How do I make my characters expressions feel more real and less stiff?

[JoshRaed]

This image looks wrong to me and I can't identify what it's missing. The context is this character is confused and conflicted about the fact that he's in love with someone but is fully in denial. So he makes this face.

These two heads are my attempt at drawing this face.

How does this drawing make her eyes wide enough that her pupils are fully in the center but they don't look too small and it doesn't come off like her mind is blank?

Edit: Thank you @justincarbunkle I'm going to use this guide and see what happens.
Thank you @NickRowler I'm going to try and adjust my art style for future drawings of these characters.
Thank you @llobucervallince I'm going to experiment with wrinkles on my characters based on their expressions.
Thank you @Calculus_Homework I'm going to start adding Eyelid lines to my characters
Thank you @skyy I'm going to redraw that panel one day and give it one eyebrow higher than the other.

[justincarbunkle]

Here's a reference image for facial expressions I often use for my comic. Took it from DeviantArt.

Just keep practicing. Based on that right head, I'd work on drawing your heads/faces from different angles, keep the perspective from looking odd.

[NickRowler]

I sort of feel like the style you picked sort of doesn't lend itself to a dynamic range of facial expressions.

You have to be willing to off-model and try different ways to draw things. That might mean being willing to draw your eyes, brows or mouth a different way.

[llobucervallince]

wrinkles, don't be afraid to add them, indpedently of how scary it may sound to add those details and make it ugly, sometimes, emotions and expressions ARE ugly.


also push the face features as much as you can, like the chart @justincarbunkle shared.

plus you could also use colors to show the emotions felt by the characters

[Calculus_Homework]

Some principle rules to follow with any style is having a base understanding of the head's forms.

Eyes are spheres. Eye anatomy in 2D is basically a circle with a circle at half size in its center (the iris), then the pupil is the smallest and darkest circle (because the pupil is a hole.) Notice how someone's eyes widening can be exaggerated by showing the whites of the eyes more. This expression can invoke a lot depending on context as well as mouth and brow gestures. So, more white shown can express shock, fear, surprise, joy, or something intense like focus or incredulity.

The more "cartoonish" the style, the more you can get away with exaggeration. Don't be afraid to add lines on your faces--this is a great way to show the head's forms, which in turn help you express emotions in your characters.

On your face right now, your character has no lines for eyelids, which can distinguish how high a brow is lifted, or show how bored or tired a character is, or even what direction they're looking. Think about adding eyelids, as it can help with more nuanced expressions. Your character also has no lips, just a line to symbolize a mouth. Think of adding a line under the mouth line to represent a lip--which in turn can help with more expressions.

The chart that @justincarbunkle brought up shows some great examples of cartoon exaggerations. There is always a squash and stretch with expressions--some showing more lines than others depending on what muscles are being used.

Keep it up! :}

[JoshRaed]

Is this what you mean?

[Skyy]

Eyebrows also give a ton of emotion to a character, so with the example you gave id say have one eyebrow higher that he other to give that confused look

[Skyy]

Glad I was able to help ^^