8fish - Making Faces: Drawing Expressions For Comics And Cartoons

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8fish

8FISH is a jack-of-all-trades creative workshop that has been producing mind-blowing animation, design and illustration for over ten years. The secret to 8fish's success is a feisty team of incredibly talented and versatile artists who constantly challenge themselves and each other. Their combined artistic knowledge is enough to fill volumes, but currently they are working on unloading it one book at a time.

Making Faces: Drawing Expressions for Comics and Cartoons. Copyright 2008 by 8fish. Manufactured in Singapore. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by IMPACT Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First Edition.

Other fine IMPACT Books are available from your local bookstore, art supply store or direct from the publisher at www.fwpublications.com.

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DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA BY FRASER DIRECT
100 Armstrong Avenue
Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4
Tel: (905) 877-4411

DISTRIBUTED IN THE U.K. AND EUROPE BY DAVID & CHARLES
Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England
Tel: (+44) 1626 323200, Fax: (+44) 1626 323319
Email: postmaster@davidandcharles.co.uk

DISTRIBUTED IN AUSTRALIA BY CAPRICORN LINK
P.O. Box 704, S. Windsor NSW, 2756 Australia
Tel: (02) 4577-3555

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
8fish.
Making faces : drawing expressions for comics and cartoons / 8fish.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-60061-049-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-60061-362-3 (EPUB)
1. Facial expression in art. 2. Drawing--Technique. 3. Comic books, strips, etc.--Technique. I. Title.
NC770.A15 2008
741.5'1--dc22 2008000755

Edited by Jeffrey Blocksidge
Designed by Wendy Dunning
Production coordinated by Matt Wagner

METRIC CONVERSION CHART

Acknowledgments

We'd like to acknowledge the whole gang at 8fish. It was an awesome experience to work on this together, and everyone's individual contributions, really made this book special. Big thanks to Pam Wissman for letting us in on the fun, and Jeffrey Blocksidge for helping us conceptualize and complete this project. Lastly, thanks to all the aspiring artists who will surely buy multiple copies of this book for years to come.

Dedication

BENTo Jess and Lilly, the loves of my life.

BRANDONTo Mom, for always keeping the desk drawer stocked with paper.

BRONZETo my dad, Roland Swallow. He's the reason I draw for a living. He was passionate about art and took a creative approach in all things. An average father may have dissuaded me from making a career in art, but not my dad. I love him.

GIBBSTo my dad, who taught me to love art, and to my college professors, who took all the fun out of it by giving me a more critical eye.

BLAKETo Mom and Dad, for all the encouragement.

ERNIETo my wife, Wendy, and our girls.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION The Power of Expression

It's no big surprise that art and expression are commonly considered synonymous. In some art movements this may not be the case, but once we enter the world of comics, its unarguable. Comics began as a pulp medium: their primary purpose was to grab the reader's attention with sensationalism and larger-than-life drama. Comics have since expanded into broader areas of sophistication and subtlety, but they still are all about expression. All comics have characters, and all characters have expressions.

Chances are, you already know how to draw some expressions. You can draw someone that looks happy, sad or angry. But you can get only so far with happy, sad and angry. If you truly want to create characters that are realistic, three-dimensional and engaging, you have to start delving into the infinite number of varied and complex expressions beyond happy, sad and angry. Why? Because the human experience (even for superheroes) is way more interesting.