Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right

Chapter 2. What the Eyes and Brows Tell Us

With our feet wet in the puddle that is sync, it's time to shift our focus to another introduction. Basic lip sync will lend credibility and draw focus to a speaking character, but without any emotion coming through, that character isn't going to mean much to the audience. Most emotion comes across in the top half of the face, with the eyes, the brows, and the eyelids. Most commonly, the brows get the bulk of the attention from animators, when the time should really be spent on the eyes and eyelids. When you sit down and talk to someone, you look them in the eye. Your gaze may not stay there for uncomfortable lengths of time, but it surely bounces to and from eye contact; that's the go-to point. If you ...