Reddit reviews The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression

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The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expresson by Gary Faigin

if you draw faces or anything that looks like faces this is the book that answers all of your questions.

• Pose: Pose tends to break down when lots of musculature is detailed on a figure. Some of this has to do with the number of intersecting lines and other shapes within the figure. The other factor is that the various small convex shapes on the silhouette of the form will make it less bold and clear. basically it is unclear what the pose is and what the figure is doing. Making it more dramatic or accentuated if the figure is in motion (or static) can help combat this.
  
  
• Composition: You've chose some very odd crop points for the figure and composition as a whole. For one it's strange to put a figure so close to center but ever so slightly askew (the back makes it seem heavy towards the right, the "masses" aren't balanced). Going in the center is a big risk, usually the 1/3rd or 2/3rd line is more successful.
  
  
• Cropping: Cropping of body parts or objects is a way to decrease their importance within and image. But doing it unintentionally can spoil and image. I like the fade-out you have on the arm, and the cropping of the leg feels fine. But for the head the crop line juuuust above the mouth makes an odd tangent. It looks like you ran out of space rather than planned that.
  
  
• Anatomy: The anatomy is clearly the focus of the pose and it's decent. But with how predominant it is here I would implore you to edit the tricep so that it is more representative. Even on a thin male the triceps will make a noticeable bulge in the arm in that pose. And the proportions make this figure see very muscular as it is. Honestly it feels like an omission or error the way you have painted the tricep here. In any other context the anatomy here would be outstanding, but in this one case I would implore you to fix it. On a side note the face is devoid of musculature here and I find that to be a shame; the musculature of the face is fascinating (This is currently the definitive book on the subject)
  
  
• Background: The changing intensity of the background hue and the distance between the lines has an implication of speed and direction and I rather like it. It may be the photography but orange stripe just in front of the nose feels too dark in hue and breaks the flow (it feels darker than the stripes on both sides of it. Over all the background is working and implies motion but the stiffness of the form breaks it for me. If it was leaning forward or diving it would be much more successful in my opinion.
  
  So many of those things aren't really anything you can change here and I understand that. These are things to think about in the future or if you intend to continue with this painting. I just thought it would be more helpful to have a formal critique than to have someone else say "It's not bad but it is a little boring". ;D

those two books have a lot in them and you should really rip them apart before you move on to new books. if you've had them for a month you haven't had time to read them six times :)

but in seriousness i would look into some other books on broader art education. you say you've been drawing a lot of your life but i don't know your actual skill. books on anatomy, and general figure construction and invention would be good. for anatomy i recommend Hogarth, figure invention is harder to find. i learned mostly from my teachers. but Rad Sechrist of Dreamworks runs a great blog on the subject and has links that should guide you.

another good thing to pick up on which is HUGE in animation is facial expressions. i highly recommend The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expressions.

Di libri ce ne sono a bizzeffe.

Visto che vorresti fare i ritratti ti consiglio questo, che spiega quali sono i tratti fondamentali da cogliere per rappresentare le espressioni del volto:

https://www.amazon.it/Artists-Complete-Guide-Facial-Expression/dp/0823004325/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549019579&sr=8-4&keywords=expression+anatomy

Per la prospettiva poi questo è stato quello che ho trovato più utile, lo ritengo una buona via di mezzo tra il tecnico ed il pratico:

https://www.amazon.it/Perspective-Comic-Book-Artists-Professional/dp/0823005674/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549019730&sr=8-3&keywords=perspective+for+comic

The most useful thing I have found is to cultivate a habit of smiling whenever you greet someone or pass someone you recognize, whenever they're speaking to you about something neutral or positive, or any other time that you're at a loss how to express happiness or friendliness. (I developed this habit because my resting face apparently looks forlorn, and I was tired of people asking me what was wrong.)

Smiling makes you seem more approachable, and it tends to be infectious; seeing you look happy helps other people feel happy, and people who feel happy around you will naturally gravitate to you, even if you're quiet or shy.

Practice realistic smiles. It's not enough to curl your mouth; you have to smile with your eyes (in fact, you can do almost anything with your mouth and still have it read as joy if you smile with your eyes). There are different muscles involved with real smiles and fake-looking smiles, too (for example, showing your lower teeth is indicative of a fake smile).

If, like me, you struggle a bit with understanding facial expressions and the muscles involved in making them, this is a great resource (not just for artists, despite the title). This book can also help you read other people's subtle expressions, which aids being more empathetic and likeable.

No the problem is with the expression, not the rendering. I think you didn't commit to an expression, so you did sort of a neutral one, but it comes off as jovial.

You should pick this up and run through it. This is one of the best expression books, because it doesn't use actors faking emotions for the photo-shoot. These are reproductions of candid photographs of expressions, so they're real:
https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Complete-Guide-Facial-Expression/dp/0823004325

Have a look at that.

There's whole books on this stuff if that's what you're looking for; The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression is loaded with information.