The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression

by Gary Faigin

Artists love this book, the definitive guide to capturing facial expressions. In a carefully organized, easy-to-use format, author Gary Faigin shows readers the expressions created by individual facial muscles, then draws them together in a section devoted to the six basic human emotions: sadness, anger, joy, fear, disgust, and surprise. Each emotion is shown in steadily increasing intensity, and Faigin’s detailed renderings are supplemented by clear explanatory text, additional sketches, and finished work. An appendix includes yawning, wincing, and other physical reactions. Want to create portraits that capture the real person? Want to draw convincing illustrations? Want to show the range of human emotion in your artwork? Get The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression!


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference, Psychology, Comics, Design

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[Cheesecake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just for the drawing references alone this book is gold. But he also goes on to explain what makes each emotion evident on a person's face.
After reading it I could pick out what some actors were doing wrong.
And since acting is a big part of animation...

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

This book should be a compulsory book for all artists, all those that draw faces anyway.

It's a in-depth instructional art book on facial expressions. The three main sections are on head structure, facial muscles and the six basic human emotions: sadness, anger, joy, fear, disgust and surprise. Every little nuance or muscle twitch on the face is analysed and explained. Other than the drawings created by the author Gary Faigin himself, there are also tons of examples included from other media like posters, cartoons, etc.

The write-up is really exhaustive and interesting. You'll find out why smiling too much hurts, the differences between a sleepy eye and one that's looking down and a whole lot more. It's not only useful for drawing, but also very practical in real life with the new found ability to differentiate real from fake expressions — reading faces.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

[Fenra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought the book because I like to draw people and wanted to improve myself and this book helped actually a lot. It's built up very well and shows very clearly how people perceive various facial expressions and when they seem kind of off to us. This book shows things like false smiles which is really not that easy to describe and even harder to draw.

I think everyone who wants to illustrate the inner thoughts of the persons he's drawing should have a look at this book.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reference for anyone portraying the human face in any medium. It is both practical and thoughtful; it draws examples and illustrations from all cultures and historical periods, and shows in great detail, feature by feature, how the face reflects each of the primary emotions, down to the underlying musculature that causes our expressions to be what they are. I used this when making some mask-type sculptures and found it helped me achieve much more powerful, authentic, and effective finished works. It also fascinates me as a psychotherapist - just browsing through this book helps me get better at reading subtle nonverbal cues when I'm talking with people.

[Anna Morgenstern · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely detailed, well-explained book about facial expressions and the movement of the face muscles. Good for reading and understanding better how expressions look and how the face twists to make that happen. Would also be great as "just-reference" book.
I cannot recommend this enough.

[Anna C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't totally sure about this book at first, because when I flipped through, many of the sample images seemed to be very overwrought and over-exaggerated portrayals of emotion. I was afraid that this book, like a lot of tutorials on drawing facial expressions, would be overly cartoonish.

However, I didn't need to be alarmed. This is actually a super detailed, nuanced, and anatomy-focused drawing guide. The text and illustrations are clear, with precise detail about the names and functions of every major facial muscle. I learned a lot, and fully expect to reread this book in a few years, when I've reached a higher skill level and can work with some of smaller and more technical aspects of expression.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book i indispensable to me as an artist. I cannot praise it enough. It is a detailed book with many drawings that I found very educational the first time I read it and the perfect reference each time I have read it or referred to it since. There have been many times I have turned to this book to work out sketches and character designs.

[Harlen Astrid]

it is good

[Barbara K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've seen this book recommended for two very different purposes, the intended one as art instruction, another as an aid in helping those with Asperger's or autism learn more about facial expressions.

It's a wonderful art instruction, in that it covers the anatomy of the face as well as the full range of facial expression. I'm not a serious portraitist, but I find that even my casual drawings of faces have tended to lack something in the past, something I wasn't coming to grips with. Even in drawing a cartoon face it's helpful to understand the structure of a real one and the subtle changes in muscle tension that create expressions.

This book will help anyone who's interested in drawing more realistic or expressive faces, from beginner to advanced.

[RatCreature · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very cool book with a great systematic approach as a reference for expressions. My only quibble with it is that the green overlaid color is on some pages slightly out of alignment in my copy. It's only a few millimeters but that kind of printing fault shouldn't happen in an art book. It's nowhere bad enough to impede usefulness or legibility, though.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has several references and helps you understand why and how the face works, how the muscles move and how much we communicate and show our emotions with our expressions, even small ones.

Amazing book!

[Ross Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best guide to facial expression I have ever read

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful and a book I will refer to for years to come!

[Jenni]

There's no hyperbole in the title - this truly is complete, and makes a very interesting read even if you're not an artist, but simply want to dig deep into facial expressions.

It goes over why and how facial expressions are as they are, describing the muscles that push and pull on our faces when we show emotion. I wasn't expecting to learn this much, to be honest, such as that there's one muscle on our faces that works involuntarily, and only in one expression (when we're sad). My other favorite bits were the comparisons between genuine smiles and fake smiles: in short, in a fake smile your mouth looks very boxy (and eyes are usually neutral-ish), and the examples cracked me up because they looked like pretty much every (American) kid's first day at school photos that get posted on social media, haha!

There are also cool comparisons between two drawings of a face, where only one section is altered (such as the wideness of eyes, or a fold near the mouth is removed), and how that telegraphs a totally different kind of emotion.

A great reference book!

[Konstancja · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression" by Gary Faigin is an excellent resource for artists of all skill levels. The book is well-organized and easy to navigate, with clear explanations and illustrations of the various facial expressions and emotions that can be conveyed through art. Faigin's expertise in the field of facial expression is evident throughout the book, as he provides detailed information on anatomy, physiology and psychology. He also offers tips and techniques for capturing realistic and expressive facial features in your artwork. Overall, "The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression" is an invaluable tool for any artist looking to improve their skills in this area. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in creating more expressive and impactful art.

[Shaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has all you need to understand facial expressions

[Mishqueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I'll likely never be able to duplicate the level of art demonstrated in the book, I enjoyed it nonetheless even just as a tool to practice emotional recognition. It also teaches about WHY the face looks the way it does during emotion, including musculature reactions.

[Jeremie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have for anyone doing human based computer graphics

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the two best artistic anatomy books I've ever seen. Filled with information that will, no joke, change your life.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for learning how to draw facial expressions. It clearly illustrates and explains the details necessary to convincingly pull off the expressions.

[Scott Kroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this out from the library, but I think I need to own it. Such a good book on facial expression.

[JordanDunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book is really interesting and educational for artist and readers.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful resource for both artists and readers interested in the work of Haggard and Isaacs, and Paul Ekman.

[Kwakwa Anthony]

i need to study the various facial expressions and how to draw them