Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to draw a portrait that looks just like your sitter - one that captures his or her physiognomic traits accurately, as well as the mood of the face?

When looking at a depiction of a human face, you will immediately notice small mistakes or slight anomalies: a nose that is too long, eyes that are too close to each other or too far apart, and a forehead that's too small or big.

Often, you cannot identify the specific anomaly - you just feel that there is something wrong with the nose or the ears without being able to pinpoint the problem exactly. You're aware of the defect in an instinctual way.

The recognition of facial features is so important to humans that areas in our brain evolved specifically for this purpose. But we read human faces and expressions through two filters, cultural as well as biological, and this makes us very discerning when interpreting people's faces, including their intentions or moods.

Roberto Osti holds a BA in Anatomical and Surgical Drawing from the University of Bologna (Italy) and an MFA from the New York Academy of Fine Arts. He studied anatomy for medical and artistic purposes and has taught Figure Anatomy and Figure Drawing for more than a decade in various schools including the New York Academy of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the University of the Arts.