Right now I'm reading "The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression" by Gary Faigin.
I must have seen this book in stores and on friends' shelves dozens of times and for some reason it never made an impression on me. Maybe all the formal anatomy put me off, maybe the author's drawing style failed to impress. It's funny how you can be indifferent to something one day and be utterly blown away by it the next. That's what happened here. I love this book now!
Here's a sample lesson dealing with the way we smile. I'll begin with a description of the human mouth. OK, think of the mouth as a Coke can. The teeth (above) wrap around the can then, at the ends, the mouth flares out a little to the side. 
Here's (above, left) a downshot of the human muzzle at rest. The Coke can effect isn't evident because the muscles around the mouth are slack and sagging and cover up the can. The mouth is flat against the face.
Now the face smiles (above, right). The smile muscles pull back the skin around the mouth and stretch it in the direction of the ear. The Coke can is now revealed.
I know what you're thinking: what happened to the muscles that used to sag and droop around the muzzle? Where did they go? The answer is that they travelled up into the cheeks!!!! Um... well... don't quote me on that.
The chin seems to raise a little when we smile. I suppose that's because the skin and muscles in that area stretch out and become thin. That dimple on the extreme left, next to the cheek, seems to indicate that a muscle up there is pulling on the chin.
I know what you're thinking: what happened to the muscles that used to sag and droop around the muzzle? Where did they go? The answer is that they travelled up into the cheeks!!!! Um... well... don't quote me on that.
I'm ashamed to say that I don't know how muscles expand and contract. I assume the fibers elongate and contract like the straw tube in a Chinese finger trap. Whatever the real explanation I prefer to think that the mouth muscles have little legs and run up into the cheeks where they sit and play cards till the mouth is ready to normalize again. It's my blog so I can believe whatever I want.
The chin seems to raise a little when we smile. I suppose that's because the skin and muscles in that area stretch out and become thin. That dimple on the extreme left, next to the cheek, seems to indicate that a muscle up there is pulling on the chin.
Fascinating, isn't it!? I'll post more about this as I read it.
BTW, thanks to the commenter who recommended this book a couple of weeks ago!
BTW, thanks to the commenter who recommended this book a couple of weeks ago!
Eddie, for extensive material on facial muscles, flip through Eliot Goldfinger's "Human Anatomy for Artists". He has a very detailed chapter about facial expressions and how the muscles manifest them. He shows photos of each expression next to an under drawing of the muscles pointed out.
ReplyDeleteHilarious drawing!
Muscles don't expand, they only contract. They can pull, but they can't push. This is why you've got biceps on the front of your arms and triceps on the back. You need two sets of muscles able to contract in opposing directions or you could only bend your elbow in one direction.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing is true about muscles in the face.
Uncle Eddie - don't you have more sense than to stuff a whole Coke can in your mouth? If you keep doing silly things like that, your teeth will splay out. (Hmmm, maybe I should have said something sooner....)
ReplyDeletehey no problem eddie, glad I could point you in the right direction!
ReplyDeleteLOOKIT DESE MUGS!
ReplyDeleteAwesome info, never really thought about the muscles of the cheeks and how they affect the chin. Will have to put some of that good info to use
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHA!!! That drawing you drew is beyond scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAmir: Thanks for the tip! I'll look it up!
ReplyDeleteMark: That sounds right.
Craig: Wow! Thanks for the terrific link! Learning to Share is an interesting site!
Pete: I checked out your blog and it was great! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteMark: I'm sure you're right about muscles not expanding but, if they don't, then what makes the cheeks bulge when you laugh?
ReplyDeleteEddie, some of the main muscles in a smile are connected from your cheekbones to the corners of your mouth. They contract when you smile, pulling the corners of your mouth farther apart and closer to your cheekbones. The flesh that exists between your cheekbones and mouth has to go somewhere when the distance between your cheekbones and your mouth shrinks, so the flesh bulges outward.
ReplyDeleteDo a post on all the different kinds of penises eddie! Im working on an erotic/slapstick comic book and I have hardly anything to reference when it comes to erect cartoon penises:(
ReplyDelete^-- I think that's a problem we all share.
ReplyDeleteUh, anyway Eddie, you've admitted your admiration for the Fountainhead- have you read Ayn Rand's Romantic Manifesto? It's a brilliant discourse on the importance of art to man. Really, anyone should read it...her thoughts on modern art, and unnamed post-modernism are nigh perfect. Agnostic though she is, her faith in the strength and power of human volition & principle is inspiring.
It's kind of like John K's blog in book form, in terms of influence and impact.
What makes the cheeks bulge when you laugh?
ReplyDeleteThe same thing that makes them "bulge" when you smile(see again Mark's comment above). A human laughing has their face in the same open/smile position as when smiling. I think it's impossible to laugh broadly without "smiling".
As for the other post "if that's true, then why doesn't the skin wrinkle": it's just anatomy, and the fat layer underneath the cheeks. There are the obvious laugh lines/"marionette" lines on the sides of he eyes and from nose to mouth that do crease when laughing or smiling, but the more naturally elastic and young or simply well-cared for skin is, retaining that fatty layer underneath the skin, you don't get the excessive wrinkling you seem to think should be there.
I can't understand why this obsessses you so, though, or why it's surprising--you're writing like a non-humanoid martian or a cat who's never lived among people, instead as a human yourself. I think all the evidence/explanation(besides being in most anatomy book)is all around you!
*puzzled*
If you want to put wrinkles where they aren't in real life, sure! Why the heck not.
But they don't occur on the human face that way. I can see you disagree with the design, though. ; )
I particularly like your sketch illustrating your Cheek Muscles Theory, Eddie. It's looks like Richard Nixon morphing into Milton Berle! :)
ReplyDeleteAnon: I think I'll leave penises to someone else.
ReplyDeleteWilliam: Interesting idea!
Jenny: Yes, but....naw, I gotta let this cheek thing go.
Pete: Son of a Gun! It does look like Nixon and Berle!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteo hey guys
ReplyDelete