Wolf's Art Share (8/01/2023) - Expressions

Today I want to share more of my art and talk a little bit about my personal thought process while developing expressions considering its the thing most complimented about my artwork.

I take an approach to expressions where my intentions are two things:

1. I'm never just getting across just one expression. Most people feel complicated things - more than one feeling. If someone is sad - why are they sad? Are the sad and exhausted? shocked? maybe even angry? How can I get that across?

2. Is it important that there's room for interpretation, and if so, what are some important subtleties? 

For sillier pieces I tend to forgo the need for being subtle or even being too intentional with the expressions I make because to me getting across the feeling of joy or even something more comical demands being able to bend your expectations a bit.

But overall to me expressions are an opportunity to get a lot of feelings across to whoever's looking at my art, I don't want to skimp out on them, but I also don't want them to take up so much visual prominence that a viewer can feel what the characters/art piece is trying to get across. A good blend of the exaggerated toony-ness yet subtle and paused nature from anime and manga have been my biggest influences in this regard, and I can only get better but I feel like I've succeeded with this over the years.