Making a Face When Drawing One

[TimCaloweh]

Hey quick question. I'm not sure if i'm the only one who does this but do you guys make the same face you're trying to draw? Cause every time i'm drawing anger on someones face i find myself mimicking the expression. I'm not even sure if i'm improving the art by doing so.

[soju]

haha.. same here. think it's normal. you need to feel what you draw.

[natchevil]

Oh yeah, man.
Especially evil smiles.
Not sure why.

[TimCaloweh]

Worst case scenario, I start drawing erotic art and mimic that. I hope that never happens involuntarily.

[FlutterbyBubbles]

I'm the same, if I'm drawing someone angry, I look angry, when I'm drawing someone with their head to the side and a smile, guess what I'm doing? Yep, making that face. I think for me though, it only happens when I'm alone, I guess if I'm in public I'm more concerned about people not actually seeing my art.....

[dawgofdawgness]

Oh definitely... Drawing my main character tires me out because her face stretches to unlimited lengths

[UbePie]

I do it so much i have had comments like, "you must of been happy when you drew this."

[shazzbaa]

this is definitely A Common Artist Thing!

(from Awkward Zombie)

[IdiotWithPencil]

actually if I remember correctly the artist for buggs bunny had a pocket mirror at hand just cause he always made the face he was trying to draw and to have it as a reference

also yes everybody does this,or at the very least all the people I have ever met, I think it's a quirk of our brains to help us draw the expression but that's my guess I have no Idea why we actually do it XD

[emkay]

I think a lot of artists do that. like I've seen some pictures of Disney animators with mirrors in front of their faces to replicate the expression. I don't really mimic expressions I'm drawing, but I do get emotionally involved. Like if I'm drawing something sad or someone crying, I'll start tearing up, and if I'm drawing something happy or someone smiling, I start to smile too.

[Tes]

There have been many many many comic strips done about this quirk, to the point where I consider it a cliché and roll my eyes whenever I see another one

[DiegoPalacios]

Yeah, it always happen to me. The problem is when i draw really weird faces like these.:

[Mr_B]

+1. Always a pleasure when I'm trying to draw someone grinning, and my mouth stretches ear to ear.

[Strontium]

My closet door has a mirror on it so I'm often turning to look at myself in the mirror as I draw an expression. But sometimes I look up expressions because I'm actually not that good at remembering what goes with what XP

[PaulDevers]

I do it all the time. It's actually why I stopped drawing in high-school classes when I was younger; when I realized that I was making really, really stupid faces at my notebook and the kids next to me where staring. I started drawing only at lunch and stuff then.
I still make stupid faces when I draw to this day.

[KoreanTacos]

I sometimes reenact the dialogue in my characters voices in order to see if that character fits in that particular situation or not.

[69Michi]

Ah yes, don't forget you can also get sleepy if you are drawing someone who is sleeping/yawning.

Or is it just me......

[jammythebirb]

Haha! this is definitely a thing a lot of people do. I know I do it.

[TheThoughtfulBoxful]

LOL, YES! I've been trying to control it, but it literally happens all the time!