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Bernuviel — Expression Meme
#oc #sad #angry #characterdesign #expressions #female #girl #guy #happy #male #meme #originalcharacter #surprised
Published: 2014-10-24 16:39:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 2793; Favourites: 9; Downloads: 0
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Doing this meme was quite a lot of fun! Even though I think some expressions mean pretty much the same.I'm struggling with expressions so I focused on the face and left body language away. Also drawing mouths (especially when they're open) is quite hard for me. And I left the eyebrows complete under the hair to better show the expression.
What do you think of them? Which expression do you like most?
Blank meme: click!
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The characters used are my OCs Terra and Veyt.
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Comments: 7
Sorry about taking so long to get around to commenting on this!
I've tried this expressions chart thing myself (though I think I uploaded it as a page of sketches instead), so I know how tough it is! And how samey a lot of the expressions feel... It's a great way to learn though, I think! I'm still struggling with expressions myself, so I don't know how much help I'll be!
Someone commented on my attempt linking to this thing, which I think is really super-useful:
But maybe you already saw and used that?! I'm going to use it myself from now on, though I've not tried using it just yet.
I notice that the faces are copied-and-pasted, which is a great way to focus on JUST the features without worrying about having to draw the rest. I like how you made the hair messier to match the emotion, though!
Personally I tried to redraw the face for each emotion because it meant that I could sort of force myself to get to a point where I could draw the face consistently... I didn't get to that point! And it took ages! I think to be able to draw anything consistently, you have to draw it like a billion times, though.
As for the expressions themselves, I think those of Terra worked best, perhaps because I could see them suiting her reserved personality more. Some of those of Veyt - like fierce and rage - seem like they should be PUSHED further, made more intense, like by lowering the eyebrows in the middle even more! Actually... this reminds me of some sketches I did the other day, where I feel I learned a lot about angry emotions through experimentation. I'll upload them to show you! Here:
Something I think helped A LOT was the pupils! Making them into just dots looks really wild and animal-like, like PRIMAL RAGE or something. Lowering the eyebrows all the way stretches the expression to make it stronger, I think! Maybe. I can imagine someone with Veyt's personality and background showing a similar kind of forceful, extroverted rage when provoked!
Overall, I like the way that you draw faces! They certainly look like human faces, and they have nice character and stuff! I like Terra's hair! And Veyt strangely reminds me of a character of my own...!
As for their personalities... I always wonder WHY people give their characters the personalities that they do... like whether the characters represent themselves or traits that they like. From what I know of you, I can see how Terra's personality has traits in common with your own!
Personally - and this is entirely a personal preference! - I'm not fond of the 'arsehole' male personality type, because I see loads of girls making aggressive, egotistical male characters like that, and I, as a gentle guy who tries to be kind and empathetic, always end up thinking "does that mean that they like guys like that but not like me?! D:"; it's the whole 'bad boys vs nice guys' thing, I suppose! BUT like I said, that's just me personally! If that kind of personality appeals to you, then I see no reason why you should change anything simply for the sake of being 'original' or something! Characters should always be about making something that YOU like, I think.
But yes! Sorry for writing this novel at you; I could actually write way more, but I thought it'd get too boring to read! It's great seeing your progress, though, and I'm impressed by the results!
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Hey, thank you very much for taking the time to write such a long and detailed comment! It's very helpful.
I used some references to draw the expressions, but I always find it hard to not end up completely copying them. Generally drawing believeable expressions is very hard for me.
Yeah, I wanted to focus on the face only, so I copied hair & head. But my teacher said it was a waste of time to do it like this and I would learn nothing, which hurt me quite a bit. I know it's important to completely draw the head again every time and also change angles, to learn keeping a character consistent, but I can't even draw expressions and trying to do both was just overwhelming. I guess I just failed.
Thanks for the praise on Terra! The problem with some expressions is probably that I'm scared to draw the faces too deformed which would make the characters "ugly and unrecognizeable" in my opinion. I know it's silly and I really have to get over it. Your examples are lovely! I wish I could draw such a consistent character with such great expressions.
About the personalities: I guess every character has a bit of his creator. xD
Those two are quite stereotypical and I'm mostly using them to learn to design characters. I mostly chose to make Veyt that way to learn to draw a "manly" and rather negative character. I also have one in mind who is quite the opposite, but I don't feel comfortable enough to draw this one yet. It's just practice and not so much of personal preference. ^^
Thank you for the praise and the helpful words! I'll do my best to keep improving.
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Actually, I meant to mention something in my original comment but forgot! I meant to say that the four expressions that I drew had a copied-and-pasted base face, with only the eyes and mouth changed (though the pouty one had the head rotated a bit too, using the move tool rather than by redrawing it)... and yet they turned out okay, I'd say. So I think it's actually quite hurtful and counterproductive for your teacher to say it was a waste of time to do that... D:
Especially since I know exactly what you mean about it being overwhelming to have to do EVERYTHING at once. I mostly mentioned the copying-and-pasting thing you did because I rely on that a lot in order to focus on one part in particular without having to worry about other tricky bits like consistency!
So I certainly don't think you failed; far from it! Every step takes you forward, closer to your goal, and big challenges take many little steps; there's no sense in diving in the deep end if swimming is tough, because you'll probably just end up developing a fear of water!! Or something!!1
I know what you mean about worrying things will turn out ugly and unrecognisable... Actually, with the expressions I did myself using this sheet a while back, I was getting that feeling a lot, like they were just turning out ugly and ugh. Now I can't even look at those drawings anymore, apparently; I just cringe at the thought... o_O
I suppose that's something that we both need to 'get over'... but that comes through practice and experience rather than by flipping some mental switch, I think.
Fair enough about wanting to draw a 'manly' character; I can understand that! Especially since I always used to draw girls who looked like guys (and I think girls usually have the opposite problem, from what I've seen), and making a really girly character specifically so then I could focus on the girliness helped with that.
That reminds me... Have you ever heard of the idea that men are drawn with hard, square shapes while women are drawn with curves and circles ? It's something I've been thinking about a lot recently with my own designs!
I'm just glad to be of help, and it's great if my words encourage you in some way! I really admire your desire to improve; like I think I've said before, it's really inspiring and makes me want to try harder too! And I just know that with that attitude, you'll achieve great things!
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Aww, thank you very much for the kind words! Now I feel a lot better and motivated!
You're right, things will get better with practice and experience. It's just really hard in the beginning when you want to draw everything perfectly but just can't.
Yeah, I heard about the "angular vs curvy" thing and I think there is a lot of truth behind it. But I think I should first focus on drawing "realistic" people before I can simplify them. You're a lot better with anatomy and I think your girls look like girls.
Please keep being an awesome idol! xP
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Yes, expressions are the best! I like the female's irritated and WTF looks the best ^^
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Thank you! I'm glad you like it.
Yeah, I'm quite proud how they turned out, since it's really hard for me to draw proper expressions. I somehow don't want to deform the face of my characters and make them look ugly - I know it's silly. xD
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Welcome!
I sometimes have that mistake XD
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