Challenge of April

Alright, finally my turn! How I have been waiting to issue this challenge – so long that I’ve come up with fifteen other challenges as well, but oh well. Later, later…

This is possibly a rather sadistic one, but I think it also will be a very good exercise for all of us. What I want you to do is draw a face (or several) that conveys as much emotion as possible. I want bottomless, frothing rage, boundless joy, soul-tearing sorrow, mindless terror or any other, as long as it’s as intense at it possibly can get. This is something that I have found lacking in many of our pictures – which is in no way surprising since it is very difficult even for one who usually prioritizes it such as myself. Da-Ryun, I’m especially interested in how you handle it, because I’ve mentioned it to you before when criticizing your pictures, and now you’re forced to do it. Bwahahaha! >:D

So there will be no slack jaws or slightly furrowed brows, no casual gritting of teeth or a mere superior smirk. Push it as far as possible! Continuously ask yourself “Can he/she be more angry/sad/happy/scared? Can I raise the eyebrows/open the mouth wider/make the eyes bug out even more without making it unfeasible?” Also, make sure the emotion is one that actually can be intensely expressed, i.e. don’t pick “smug” and make the smirk extra wide. I want facial contortions, deep creases, teeth (preferably with gums showing as well), the whole package. Be. Sure. To. Make. It. As. Intense. As. Possible.

The reason I’m ranting about this so much is to make sure that you really push your limits on this one. This is more than what you usually do. I’ll take our BBEGs as example: if you look at them, the only one that expresses anything more than a menacing glower is mine and, to some extent, Rikard’s. Just fine for that particular challenge, but it’s gotta be some heavy-duty glowering for it to pass this challenge. Like, Clint Eastwood³ intense. Superman heat-vision intense. At least.

So choose an emotion, stand in front of a mirror and do it. Then do it even more. Then hurt your face trying to do it even more. Take a photo of that last one. That’s the least emotion your picture is allowed to convey. To show what I mean, I’ve compiled some examples for you to download (don’t worry, it’s virus-free ^^): http://www.mediafire.com/?xpm0c3tjgxx

I’ll put the deadline of this challenge at the end of May - at the latest - because (1) we’ll probably need it, and (2) revision period starts for me next week.