The Key to Expressions is showing the squash and stretch of the features:
A face, whether chewing, smiling, talking, or just showing a change of expression is alive with changing shapes in the cheeks, the lips, and the eyes.
Squash and Stretch is the only way, really, to show a change of attitude on a character's face and body to show that they're thinking and processing ideas and emotions. When you go from a Squash to a Stretch, or vice versa, you see a clear change of attitude that shows a change is happening within the character's mind.
It doesn't have to be an extreme change. Even very subtle shifts of a Squash to a Stretch (or vice versa) can say volumes. We all have seen an actor (or animated character) lift an eyebrow, or purse their lips, or just slump their shoulders, and immediately with that subtle change you know exactly what that character is thinking and feeling and it's more powerful than any more extreme change would be.
Volumes remain the same:
The most important rule to squash and stretch is that, no matter how squashed or stretched out a particular object gets, its volume remains constant. If an object squashed down without its sides stretching, it would appear to shrink; if it stretched up without is sides squeezing in it would appear to grow.
When a person smiles, the shape of the face is determined by the movement of muscles underneath a layer of skin. During a smile, though the head seems to increase in size, with the widening of the mouth and jaw, it does not. The object is simply displacing its matter into the stretched shape. The most important rule to squash and stretch is that no matter how squashed or stretched out an object gets, its volume remains constant.
Watch for relationships between parts of the face:
When a face smiles broadly, the corners of the mouth push up into the cheeks. The cheeks squash and push up into the eyes, making the eyes squint, which brings down the eyebrows and stretches the forehead. When the face adopts a surprised expression, the mouth opens, stretching down the cheeks. The wide open eyes push the eyebrows up, squashing and wrinkling the forehead.
"A lot of times, asymmetry will bring energy and movement to a pose or composition. More specifically, I feel like breaking the symmetry of a character’s expression is key to bring interest to it. Of course, there’s always a situation where there’s a need for symmetry. On top of my head, I can think of depicting a character who has an authority role, or the “undefeated champion of something”, or the “cold stone killer”, etc. So, a symmetrical facial expression usually means the character is: supremely bored, supremely confident, has no emotions, has a poker face, or is dead."
GrizandNorm
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