WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.191 So let's have a close-up look at the expression 00:03.203 --> 00:05.860 tests I created for the character Rain. 00:06.500 --> 00:09.408 This will be less of a tutorial and more of a 00:09.420 --> 00:12.340 walk-through or guide on how to achieve these 00:12.341 --> 00:14.780 expressions in a believable and appealing way. 00:16.100 --> 00:22.320 We already went over the smile, but I also created a mild version before that with 00:22.321 --> 00:25.592 less mouth movement and upwards movement on 00:25.604 --> 00:30.041 the brows instead of them kind of contracting inwards. 00:30.520 --> 00:33.992 This upwards movement is coming from the frontalis 00:34.004 --> 00:37.140 muscle that is covering most of the forehead. 00:37.920 --> 00:41.720 This way we have just the lower eyelid pushing up. 00:42.140 --> 00:46.280 Overall, this smile looks much more relaxed and can be held for much longer. 00:48.440 --> 00:53.560 For the open smile, it's mostly the same as the one we did in the previous video. 00:54.060 --> 00:57.080 The obvious difference is that the lips won't touch. 00:57.760 --> 01:00.229 Here again, it becomes very important that 01:00.241 --> 01:02.900 the upper lip is pretty much a straight line. 01:03.280 --> 01:08.620 This is due to the levator muscle, which is pulling on the lips as well. 01:09.200 --> 01:13.400 The teeth can rest against the lower lip so that there isn't 01:13.401 --> 01:17.280 much of an opening or they can at least be close to the teeth. 01:17.980 --> 01:24.100 The open mouth also comes a bit from the jaw rotation, so make sure to use the shape 01:24.101 --> 01:27.220 key you created before to open the mouth slightly. 01:28.240 --> 01:30.377 Blending the shape keys together to create 01:30.389 --> 01:32.640 new expressions is going to be very helpful. 01:34.460 --> 01:40.000 Another thing to keep in mind when closing the eyes 01:40.001 --> 01:41.320 a bit is that the apex of the eyelid stays the same. 01:41.900 --> 01:47.240 The apex is essentially the turning point of the arc on any of the two eyelids. 01:48.220 --> 01:53.260 It's definitely important to keep the lower eyelid from becoming a convex line. 01:53.680 --> 01:57.236 At most, the lower eyelid is becoming straight 01:57.248 --> 02:01.661 with two additional small corners to push it further upwards. 02:02.620 --> 02:05.749 The laugh expression is definitely more tricky 02:05.761 --> 02:09.561 because it's a very aggressive version of an open smile. 02:10.480 --> 02:15.580 This sort of expression definitely works better as an animation instead of a still 02:15.581 --> 02:19.680 image, since the expression is inherently kind of painful. 02:20.180 --> 02:22.702 This is the sort of expression that will make 02:22.714 --> 02:25.080 your face hurt if you keep it up too long. 02:25.740 --> 02:31.920 The muscle movement of the zygomaticus really gets pushed 02:31.921 --> 02:33.400 to the limit, so the mouth corners move pretty far. 02:34.200 --> 02:36.696 The lips roll in even more because of the 02:36.708 --> 02:39.460 tension and upwards movement and the distance 02:39.461 --> 02:42.820 from the upper lip to the nose becomes even smaller. 02:43.470 --> 02:47.362 The muscles around the eyes, like the orbicularis 02:47.374 --> 02:50.800 oculi, are also pushed further and the eyes 02:50.801 --> 02:54.360 become way more close than before, really contracted. 02:55.140 --> 03:00.680 With all that flash from the cheeks moved upwards, the lower eyelids are moving up 03:00.681 --> 03:06.660 quite a bit but are still at most flat with two corners that point downwards. 03:07.840 --> 03:11.287 The combined downwards movement of the brows 03:11.299 --> 03:14.600 and upwards movement of the cheeks and the 03:14.601 --> 03:20.680 nose sneer cause one crease or more to form on the nose bridge with added volume. 03:21.480 --> 03:25.080 The same happens in the space between the eyes and ears. 03:26.360 --> 03:31.360 Make sure to bulge them a little bit with the inflate 03:31.361 --> 03:32.600 brush to get that increase in volume in there. 03:33.440 --> 03:39.042 There's also the depressor supercili or supercili 03:39.054 --> 03:47.148 and corrugator or in short we're just going to reference it as the corrugator that 03:47.160 --> 03:51.841 moves the center of the brows more downwards and inwards. 