How to Draw The Mouth, Lips and Teeth
Jul 2, 2009 Drawing
Continuing with my series of portrait drawing tips, today I will be focusing on the lips and mouth. The lips aren’t as complex as the eyes, but many people find them challenging and they should not be overlooked. Here are some tips to keep in mind while drawing the mouth and teeth:
- Unless a person is wearing lipstick, the lips are not that much darker than a person’s skin tone. The shadows and highlights are what differentiate the lips from the rest of the face.
- The top lip is a plane that angles toward the face at the bottom, which means that the majority of it is in shadow. The highlight is usually at
the top edge of the lip. - The bottom lip is more rounded, and so has a highlight in the middle. It often casts a bit of a shadow as well.
- Lips are made up of a collection of ovals.
- The line between lips is not a solid line, it is often a broken line of varying weight.
- Lips are not smooth, they actually have many tiny wrinkles in
them. Drawing some of these will make your mouths look more realistic. - Men generally have thinner lips, while women’s are more full.
When drawing teeth:
- The upper lip will cast a shadow on the top edge of the upper teeth.
- Pay close attention to how individually teeth overlap each other, not many people have a perfect chiclet smile!
- The rows of teeth are curved, so the teeth at the corners of the mouth will be in shadow.
- Teeth are NOT white! They are mostly in shadow, except for a sharp highlight that will make the tooth appear wet and shiny.
Stay tuned for a step by step tutorial on how to draw the lips and mouth!
On the Web:
Visit Stan Prokopenko’s blog for a detailed illustration of the anatomy of the mouth and his tutorial.
Related posts:
- How to Draw a Smiling Mouth with Teeth – Tutorial
- How to Draw Ears
- How to Draw Lips – Tutorial
- How to Draw the Nose
- How to Draw Eyes
Tags: better drawings, draw lips, drawing tips, getting started, portraits
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August 13th, 2009 at 10:24 am
[...] Here is my long awaited tutorial on how to draw the lips! I searched for a long time to find the right reference photo, but had no luck, so I made my own. Unfortunately my camera wasn`t co-operating, so this reference isn`t as sharp as I would have liked, but it works. I`ve gridded the reference in Corel Draw. For general tips on how to draw lips, check out this post. [...]
November 8th, 2009 at 8:34 am
[...] How to Draw Lips [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Ace work. You have brought in a recent devotee. Please maintain the fabulous writings and I look forward to more of your entertaining updates.
June 28th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Nice work! I think it’s important to be able to create a nice facial to be able to sketch a realistic character!
July 6th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Thanks Martin! It’s all about knowing how to draw the individual features, then putting it together!
August 29th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
th lips in profile is the most easyist all you have to do is draw the shape of a heart and theres your lips
August 30th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Identifying basic shapes is one of the first skills to learn as an artist.