How to Draw a Smiling Mouth with Teeth – Tutorial
Jan 31, 2010 Drawing, Tutorials
Everyone knows that the eyes are what can make or break the likeness of a portrait. What you may not realize is that teeth are almost as important! Like the eyes, everyone’s teeth are unique. It’s not enough to slap a few big chiclets into someone’s mouth and call them teeth, you need to study your reference to get just the right shape and size! This tutorial will show you how I approach drawing teeth and give you some general pointers.
Here is our reference photo, set up and gridded in Corel Draw.
First, start with your 2H pencil and draw your grid lines. Then, following your reference, draw the shapes that you see. Draw the contours of the lips and the teeth, but also draw the major shadows and highlights that you can see.
When drawing the teeth, pay close attention to the corners and edges. How flat are they at the bottom? How rounded are the corners? How much gum do we see? Notice how we see all of the front teeth, and as we get to the corners of the mouth we see less and less of each tooth. It might seem stupid, but make sure you get the right number of teeth!
Also, remember that the center of the lips may not necessarily line up with the center of the top teeth, and the center of the top teeth may not line up with the center of the bottoms.
Erase your grid lines then, still with your 2H, shade in the values that you see. Shade in everything but the highlights, layering the graphite to get the shadows. Don’t press hard or you will indent the paper! Blend with your tortillon.
Now grab your 2B and begin shading in the midtones. Here I’ve shaded the lips, the creases beside the mouth and the shadows on the teeth. Careful to avoid your highlights! Notice how the only definition of the lips is a slight difference in value at the edges. In the center of the upper lip, there is almost no definition because of a sort-of diffused highlight. We’ll add that later. Be careful that you don’t shade too heavliy between the teeth. This line is often not as dark or as regular as you think it is. Keep it soft. Blend.
With your 2B, shade in the darkest shadows. These include the corners of the mouth, the shadows under the teeth, and the shadow cast by the upper lip.Remember that the edge of the upper lip isn’t a solid, heavy line. Look at the reference and notice how it is darker in some areas than others. Blend out your shading.
Lastly, you can use your kneaded eraser to pick out the highlights. Because the teeth are wet, the highlights will have a sharper edge. I used my tortillon to draw a very light line around the highlights on the teeth to create that edge. Don’t forget the highlights that you can see on the gums, as well as the faint one on the upper lip.
Be sure to check out my other portrait drawing tutorials!
Tags: draw lips, draw teeth, portraits, Tutorials
How to Draw Lips – Tutorial
Aug 13, 2009 Drawing, Tutorials
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. I’ve also written a post that lists tips for drawing lips which you might find helpful.
1. Here I’ve drawn the grid using an F pencil. You could also use an H. The key is to draw it very lightly so that you can easily erase your lines afterwards and not leave any indentations in the paper. Using the reference image, I did a line drawing of the contours of the lips. Notice that I have not only done the outlines of the lips and nose, but the outlines of the shadows and highlights surrounding those features. Now you can carefully erase your gridlines, leaving only the lines of your drawing.
2. With a B pencil, start to shade in your basic shapes, using the reference image as a guide as to how dark. Notice in the reference image that the only pure white areas are the highlights. This should be the same in your drawing. Keep your shading lines close together, and build up the shadows slowly in layers. Notice that the bottom edge of the lip is not defined by a shadow; instead it’s defined by a series of highlights. For now, let the lip blend into the rest of the face, and pick out the highlights later.
3. Now it’s time to blend out your shading using a blending stick. Blending causes your drawing to lose some of its definition and look a little bit darker. It’s important to work from light to dark to keep your blending stick from getting too dirty. If you need to, roll it in your kneaded eraser or rub it on a piece of scrap paper to clean it. Try to blend into the highlights without blending over them. The white of the paper should show through.
4. Using a 2B or 4B pencil, to back into the drawing and darken up the deepest shadows. Here I have darkened the edges around the nose, the shadow between the lips and around some of the edges, and the dark area to the right of the face. Try to create shadows by building up layers rather than pressing hard. Pressing too hard with graphite will flatten the tooth of the paper and create a shiny, metallic finish. Blend your shadows into the rest of the drawing.
5. The last step is to go back in with your kneaded eraser and pick out the highlights. You may also need to adjust some of your shadows as they can sometimes grow or change shape as you blend. At this stage you need to pay very close attention to your reference to get all the details. Often something very subtle can make the difference! Pay attention to the highlights along the top edge of the lips and those on the curve of the bottom lip.
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.
Tags: better drawings, draw lips, drawing tips, getting started, portraits
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