✑ ANDREW LOOMIS on FUN WITH A PENCIL ◇ PART ONE, S2

FUN WITH A PENCIL  ◇ PART ONE, S2

Today on the JUFSEN BOOK CLUB, we'll discuss Part One, Section 2, BLOOK EXPRESSIONS, of the old but gold 
Fun With A Pencil : How Everybody Can Easily Learn to Draw, released 1939 by the American illustrator Andrew Loomis. 

This is a summation in own words. All credit goes to author and creator of the book, Andrew Loomis. 

For simplicity's sake, Part One, HOW TO DRAW FUNNY FACES has been divided into three Sections. 

Section 1 ✿ BLOOK BASICS  p. 13 to p. 24
꧁ Section 2 ✿ BLOOK EXPRESSIONS p. 25 to p. 35 ꧂
Section 3 ✿ BLOOK ACCURACY p. 26 to p. 49

... Section 2, BLOOK EXPRESSIONS of Part One opens up the cookie jar, where Professor Blook gives us a bite to taste a whole tray of different expressions. A BIG help when it comes to reference for your very own, imaginative Blook.
One key note to take from Blook's Expression Chart is, as he says himself "Expression is a matter of personal interpretation (...) Every face varies, but there are fundamental things that happen in the face for every kind of emotion". 
Here's both a subjective and objective take.

You can either look at the expressions of the face in an objective way, studying the facial muscles which Leonardo Da Vinci did in his designation of "Moti Mentali" (Motions of the Mind). (Take a look in Stephen Rogers's Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist, where he covers briefly but nicely the expressions of the face.)
Or you can view the emotions in a more subjective, personal way, creating a character YOU think display, more accurately, what the terms happiness or sadness, for example, means to you.

In the end, what is more important to consider, no matter the objective or subjective way, is that you as the artist, are able to empathize with your character you have created.  By all means, HAVE FUN! Act out the emotions you want for your Blook, in the mirror for example. Study and observe what happens with your face when you make an angry, happy, sad, fearful, furious, worried, suspicious, and so on, face.

ALSO, a key thing to take notice of, is that most of the emotions we feel are not so superficial, they're ambivalent. All can be mixed and mingled in their own unique ways. An angry pair of eyebrows, combined with a happy smile, gives a whole new emotion for you to express.

Something that is recommended, no matter your media, is that before diving into that exciting and fun stuff of expressing emotion, that you're able to express those emotion, through draftsmanship or technique. Make sure you are confident and able with your media.


A list of different expressions and their characteristics. Find other emotions you would find fun to draw!(Here's some trivia for you... Do you know that we share most of our human expressions with bonobos and chimpanzees?)

THE SMILE

Squinting of the eyes, folding under the eyes. Round cheeks pointing out and an accompanying wide, smiling mouth. Use mainly round and smooth shapes.

THE LAUGH

Squeezing of the cheeks near the eyes. Tilting of eyes near the cheeks, at the outside corners. Corners of mouth meet the underside of the cheek. Show the upper teeth only. Use mainly round and smooth shapes.

THE SOUR

Make use of Shape Emotion, mainly angular, that is with sharp corners, combined with blocky shapes. 

THE FURIOUS

Let the eyes of your character POP out, as if bursting with rage. Distend the nostrils and SHOW teeth. Open the corners of the mouth and widen the mouth.

IN SURPRISE, ANXIETY, PITY, ELATION, FEAR, ANTICIPATION AND DELIGT

All of these emotions share one important detail, that is, the eyebrows are elevated. The eyebrows alone are powerful in showing a variety of emotion.

IN DOUBT, PERPLEXITY, SUSPICION, DISGUST, DISDAIN, ANNOYANCE, ANGER, FURY AND HILARITY

The eyebrows of the face point downwards to the eyes.




NOW, to spice up the usual dish of Blooks!

✏ One circle
Make two OVERLAPPING circles. One larger, smaller, stretched, longer or just the same than the other circle. 
Draw a tight rubber band around your two circles to indicate form and direction, then begin building detail on your head.

✏ TWO CIRCLES
Another fun and trick way can be to draw a circle again, round or lopsided. Now make two smaller circles, representing the cheeks of the face, then proceed as usual, making the nose, eyes, ears and so on.

✏ THREE CIRCLES!
Draw one small circle. This is your nose! Connect two other larger circles, one for your cranium, one for your jaw, then draw, as said before, a line wrapping around your circles, giving your drawing a spark of form and dimensionality.

✏ FACE BUILDING
Create a Blook Ball. From that Ball, determine an angle, then make use of the other Basics Forms we touched on earlier to build the other half of the head. If you take "Solid Forms" that are closely similar to the proportions of the human face, BOOM! There you have your first character with a hint of realism! It's that easy and fun, once you know the Blook Method.



Let's end this summation with a clever little concept, called PROJECTION

Say you have a face, that you feel proud to have created. Now how do you put this face into various dynamic poses? USE PROJECTION!

𝄐 Take your favourite Blook head.
𝄐 Figure out the front view of that head. 
𝄐 Now make straight, horisontal lines from key points of the face, such as the  nose, eyes, mouth and so on, projecting outwards.
𝄐 Create a side profile of your head, making sure you stay put on the measuring lines you made before.

𝄐 CONGRATS! Now with a front and side profile established, you can tilt and rotate the ball in more free and dynamic ways, making an unlimited variety of poses.

Nearly at the finish line! But before we make it, let's see how to make your very own caricature by the use of a fun tool, called DISTORTION

𝄐 Take any head, from a photograph, a painting, or maybe your very own Blook.
𝄐 "Square off", that is make a bunch of even squares, around the subject you choose to distort, make as many as you like.
𝄐 You can now use your squared tracing of the subject, to make a separate tracing, now changing the size of squares, making some bigger, some smaller, and putting the big ones where your area of interest lies. 

This is your chance for fun and amusing ORIGINAL INVENTION!


Anything missed? Feel free, to comment and share your thoughts down below. What's your take on human expression?

As always, thank you reading. 

See you around!

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