03:52.600 --> 03:57.480 This muscle is generally responsible for the downwards movement of the brows. 03:57.481 --> 04:00.774 It's also important that it will always move 04:00.786 --> 04:03.940 on both sides of the face at the same time 04:03.941 --> 04:09.940 so it's naturally very hard to raise one eyebrow while pushing the center down. 04:10.820 --> 04:16.040 So a tip is to always see both eyebrows as a single connected line. 04:16.540 --> 04:21.760 There should be no visible break between them where one eyebrow is really moving 04:21.761 --> 04:25.520 up at the center and the other one is really moving down 04:25.521 --> 04:27.360 because it will look like the muscles got ripped apart. 04:28.080 --> 04:32.860 Just try it yourself in front of a mirror to raise 04:32.861 --> 04:33.861 one eyebrow while pushing down the other one. 04:33.940 --> 04:37.980 No matter how crazy you move them you can't really disconnect them. 04:39.260 --> 04:44.040 The brows moving inwards and downwards creates a 04:44.041 --> 04:45.041 crease that forms around the corner of the eyebrows. 04:47.180 --> 04:52.020 The jaw rotates probably even further which shows more of the inner mouth. 04:52.021 --> 04:57.040 Just make sure that the brows and jaw stay relatively consistent in their shape 04:57.041 --> 05:00.080 with only a little bit of removed or added volume. 05:00.860 --> 05:05.800 Especially on the brows it can be very easy to accidentally create a neanderthal 05:05.801 --> 05:10.280 version of your character or accidentally push in the 05:10.281 --> 05:12.480 bone structure which makes the face look super elastic. 05:14.020 --> 05:19.160 If we look at the reference photos again we can see the 05:19.161 --> 05:21.920 difference between a regular open smile and a full on laugh. 05:22.420 --> 05:26.540 The muscles get generally pushed further and the creases deepen. 05:27.280 --> 05:31.840 What can also happen is that the upper lip gets pushed 05:31.841 --> 05:34.340 even higher to reveal more gums instead of just the teeth. 05:35.000 --> 05:39.980 For the angry expression it's not too different since some similar muscles are used. 05:40.660 --> 05:44.720 So let's dissect the individual aspects of the angry look in the reference. 05:45.360 --> 05:48.000 The most important thing is of course the eyebrows. 05:48.001 --> 05:54.360 The corrugator again moves the middle section of the eyebrows down and inwards 05:54.361 --> 05:57.960 which creates the slight V-shape to the eyebrows. 05:59.440 --> 06:04.060 Don't overdo the V-shape though since you might end up with very Jack Nicholson 06:04.061 --> 06:08.600 looking eyebrows where the outer parts are being pushed upwards. 06:10.120 --> 06:16.220 Move the entire eyebrows down with an emphasis on the section between both of them. 06:16.221 --> 06:21.420 With that downwards movement there is a bunching up of flesh between the eyes 06:21.421 --> 06:26.180 which gets even stronger due to the sneer by the LL-SEN. 06:27.160 --> 06:31.100 This sneer is also pulling up the nose wings and 06:31.101 --> 06:33.320 the lips again which is very visible this time. 06:33.780 --> 06:36.600 The cheeks also get pushed up a little bit 06:36.601 --> 06:39.800 which is pronouncing the crease below the lower eyelids. 06:40.820 --> 06:43.800 Overall there is a lot of compression happening around the eyes 06:43.801 --> 06:47.140 which is also increasing the amount of volume in the area. 06:48.240 --> 06:54.300 The sneer and chin upwards movement by the LL-SEN 06:54.301 --> 06:56.560 and mentalis are really pushing up the lips. 06:57.140 --> 07:00.380 When this is also pulling on the skin around the jaw and cheek 07:00.381 --> 07:04.420 and with the strong pulling by the mentalis on 07:04.421 --> 07:07.500 the chin we get these noticeable dots forming. 07:08.760 --> 07:12.400 This is because the muscle is directly connected to the skin 07:12.401 --> 07:15.340 around the chin and is pulling on it to push up the area. 07:17.080 --> 07:19.240 When looking at the mouth from the side view 07:19.241 --> 07:23.060 it's also noticeable how the lower lip gets 07:23.061 --> 07:25.620 pushed forward slightly overlapping the upper lip. 07:26.200 --> 07:29.520 Since the upper lips get pushed up so much 07:29.521 --> 07:35.280 it creates an increase in volume so the upper lip bulges outwards a bit more. 07:36.120 --> 07:40.840 Looking at Rainn's angry expression we can see a lot of the same movement. 