Practice - Smiling Eyes

Most of my artworks look really stoic and lifeless because of the eyes. I can't draw expressions in the eyes because I don't know how to. Even in pen and paper/anime style art...

So I decided to start by drawing smiling eyes...

I didn't bother with the brows =_=

It took me a while to figure out what was different from normal eyes and happy looking eyes. I asked my friend about it and he said the eyes look like an inverted U... Hence the photo reference =_=

I cheated a bit in my drawing though. I drew slightly squinting normal eyes then skewed it to make it look "happier" lol.. then I duplicated the sketch~! I don't usually like duplicating my sketches so I can practice drawing both sides, but since I already cheated, I might as well duplicate the eyes right? Hehehehe!

I like the fact that I was able to draw happy eyes but I don't like how the picture turned out.. :( I wish it looked more... anime-ish T^T