These are the 15 lipsync poses I use most when creating a first pass on my dialog animations.  I got into great detail with my facial animation videos on how to implement these.  If you get these poses built and placed on a shelf, you should be able to map out dialog for a scene quickly and effectively.  This is only for a first vanilla pass at dialog, but it gets you closer to nailing that dialog than any other method I have tried.  Good luck!

Over the years, I have used this tool I created called the Facial Reference Library (both when I have led teams on shows and taught animators in schools).  I built it to explain the different lines of action in the face when a human/animal is experiencing an emotion.

My teaching philosophy encompasses leaning by sight/visual, text and finally by doing it yourself.  This document covers all three for each emotion.  You have a dictionary definition of the emotion and a description of the lines of action that happen in the face along with a simple emoticon that shows those changes. In addition, there are several images for each emotion take from all over the internet from google, flickr, etc. to show the range of that emotion and how the expression plays out on the face.

The FRL is a tool my animators use and love, and now I offer it to you publicly here for free to use.  I worried about doing so, because many of the photographs used to show each emotion are not mine, they are just photos I have found over the years on the Internet.  But, in the name of learning I believe that is okay.  I am not offering this tool for money, so hopefully people will see the good in sharing these images with everyone.

Have fun!

I have added a video section to the blog with two free videos and 6 lectures you can purchase at mindbites.com

This tutorial instructs you to the 15 facial poses I find most common in creating dialog for animation in CG. I describe each pose and the basic lines of action that happen in the face for these poses. I also offer some notes on what not to do when creating these poses. Once you create the 15 poses, you are ready to generate a shelf for your character. My students over the years have loved this part of my lectures, most... and I hope you do too. There is a .pdf attached with the poses provided as a guide.
The videos contain detailed instruction on one of my most popular lectures when I teach.  I broke it up into sections, so you can purchase what you think you need... or you can buy the whole series here.

Antfood Crazy Show Reel from Antfood on Vimeo.

I never show studio demos on this blog, but this one is bad ass!