merriman

Strathmore drawing 130gsm, 14" x 11".

this is aubrey mather, who plays merriman, the head butler in the worthing country household. the frame is at 1:05:36, and shows merriman's reaction to a dubious statement from gwendolyn. this is the classic look askance that one english social circle casts on the improprieties of another, and it is quite funny in context. (in the film, a cuckoo calls in the distance.)

it's expressions such as this that show how complex and subtle human facial signals can be. quite a lot depends on relatively small details, in particular around the mouth and nose, and in the drape of the eyelids. the director (anthony asquith) takes considerable pains to capture the facial communication that accompanies the verbal jousting among wilde's characters.

i'll use this drawing to illustrate a method i devised to critique the accuracy of my drawings. i photograph both the original and the drawing, and superimpose one on the other in photoshop, resizing and aligning the two layers until they match as closely as possible. i then use the transparency option to make both visible at the same time, which shows the size and form of any discrepancies.

the electronic image shows this as a gif animation. (this is only visible in the full sized image -- click on the image at right to see it.) as you see, the spacing of the eyes and nose, and the general size and shape of the head, are pretty accurate, but the mouth and left eyebrow are misplaced, and the ear and jaw line are extended too far. however these errors emphasize the expression and makes it somewhat clearer -- as it appears in motion in the film, rather than in a single frame.