07:40.841 --> 07:44.900 Notable differences are that I pushed up the 07:44.901 --> 07:47.640 lower eyelids to make them straight lines again. 07:48.240 --> 07:55.120 I also pulled on the so called risorius muscle to exaggerate the frowning more. 07:55.660 --> 08:00.600 So the lips are being pushed up in the centre by the mentalis 08:00.601 --> 08:06.320 and the corners are pulled to the side and downwards by the risorius. 08:08.780 --> 08:11.040 Looking at Rainn's lips from the side 08:11.041 --> 08:15.880 we can see that clear forwards push by the lower lip. 08:16.420 --> 08:19.060 I also rolled the lips inwards a little bit more 08:19.061 --> 08:22.200 to exaggerate the motion and make the lips thinner. 08:23.300 --> 08:26.980 To exaggerate this even more you could rotate the jaw 08:26.981 --> 08:30.580 a little bit inwards to make her bite down even harder 08:30.581 --> 08:33.840 and compress the entire lower area of the face. 08:34.760 --> 08:37.200 Just don't overdo it though 08:37.201 --> 08:40.140 since you don't want to make it look like the 08:40.141 --> 08:42.400 teeth are breaking or they're too elastic. 08:44.200 --> 08:46.940 It's bones clashing on bones after all. 08:48.380 --> 08:52.160 Another interesting tip is to communicate the angry eyebrows well. 08:52.620 --> 08:58.320 Make the middle section of the eyebrows overlap the eyes themselves slightly. 08:58.780 --> 09:04.480 So you can see here that the eyelids are closing in to make the eyes narrower. 09:05.320 --> 09:10.860 But the eyebrows are moving down so much that they overlap the eyes too. 09:13.540 --> 09:16.560 Moving on to the angry shout from here. 09:16.840 --> 09:22.000 It's basically a similar evolution as with the smile to the laughing expression. 09:22.680 --> 09:26.780 A lot of the muscles, especially around the eyes, get pushed to their limit. 09:27.440 --> 09:32.520 Notable differences are the open mouth by the jaw 09:32.521 --> 09:35.860 rotation but also the increased pull on the risorius 09:35.861 --> 09:38.360 to get even more of that frown in the mouth. 09:40.040 --> 09:45.000 On the reference we can see the effect that the muscle can have on the neck as well. 09:45.460 --> 09:48.340 It's essentially pulling not on the mouth corner. 09:49.160 --> 09:55.060 but from slightly more in the middle which causes the wide arc on the lower lip. 09:55.620 --> 09:57.960 This muscle goes all the way to the neck 09:57.961 --> 10:04.060 which causes these pulled out lines and extra creases that moves towards the neck. 10:04.560 --> 10:07.700 You can also vary how much teeth you want to show. 10:08.060 --> 10:10.120 The more teeth, the more aggressive. 10:11.080 --> 10:18.680 For Rain I decided to show a lot of upper teeth but not so far as to show the gums. 10:19.960 --> 10:23.200 The lower teeth I hid almost completely behind 10:23.201 --> 10:26.120 the lower lip which is pushing against them a lot. 10:26.121 --> 10:29.580 If there's one thing I'd like to change afterwards 10:29.581 --> 10:32.740 is that I was pulling much more on the mouth corner 10:32.741 --> 10:40.500 than the lower lip with the risorius which is causing this strange corner to happen. 10:41.120 --> 10:43.060 Remember to also pull on the ears 10:43.061 --> 10:49.820 whenever you get that strong muscle movement from the zygomaticus, for example. 10:50.420 --> 10:54.820 There are some muscles that weren't mentioned or used much so far. 10:54.821 --> 10:57.780 This is why testing the full range of expressions 10:57.781 --> 11:01.140 or at least most of them, is so important. 11:01.720 --> 11:06.080 With the worried expression we get to use the frontalis 11:06.081 --> 11:08.300 much more which is the big muscle along the forehead. 11:09.080 --> 11:13.180 This muscle is essentially two muscles on each 11:13.181 --> 11:15.260 side of the face that can be pulled independently. 11:15.860 --> 11:20.540 This gives us more freedom to move our eyebrows in a variety of ways. 11:21.580 --> 11:27.840 So you are always able to either move the middle section on both sides, upwards 11:27.841 --> 11:35.220 or the outer section on either side independently or all together. 11:35.760 --> 11:39.040 For this expression we just need the middle part of the muscle. 