2D Faces Unleashed by Scott Wright

Scott Wright teaches you how to stop guessing faces and start building them. You start with simple 3D forms and end with faces that can actually act, turn in space, and hold an expression without falling apart.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Build heads from spheres, boxes and planes that turn in space
• Place eyes, nose and mouth so they stick to the head at any angle
• Design flexible mouth shapes for dialogue and emotion
• Push expressions from subtle to cartoony without breaking construction
• Animate 2D face acting with clear staging and timing

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Basic drawing comfort, familiarity with proportions
• Tools: Sketchbook and pencil or any drawing app with drawing tablet

📝 Description

This is not a follow-along-draw-pretty-faces class. Scott breaks the head down like an animator thinks: volume first, details second. You learn facial construction with real 3D forms, so when the head turns, the features go with it. No more flat, floating eyes.

From there it gets practical. You work through eyes, mouths, and brows as functional parts, not symbols. How wide can a mouth open before the jaw breaks? Where do wrinkles actually show up? How do you keep a character on-model when you push a take? Short demos, lots of drawing, straight talk from production.

Then you put it in motion. You will tackle expression changes and basic lip-sync, focusing on readability and timing over fancy technique. If you want faces that read clearly in a shot and are fun to animate, this is the groundwork.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• 2D animators and illustrators who struggle with faces turning or acting
• Beginners in character animation who want solid construction before style

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Scott Wright has spent 25+ years animating at Disney and DreamWorks Animation. His credits include The Prince of Egypt, Spirit, and How to Train Your Dragon. He is known for strong draftsmanship and practical, animator-first teaching focused on construction you can actually use in shots.

🏁 Final Result

• A sheet of constructed head turns plus a short 2D face-acting test with expression change and dialogue, ready for your portfolio.