Out of all the facial expressions that one sees in art, by far, by far the most common facial expression you will ever see on a figure's face is the 'serene' expression.

There is something about the expression that is very enticing and mysterious. The serene expression is seen even in the earliest of art. Indeed you can give your figure this expression and slightly manipulate it in a piece of work whether to appear mysterious (as seen in the Mona Lisa) or joyful (nearly all Mary potraits) or a look of pain (Jesus cruxfiction) or a hint of sadness. Even though all of these are rather different situations and a whole different slew of emotions, the 'serenity' look is still there.

And keeping the time period in mind. It really does make a lot of sense that this would be the most common expression to create. In the old European style, beauty was considered to be a very contained thing. Beauty wasn't in wild movements and gestures or in extremely patterened objects. Even old music in the churches were only allowed a certain amount of decor in them. Beauty was a more subtle thing and looking at the color palette of old paintings. You didn't want to put a whole load of bright colors that clashed together in one portrait.

But as time as gone on. Art has developed more and more. Portraits, realism, and nature scenes are not the only things you see in art anymore. Now you can get abstractions, surrealism, macabre, patterns,  Psycheldelic, cartooning, a whole broad range of what you can do to create a piece of art. Although, at its core, still some of the most popular pieces of art are still along the lines of a traditional Renaissance piece. Which is fine however,

There is so much to be done in extreme facial expressions.

Pain, happiness, lonliness, desire, these can be extreme emotions, and the face is a powerful tool in truly expressioning these feelings. Pieces of art that have these expressions can become very powerful even before they get the background, the coloring, even the rest of the body. So when I see amatuer with the same 'serene expressions' over and over again. I cannot help sighing. 

I think when it comes down to the matter, it is much the same as when it comes to drawing poses. The human body can move, bend and react in many, many different ways. Often when a person is furious it shows in their entire body. But because drawing poses is a very difficult thing, the ones that one always see are

Sitting down. Standing up.

.... Not saying that we all have to draw bodies in pretzel shapes, but there is a lot more to it than that. So thats how I see faces, amateur artists often draw serenity because it is comfortable and easy. It just becomes another limiting comfort zone in art.

Not that Im playing down serene or contemplative expressions. These are important and can be very beautiful. But for the sake of challenging ones own ability and expressing more in a piece of work. I would love to see many of these artists practice drawing more extreme facial expressions. Take the time to stare at yourself in the mirror to get down a whole bunch of different ones. And the work will develop. ESPECIALLY if the person is drawing a graphic novel. When you are in an extreme situation, like your loved one in trouble or what not. You are not going to be all that serene.
 
People are not really 'serene creatures' persay. We have a whole colorful slew of emotions. Beautiful ones. And ones that are very very ugly. Lets try to capture them.

Text Messaging

Random Number: Dont know about u but I got a serious case of the munnndars!
Me: Sorry, who is this?
RN: luke  im sorry is this not tim
Me: Nope. Number error! Oh well. Hope your monday gets better :)
RN: Thanks alot! You just made it better stranger

Hahaha in a weird small way, my monday got better too