in.

Sidenotes:

“Nec pluribus impar” (literally: “Not unequal to many”) is a Latin motto adopted by Louis XIV of France from 1658. It was often inscribed together with the symbol of the “Sun King”: a head within rays of sunlight.

While the motto relates to the allegory of the “Sun King”, its precise meaning is obscure. Philip F. Riley calls it “almost untranslatable”. Historian Henri Martin called it “very pompous and, above all, obscure and perplexing”.

Louvois, Louis’ War Secretary, interpreted it as “seul contre tous” — “alone against all” and lexicographer Pierre Larousse suggested “au-dessus de tous (comme le soleil)” — “above all (like the sun)”.

John Martin says “[Louis’] matchless splendour was expressed by the motto “Nec Pluribus Impar” - not unequal to many suns and Yves-Marie Bercé gives “Suffisant (seul) a tant de choses” meaning “Sufficient (alone) for so many things” or “Tout lui est possible” - “Everything is possible for him”.

Had a lot of fun with this one! Jacket art for the middle grade novel “Spirit Hunters” by Ellen Oh coming from Harper Collins July 25, 2017.