Expressions Reference

My contribution to a project that ~chronicdoodler is trying to start. From her comments:

So I am trying my hand to see if I can inspire a project to help provide more reference resources for artists here on DA.

My wishful thinking is, we have a million glamour shots and wistful looking beauties here on DA, but for the cartoon artist we rely on our own reflection to capture the melodrama and nuances of expressions. It would be very interesting to see individuals with their unique and expressive faces run the gamut of human emotion and help us learn how to draw others better!


I thought this was an awesome idea. Using a mirror to reference expressions is great, but not all of my characters look like me or share my personality, and there are some expressions that I can't really do justice to (i.e. Gabriel's look of smug superiority- I just don't take myself seriously enough to pull it off) so it's helpful to see different face types and personalities emoting. Feel free to use as reference, and check out everyone else's too!

Download for full-size, if you need to get up close to see one better.

Original (with a link to all the completed templates): [link]