11:40.400 --> 11:45.640 We can couple this with the inwards and downwards movement 11:45.641 --> 11:48.500 by the corrugator which hinders the upwards movement a bit 11:48.501 --> 11:51.480 but causes some creases to form in the middle. 11:52.260 --> 11:55.260 The frontalis can't do this by itself 11:55.261 --> 11:59.920 since it is pulling slightly sideways in the opposite direction. 12:00.300 --> 12:02.660 You can really feel that tension in your forehead 12:02.661 --> 12:05.380 when using both these muscles at the same time. 12:06.180 --> 12:10.600 In the reference there is also more going on at the forehead. 12:11.640 --> 12:14.860 There is actually a muscle that wraps all around the scalp 12:14.861 --> 12:18.540 that is being used to push the hair forward and backward. 12:19.720 --> 12:22.880 To open the mouth we can simply rotate the jaw a bit 12:22.881 --> 12:27.420 but it also helps to pull a tiny bit on the risorius 12:27.421 --> 12:30.740 to get some more frowning from the mouth corner. 12:31.920 --> 12:36.480 You can also add a little bit of a sneer with the LL-SEN 12:36.481 --> 12:40.540 depending on how much you want to exaggerate the expression. 12:41.540 --> 12:45.140 On Rain's expression I did move the upper lip 12:45.141 --> 12:47.880 upwards a bit which is in hindsight incorrect. 12:48.480 --> 12:52.260 but I do recommend to keep the lower lip relatively 12:52.261 --> 12:54.760 straight and have the upper lip as an arc. 12:56.640 --> 13:00.360 In this expression it also becomes pretty obvious 13:00.361 --> 13:03.180 why I split the eyebrows into three sections. 13:03.860 --> 13:08.680 Each section is generally connected to specific muscle movements 13:08.681 --> 13:13.360 and it's generally pretty appealing to have that division visible. 13:14.560 --> 13:18.080 We can start creating variations from the worried expression. 13:18.980 --> 13:21.480 The first branch of expressions that we can do 13:21.481 --> 13:26.280 is a sad and maybe even a crying expression. 13:26.880 --> 13:30.500 For the sad expression you essentially keep the motion around the eyes 13:30.501 --> 13:36.380 but you increase the sneer and up movement on the cheeks. 13:36.381 --> 13:40.100 Remember to keep the lower eyelid as a straight line 13:40.101 --> 13:45.340 with two additional corners on the sides if you need to push it up even more. 13:45.760 --> 13:50.240 Pushing these areas around the eyes also increases the, 13:50.241 --> 13:52.620 well, creases and as always when pushing up the cheeks. 13:53.180 --> 13:56.860 make sure that the volumes stay consistent while they shift around. 13:58.280 --> 14:02.200 One big difference from the previous expression is the mouth movement. 14:03.000 --> 14:06.580 Also I definitely over-exaggerated the expression a bit. 14:06.900 --> 14:09.120 It doesn't really seem genuine here 14:09.121 --> 14:13.060 but the mentalis is once again pushing up the lips 14:13.061 --> 14:17.580 and if you want to purse the lips a little bit you can add that too. 14:18.040 --> 14:24.460 This is basically caused by a muscle called the orbicularis aureus 14:24.461 --> 14:29.200 which is going around the lips and kind of contracts them together 14:29.201 --> 14:33.880 in the same way the orbicularis oculi does around the eyes. 14:34.560 --> 14:37.860 This muscle is mainly used when doing for example a kiss mouth 14:37.861 --> 14:40.515 and remember that these two muscles are 14:40.527 --> 14:43.740 essentially like pulling the cords on a hoodie. 14:44.480 --> 14:46.520 That's at least a nice way of remembering it. 14:46.880 --> 14:50.380 On Rain's expression you can see the same pursing of the lips 14:50.381 --> 14:55.120 by the orbicularis aureus and upwards pushing by the mentalis. 14:55.121 --> 14:59.360 This usually also causes the lips to roll a bit inwards. 15:00.080 --> 15:03.200 I can also recommend to pull on the risorius again 15:03.201 --> 15:06.540 to get that exaggerated frown in there as well. 15:07.520 --> 15:10.980 For a crying expression it's basically the same step 15:10.981 --> 15:14.920 as with going from the open smile to laughing. 15:15.760 --> 15:18.420 You push the same muscles to the limit 15:18.421 --> 15:22.560 and make the expression look more painful and more emotional. 15:23.520 --> 15:27.880 Adding extra objects for tears can also be a very nice indicator to add 15:27.881 --> 15:31.920 which I did do for the expression tests on the Spring open movie.