Manga Drawing Basics – Expressions

When you are drawing, the expression on your character’s face is all important. It conveys what is going on inside their mind and heart. Expression is conveyed through various changes and movements in the mouth, eyes and eyebrows. It doesn’t matter if you are drawing a normal character or a deformed chibi, the rules for drawing expression remain the same.

If you are unsure how an expression looks that you want to draw, study your own face in the mirror. Observe where your eyebrows go when you make each expression. How is your mouth shaped? What about your eyes… are they wide open, partially shut or closed?

Laughter affects the face a lot. The louder the laugh, the bigger the mouth will be and the eyes will be more tightly closed. Notice the cheek lines accentuate the effect on a character that is laughing hard compared to the one that is chuckling.

Crying causes the eyebrows to bend backwards and the eyes are pulled by the eyebrow muscles. Pay attention to how the tears fall down the cheek. The mouth should reflect the amount of anguish your character is feeling.

Depending on how angry your character is, the muscles will tend to bunch in the center of the face… the angrier the character is, the more lines to show this. Extreme anger affects the ends of the eyes, lifting them up. Compare the two angry faces. One is obviously displeased, and the other is venting her anger out loud. Notice the difference in how the eyebrows look.

Surprise is shown with wide eyes and maybe a drop of sweat to show a more extreme reaction. The mouth drops open and the eyes are reduced to pupils.

There are also some tricks you can use that are only used in manga to convey emotion and expression. When a character is extremely emotional in a comedic situation, tears are often shown running down the cheeks of the character in sheets. Notice how these simple lines easily convey the emotion.

Practice drawing different expressions until you are satisfied that your drawing is conveying the emotion you want. Work on consistency and simplicity. The confidence you develop in your drawing skills will begin to show after you’ve put in the practice. Whether you want to draw single pictures or you want to develop your own manga with a storyline and everything, learning to draw expressions will serve you well.

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