Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Faces

Book excerpt: In Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Faces, artist and popular Skillshare instructor Amarilys Henderson shares her practical and creative techniques for drawing and painting faces with style and personality. Gathering supplies. Consider the creative possibilities of watercolor, ink, and markers, and create a mobile sketch pack so you can capture faces and expressions on the go. Simplifying the face and identifying proportions. Use photos to simplify the face’s key elements, learn about facial proportions and factors and variables for placing facial features, and apply these concepts through a simple warm up using a single color to paint a face in multiple values. Facial shapes and features. Learn about the five basic facial shapes and how to modify the chin line, ears, and hairline, and how to draw and paint mouths, eyes, and noses and make alterations to show pose and personality. Mixing color. The pigments and brushes you’ll need to achieve a wide range of realistic skin tones, shadows, and expressions. Bringing faces to life. Navigate the process from start to finish, learn to adjust line quality to suggest different genders and ethnicities, and change up artistic styling to put a unique spin on your creations. Project ideas. Get inspired by some cool ways to apply your new skills: party invitations, repeat patterns, comic books, and more! Don’t be intimidated by the challenge of drawing and painting faces. Improve your face game with Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Faces!