Whether you’re an aspiring artist or just looking to improve your drawing skills, this tutorial will show you how to draw lips from a side view. We’ll cover three different examples: overbite, normal bite, and underbite. It’s important to focus on one example at a time instead of attempting to draw all three lips simultaneously.
Tools You’ll Need
Before we get started, gather the following tools:
- Kneaded Eraser
- Derwent HB and 2B pencils
- Mechanical pencil with 4B Ain lead by Pentel
- Canson Sketch Paper (although I prefer working on Canson Bristol, it’s currently out of stock)
Step-by-Step Guide: Drawing Lips from the Side
Step 1: Choose the Positioning of the Top and Bottom Lips
The first stroke you make will determine whether you’re drawing an overbite, normal bite, or underbite.
Step 2: Decide on the Angle of the Lips
The second stroke will determine the thickness of the top and bottom lip and whether the corners of the mouth angle up or down.
Step 3: Transform Your Sketch into a Triangle
Using your chosen positioning and angle, turn your sketch into a triangle. The length of the triangle will determine the width of the lips.
Step 4: Draw the Corner of the Mouth
Now, draw the corner of the mouth. This can be as simple as a dot, bracket, raindrop shape, or triangle.
Step 5: Start with the Top Lip
Begin by drawing the top lip. You have the freedom to follow the shape of the triangle, jut out, or draw inside the boundaries.
Step 6: Complete the Top Lip
Connect the curve you just drew to the corner of the mouth. Avoid drawing a straight line as it’s better to have a slightly curved line.
Step 7: Draw the Bottom Lip
To draw the bottom lip, start from the bottom left corner of the triangle and wrap your stroke up until it touches the top lip.
Step 8: Define the Upper and Lower Lips
Draw the upper lip, ensuring it’s roughly the same thickness as the top lip or slightly thicker. For underbites, make the curve of the lower lip less pronounced.
Step 9: Add the Rim Around the Lips
Using your HB pencil with light pressure, draw the rims around each lip, connecting them to the corner of the mouth. Finally, erase any guidelines.
Step 10: Add Contour Lines
Time to add shading! If your lines appear too dark, use a kneaded eraser to remove some graphite. Then, use a sharp HB pencil to create contour lines.
Step 11: Shade the Lips
Build up more contour lines using HB, 2B, and 4B pencils. Soften the edges around the rims of the lips to avoid harsh lines.
Step 12: Shade the Skin
For shading the skin around the lips, you can use a technique called circulism. Start with a blunt HB pencil and create layers of circular strokes. Use a 2B pencil to shade darker areas.
You can shade areas such as the lower lip, cheek, corner of the mouth, and skin under the nose slightly darker. If there are still white spaces, add more layers with your HB pencil, but be careful not to press too hard to avoid visible circles.
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