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Eyes and Faces

Eyebrow, Eye, and Mouth determines about 90% of what's going on with the face

Eye Direction

use of eye target - think about what looks right from the camera, rather than the literal, virtual physicality (setting the eye target on a table when the character is looking at the table)

Floating Iris - leaving white space isn't as significant as having the eye all the way to the side; having the iris "floating" lacks the sense of stability

Moving target farther out can make the target look wall-eyed, whereas too close gives the cross-eyed look

Don't go too exaggerated, as it will look like a caricature of a ___ person, rather than a ___ person

Blinks

Suggestion for default blink:

Fr 1 & 6 - 0% shut; Fr2 - 20%Shut; Fr3 & 4 - 100% shut; Fr 5 - 80% shut

There are many forms of blinks, differing in duration, the amount of eyebrow/cheek motion involved, etc.

Blinking occurs: when changing focus (far to near, etc); head turning (blink occurs about 1/3 of the way through

Eye brow shapes

Mouth shape can have a great influence

 

Genuine expression comes through more in the eyes, but that doesn't mean the rest isn't important.

Think about Polar Express - the eye/eye direction/forehead doesn't seem to get much successful attention

Speaking

Work on jaws first - think Muppets

Sites

http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php

http://panvilla.com/expressions.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles