What emotions are in each grid?

The basic grid has nine plain feelings from happy to neutral, the subtle grid has nine moods such as smug, shy and bored, and the big-reaction grid pushes feeling to extremes like screaming and sobbing.

Does the face stay the same across the grid?

Yes. The sheet repeats one face, so the brows, eyes and mouth change while the rest stays put.

How do the three styles differ?

Realistic uses natural proportions, anime has large eyes with highlights and sweat drops where the mood calls for them, and cartoon has rubbery features stretched by each mood.

Can I ask for a different feeling or face?

Yes. Type it in the direction field and the sheet is drawn to match, though a request is not a promised result.

toile

/expression-sheets · illustration

Expression sheets: basic emotions, subtle moods, big reactions

Expression sheets — a grid of nine heads of the same person showing happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, laughing, crying and neutral, a realistic head drawing in even contour lines, natural proportions, the hair simplified to its outline

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every sample — three subjects, three styles ↓

Reading 1Basic emotions

Reading 2Subtle moods

Reading 3Big reactions

Character artists draw one face through a range of feelings to learn how the brows, eyes and mouth move together. These sheets repeat the same face in a grid of nine cells, each with a different emotion: basic feelings, subtle moods and big reactions. Each grid is drawn as clean lines on white in realistic, anime and cartoon styles. Type a different feeling or character and the sheet is drawn to it.

a study sheet for a character's face
a reference pinned beside a comic page
a drawing class exercise on emotion
a printed guide for a character design session

Frequently asked questions

What emotions are in each grid?: The basic grid has nine plain feelings from happy to neutral, the subtle grid has nine moods such as smug, shy and bored, and the big-reaction grid pushes feeling to extremes like screaming and sobbing.
Does the face stay the same across the grid?: Yes. The sheet repeats one face, so the brows, eyes and mouth change while the rest stays put.
How do the three styles differ?: Realistic uses natural proportions, anime has large eyes with highlights and sweat drops where the mood calls for them, and cartoon has rubbery features stretched by each mood.
Can I ask for a different feeling or face?: Yes. Type it in the direction field and the sheet is drawn to match, though a request is not a promised result.

About toile

This page is a showcase and a starting point: nine samples already rendered, three readings of the pack crossed with three styles, each shown at the size and ratio it was made for. Take any of them further on the wall with a few words, or ask for all nine again under your own direction; a sign-in keeps what you make, and it is free while Toile is new. The recipe behind each sample — the subject, the style, the palette, the framing — travels with the image rather than staying private to the render: it is in the alt text of every sample and in the page's own structured data, so a search engine reads the same handles a person would.