Hello, I was trying to draw a scene from the Magnus Archives where a character’s hand is burned...

Hello, I was trying to draw a scene from the Magnus Archives where a character’s hand is burned while he shakes the other person’s hand. I was wondering if you could help me with the expression of pain and making the picture a little more dynamic? Many thanks!

 I haven’t personally listened to Magnus Archives, so if there are any inconsistencies in terms of the content versus the scene, feel free to daintly skip over that. 

Now, I recently reblogged a post about emoting and expressions to this blog, I recommend you give that one a look for a more in-depth introduction to expressions in general. 

https://theredlinestation.tumblr.com/post/188277275193/wackart-and-whatnot-oh-my-gosh-thank-you-so

Now let’s take a look at some pain. 

You were already a good way’s there. You’ve observed that we tend to open our mouths when we are in moderate to severe pain. This often comes as reflex as our facial muscles clench, which in some people pry our lips apart and jaw down.  

I’ve had the character open his mouth more, and tugged the corners of his lips into a two-point rectangular shape ( one following the top lip, another following the bottom lip ). This is because we tend to open our mouths wider when we’re in severe pain.
 If you draw somewhat more toony or semi-realistic art, you can enhance the intensity of the expression by showing a bit the character’s gums. In real life, pushing our lips that far back is difficult if not impossible to some people, but in more abstract styles we can get away with going just that extra step. 

You’ve also included the line from the character’s nostril to the corner of his mouth, this is a line I also use myself a lot, as it describes just how tense the cheek is. 

I’ve tugged up the lower eyelid to bring that tension into the upper half of his face as well. The force exerted on the muscles around the eye makes the lids meet in an upward arch rather than a downward. I’ve allowed the eye to stay open a little bit, but mostly it is squished shut. 
The eyebrow sits rather low on the nose bridge as the tension forces it downward, while the latter half arches upward. This particular curve does a lot to convey the emotions and is worth paying extra attention to. Furthermore, I’ve added a little more lines around the eyes and under the brow just to really hammer in the look of the character’s muscles contracting in agony. 

For the pose: I’d personally try to establish more of a power-dynamic.
In the original, the victim was already held in a very awkward position, as forced by the perpetrator who is a lot taller, and who is holding him suspended somewhat above ground. I wanted to push this, so I brought the victim down just a little bit lower and bend his left leg more - so that it looked like he was nearly hanging by the perpetrators grasp. 

On top of this, I pulled his right leg out and set it right next to the perpetuator’s foot, so that it looked like the victim was trying to pull back, in an attempt to escape. 

To counter this, I ensured that the perpetrator’s stance was strong and well balanced so that he could hold the victim in place, this also included shoving one of his arms back to counter-weight the other. 
I also played a bit with their height difference here, making the perpetrator tower and bend over the victim in order to make him seem more imposing and intimidating, which would assert his dominance in this particular composition. 

- mod wackart ( ko-fi )

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