50 Facial Expressions and How to Draw Them
Here’s a guide to drawing a variety of different emotions, moods, and characters.
Tips for Drawing Facial Expressions
The Most Important Features
- The Eyes – Probably the most important feature for evoking a clear emotion. Utilize the eyelids and eyebrows to create your effect.
- The Cheeks – The way they squash and stretch will affect the look and position of the eyes.
- The Mouth – The shape of the mouth is also very important. It affects how the cheeks move and the shape of the entire face.
Additional Tips
- Note that when you move the shape and position of one feature, it affects everything else. Nothing stands completely on its own.
- For a stronger drawing and character, really push the expression. Instead of simply drawing a happy person, draw one that is ecstatic; instead of drawing an angry person, draw a furious one.
- Have a mirror nearby. When I’m trying to nail down an expression, I often find my own face making weird movements unconsciously. It can make for good reference.
Facial Expressions Chart
Happy
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Ecstatic
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Content
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Sad
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Depressed
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Embarrassed
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Nervous
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Angry
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Furious
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Devious
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Bored
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Annoyed
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Surprised
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Tired
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Exhausted
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Disgusted
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Something Stinks
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Are You Kidding Me?
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Hyper
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Grumpy
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Proud
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Cute
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Snob
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Brat
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Evil
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Sneeze
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Sour
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Talking
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Shouting
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Laughing
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Excited
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Twitterpated
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Smile!
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Fake Smile
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Wink
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Asleep
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Shut Tight
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Kiss
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Scared
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Terrified
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Studly
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Tough
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Intimidating
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Stoic
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Intense
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Goofy
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Serious
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Thinking
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Supermodel
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Confused
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Download a PDF version here.
Feel free to leave additional tips, comments, links, and info by commenting on this post at DaniDraws.com.
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58 responses to 50 Facial Expressions and How to Draw Them
Hi DaniDraws,
I needed to story board some scenes I don’t have for a DVD slideshow and peoples faces have always been my weak spot. Thanks a bunch, your techniques are great. Thanks for sharing…
This was brilliant and useful! Thanks for the great resource!
Really great resource. Extremely useful. Thank you!
G’day mate. This was really helpful so thanks a lot. Just like Nathan above, I was doing a storyboard and was having great trouble with character expressions. So good on ya!
i love these!!!
HUGE help, thanks:D
Really loved the experssions….
It was a huge help …… for a lesson that i had to cover for the Art teacher
Hey, thanks so much for sharing this, would be a great help for my little clay animation project!
I’m so excited to start practicing this with my own OCs. :D