Things I Avoid When Drawing Faces!

Since we are almost done with the face exercises, I thought it would be useful for me to share some things I often avoid when drawing faces and why. These are not "bad things", but instead, small tweaks can make faces look a bit odd if that's not the intention. Let's dive in.

1. Detailed Teeth

Making lines to define each tooth's shape makes the smile feel grotesque and is unnecessary most of the time. By slightly defining one part of the separation between the teeth on top and below, you will maintain a clean look for the character's teeth. This tip is particularly useful when teeth are part of slight gestures like a smile, but sometimes for aggressive looks or action expressions, defining the teeth a bit more can help boost this energy.

2. Facial Expression Lines

This works for older people but can make young or normal characters look stressed out. This is because, in order for shapes to cast these lines, facial features might be quite pronounced to create a shadow. The fewer expression lines your character has around the eyes, forehead, or cheeks, the younger and calmer they will look.

3. Nostril Ala

The ala of the nose refers to the outer wing-like part on each side of the nostrils, contributing to the nostril's shape and structure. This line is often defined when you want to signify a character smelling something or when a character is angry. If your character is in neither of these scenarios, adding this line might make the nose look weird. If the character has a thick nose, I prefer to simply make the nostril line bigger.

4. Upper Lip Line

This is more of a recent thing since I used to draw this line in the past. But it applies especially for female characters. I like to define this line only when it is line art with no color or values, as I like to suggest how big the lip is in one subtle way. But after adding colors and values, I tend to erase it since it looks like a mustache.

Conclusion

These small adjustments might seem silly, but often, these silly stuff are the ones that make you wonder why the character feels weird, ugly, or odd. Pay attention to these small tips and let me know if it helped.

I'll be sharing more of these in the future for you to be aware. In the meantime, and just for fun, I challenge you to draw all these things I suggest you to avoid and drop it in our #sketch channel on Discord. You will win 10 Skill Points! Here is mine.

Good luck!