How To Draw The Mouth Step By Step
Drawing a mouth isn’t hard, but getting it right can be a challenge. With the right steps, you can easily get your lips perfect every time! Here’s how to make sure each mouth you draw is accurate and beautiful.
Step 1: Practice
Before starting to draw, warm up with some practice sketches. Inspired by photos and real-life faces, draw a few mouths as you observe them in real-time or in images. See how each lip looks slightly different, and how even in a single shape, the mouth can be expressed in so many ways.
Look out for the gentle curves of the upper lip, the small distance between the upper and lower lip, and the rounded shape of the lower lip. It’s essential to get a feeling for the subject before adding it to your illustration.
Step 2: Equally Divide the Circles
Start by drawing two overlapping circles in the middle of your paper. Divide the second circle’s lower half in two linear segments. To apply more pressure to your pen, use the axis from the first circle as a guiding line and darken it as you go.
Now move the divisions to the upper half of the second circle. Make sure the upper two divisions are: the first should cover two-thirds of the upper half; the second should cover one-third of the upper half.
Step 3: Create the Lip Outlines
From the center of the first circle, draw two loop-like shapes for the lips. These will roughly create the outline of the lips and the lip line. Start with the upper lip, extending it slightly outward and down to meet the lower lip line. Then, draw the lower lip, creating a slight overlap with the upper one and leaving a gentle curve.
Make sure the top lip is longer than the lower lip, and that both lips have an almost symmetrical shape. From the sides of the lips, extend the curves a bit to create rounded chambers. And, don’t forget to leave space between the lips and the lip line, like in real mouths.
Step 4: Draw the Details
The lips’ details will vary depending on the character’s expression, the ethnicity, the age, etc. But the most important tip is to make sure the top and bottom lip curve up instead of down. Also, give your mouth some personality by adding details like pores, ridges, wrinkles, and shadows.
Don’t overdo it; a few marks are enough to make the mouth look realistic and vivid. This step requires an experienced eye, so it’s okay to experiment until you get the look you’re aiming for.
Step 5: Shade the Lips
Finally, it’s time to make your lips lifelike! Use the pencil’s pressure and ergonomic grip to add tone, shadow, and light. You can start with the lip line and then move down, creating a gradient that shows the highlight and darkness of each lip.
Trace the chambers separately, adding texture where necessary. This layer of shading makes the lips look realistic and enhances their 3D-like appearance. Then, extend the reference line to create one of the lips’ most important features, the Cupid’s bow.
Step 6: Finalize & Refine
No mouth is finished until you’ve made the necessary tweaks! Erase the lip line and draw the details again until you are satisfied with the result. Make sure each lip looks like one full shape and keep experimenting until you create the expression you are aiming for.
Finally, if you get too much texture, darken the shadow lines and add softer transitions. Take a step back from your drawing and see how the lips match the proportions of your character’s head and body. If needed, tweak their size and placement.
Step 7: Perfect Your Skills
Drawing perfect mouths won’t happen overnight. But, like with any craft, the more you sketch, the better you’ll get at it. Repetition and experimentation are key, and knowing the basic anatomy of the lips will help too.
Start with simple shapes, but later you can experiment with different sizes and proportions. Before you know it, you will learn to draw a perfect mouth as quickly as you sketch other objects.
Step 8: Retrace Your Drawing
To make sure your mouth mirrors reality and looks crisp, use the eraser to adjust your drawing and then trace the mouth with a pen or marker. Finally, use a range of pencils to add the details and extra texture.
These steps will help guide your drawings, so you can make sure to get the shape, texture, and details of the mouth just right. Whether you’re drawing an expressive or a relaxed mouth, good luck and have fun!
