Facial Expressions for Artists: Techniques for Capturing Emotion and Mood in Portrait and Character Drawings

by Oliver Sin

Breathe life into your portraiture with this inclusive guide to drawing the full range of human emotions, from fear to rage, grief to joy. An accurate depiction of a subject or character’s facial expression is the key to conveying their individuality as well as authentic emotion or mood. Written and illustrated by Oliver Sin, celebrated portrait artist, veteran instructor, and author of Drawing the Head for Artists, Facial Expressions for   Shows how the skull and facial musculature translate into the planes of the face Covers subtle emotions like anxiety and irritation as well as unrestrained ones like exuberance and despair Features models with a variety of facial types and ethnic and racial backgrounds Includes gesture drawings to demonstrate how certain expressions are supported or complemented by body language and physical poses Whatever your skill level, and whether you’re drawing or painting an individual’s portrait or developing a character-driven story, Facial Expressions for Artists will inspire and inform you on how to successfully portray authentically expressive and distinctive emotions in your drawings. The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art. Also available from the  Drawing the Head for Artists, Essential Human Anatomy for Artists, Figure Drawing for Artists, Life Drawing for Artists, Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists, Dynamic Still Life for Artists, Landscape Painter’s Workbook, Plein Air Techniques for Artists, and Sketching Techniques for Artists.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2024

Reviews

[Helen O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oliver Sin is a talented artist, and this book is filled with numerous examples of his work, used largely to illustrate what he's explaining. His ability to capture faces is impressive and it can be hard to imagine you could ever achieve such beautiful and accurate work. He has a very particular style however, which is consistent throughout, and while one might be inspired by the creations of others, it's important to work to your own style and motivations.

This book spends the first half describing the anatomy of the face in an easy to understand way, but is comprehensive and clear. The next quarter is dedicated to depicting emotions, again in an accurate and reasonably comprehensive way. Not all the illustrations represent the emotion being described, but that in itself is interesting as it causes you to explore why you're reading a face in a particular way, and what elements are different from what is being described. The latter part of the book describes the elements of faces from babyhood to old age in good detail.

Overall a helpful, interesting and well presented book. And if you like Oliver Sin's work you will have a volume of them to explore and enjoy.

[73pctGeek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Facial Expressions for Artists by Oliver Sin.

The book begins with a short preface of the importance of anatomy, and then dives right into the five chapters covering the skull and essential muscles of the head, anatomy of the eye, anatomy of the ear, mouth and nose, expressions and the ageing face, and finally capturing expressions. It ends with a four-page index.

This book is dense with text and beautiful drawings. Covering facial anatomy in-depth and with clarity, it's a book to return to time and time again, but it's absolutely not aimed at beginners. Confident artists who want to level up their portraits should immediately buy a copy and devour it, they won't regret it.

I'm buying a copy upon publication and will study it to the best of my ability, but in truth this is more of an inspirational and aspirational work for me right now. Meanwhile, I'll be returning to Sin's previous book, "Drawing The Head For Artists" which is also fantastic but a little more accessible for my level.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Facial Expressions for Artists offers an in-depth look at creating realistic expressions in your drawings. The focus of this book was more on understanding the anatomy in faces than on drawing/shading techniques, but while it gave correct terms for different bones and muscles, it didn't do so in a way that made it feel like a stodgy medical textbook, aided by the frequent and beautiful illustrations in each chapter. I particularly liked the fact that the book covered multiple ages and ethnic backgrounds, highlighting the different approaches needed for each. This would be a useful guide for artists at any level who already have texts on drawing techniques but who are looking for more details knowledge of how faces are structured and what anatomical changes take place when different emotions are expressed. I am giving it 4.5 stars.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book for intermediate and advanced artists that will help improve your portrait drawings. Going from the basics to complex expressions, and including every age group, this is an excellent guide and reference book. The artist's drawings are incredibly detailed and a great inspiration. Highly recommend.

[Tara Blais Davison · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Good theoretical information, the corresponding images, however, are too few and not large or detailed enough.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle to find craft books that cater to my level of experience - especially with books about portraiture and figure drawing, and just as in this example, anatomy usually takes up a huge chunk of the book, but will bore someone who is medically trained. These are truly the very basics treated here (don't quote me on my wording, but there are literally definitions of what an eyebrow is, and other facts you don't need to open a book for, let alone attend med school).

On the other hand, Sin shares some valuable advice on the more practical aspects of portrait drawing that clearly come from years of experience. Something I have yet to see mentioned in similar works, which was really expanded on here, were the faces of different age groups. To be precise, the details one must pay attention to when depicting a child or adolescent, and how a face changes in old age. Intermingled with a variety of examples of the author's own craftmanship, that was truly impressive!

***I received a digital copy from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.***