Facial Expression Gesture Drawing - Pen or Marker Only!

Drawing faces can be tricky, but making those faces fun and expressive is even more challenging! In this one-time class, young artists will learn what basic elements make an expression (such as the way an eyebrow raises or the corners of the mouth turn), how to simplify facial expressions, and practice drawing faces! To encourage simplification, reduce the looming stress of "perfection", and demonstrate the power of a confident line, young artists will only use non-erasable markers or pens in this class. 

This class will begin with a brief introduction to the class and ourselves. After, I will guide young artists through a 15-minute line and shape drawing exercise that will help them get used to using non-erasable materials for drawing and build expressive faces. Once our warm-up is concluded, we will use the Facial Proportions Reference sheet to practice drawing a neutral face using what we learned in our warm-up. This short drawing will help young artists recognize and memorize ideal facial proportions. Then, we will use our Expressions Reference sheet to examine what elements make an expression. Learners will be asked to identify the expression on the reference and asked what characteristics they think make up that expression.  Once young artists on confident in their proportions and knowledge of expression, we will practice several short gesture drawings of faces. Our gestures will be in 5 and 2 minute intervals- the short time period encourages simplification, forces learners to produce a quantity of drawings, and allows them to practice observation skills. We will practice gestures of expressions until the end of class! 

Facial Expression Gesture Drawing is class based in observational drawing. Our goal is not to produce realistic portraits, but to practice drawing expressions and make the drawings themselves expressive!