#i tried to format the pictures nicely but tumblr is sh*tting itself rn and putting everything in a single column

[ambivartence]

Hi i really love your artstyle! Idk if you have a faq or anything but i was wondering if you have any tips for drawing faces, you're really good at recreating expressions im jealous

omg thank u 💕 honestly i still struggle w expressions which is why a lot of my drawings veer towards neutral-expression references LOL. I can try explaining my thought process when I drew Haechan a few weeks ago, and hopefully you might find something interesting from that.^^ (it's lowkey the only drawing that i have a sketch screenshot of) Also, weird advice but you should totally do those quizzes of guess X kpop member by their eyes / nose / lips (I added some links below the cut) because you'll learn a lot as u get better at them. You'll start to pay attention to what makes people distinctive even if they're not kpop idols!

Here's a preview of what's under the cut:

So, here's the reference and my final drawing of Haechan:

I usually start my sketch with basic placement of features and get the face outline similar. I always start with an oval which helps put down the initial cross lines.

Sorry, my sketch just reminds me of jaemin making that iconic "PYONG" sound effect haha. Anyways, I just want a rough idea of where things are so I can start drawing on features, but you can see that it isn't that far off.

There's also a lot of things that make people look distinctive that have nothing to do with getting placement correct. A lot of idols have distinctive moles (Haechan, Jeno, Mark, V, DK, Seungkwan, etc.). Even if they're covered by makeup, I just google the person's name + "moles" or + "no makeup" and add them on so it more looks like them :) For eyes, lips, etc... just find a quiz and you will learn more than anything I can explain AND/OR you will go insane lmfao. Some examples:

- NCT: lips (2017), eyes (2018), eyes (2021)

- BTS: lips, lips, eyes, there's literally a million more

- Seventeen: lips, eyes + nose + lips, eyes, eyes, eyes

Once I draw the features in, I use the lasso tool or liquify on Photoshop to move stuff around until it just looks more like them. (I spend the vast majority of my time doing this LOL.) If it doesn't look like them, I flip the canvas horizontally (and the reference picture) so I'll have "fresh eyes" for a bit to find mistakes and discrepancies.

Here you can see that I ended up shifting the eyes and nose, as well as correcting the jawline angle (the original sketch jawline was too steep/sharp and haechan has a pretty soft jawline bc of his baby face).

Of course my drawings aren't completely identical. Some stuff I change a little on purpose, like here I exaggerated how curved his neck and chin were, but I tried to balance all the roundness with straight lines like the one on his cheekbone and along his jawline. And there's always a good smattering of small mistakes I can learn from :) Here, I made the right ear too high up, which is such an easy thing to spot if I remember to look for it, since the ears are supposed to be level across the face. Also I lowkey just put his neck mole randomly, so it also should've been to the right of his nose-lips vertical and not directly below.

Anyways I hope that was like at least 1% helpful lol if you have questions on how to draw specific people or features or something just ask!! My struggle to try to achieve a good likeness in my drawing is always ongoing, so thank y'all for being patient as I keep learning.^^ And good luck w ur own drawings everyone! Fighting 😂