This is not accomplished all at once

This is not accomplished all at once, but in certain touches here and there, added at moments when the sitter has forgotten lie is being looked at, for the consciousness that he is painted will often produce a constrained and unnatural expression. It is therefore better not to mention just what part of the face one is working on at the moment.

There are certain muscles which by their action produce the changes of line and form in the face that influence the expression. If these changes are carefully studied, it will become comparatively easy to render different expressions in painting. To make an eye bright and animated, a dark accent is added under the upper lid, giving it more of an arch, a touch of brilliant light given to the iris and eyeball, and the pupil darkened. A sad and pensive expression is produced by drooping the upper lids, shading the white of the eye deeply under the lashes, and omitting the sparkling high light.

The effect of tears is suggested by adding a slender line of light on the eyeball just above the lower lid, extending from the outer corner almost to the iris. The white of the eye must previously be painted in a tone of soft gray. In a smiling face, the eyes are rather widely opened and the under lid raised higher in the center than at the corners. The lines of the nostrils Also influence this expression, and become elevated at the outer edges, while in a face that is sad or depressed, the nostrils will droop.