How to Draw Lips

قدم در قدم

1. قدم 1

   Draw a light horizontal guide and a vertical centre line.

   Lips are close to symmetrical and the eye is unforgiving about it, so the centre line is not optional here. The horizontal marks where the two lips meet.

   ڏسو Working without guides because the subject looks simple.

   چيڪ The two lines should cross at the middle of your page.

2. قدم 2

   Draw the line where the lips meet - a wave, not a line.

   This is the most important mark in the drawing. It dips slightly at the centre under the cupid's bow, rises on each side, then turns down into the corners. Draw it slowly and get it right; everything else is placed relative to it.

   ڏسو Drawing it straight or as a single smooth curve.

   چيڪ It should change direction at least three times.

3. قدم 3

   Mark the corners of the mouth and how far apart they are.

   Mouth width is the proportion people get wrong most often on a face - it is wider than you think, roughly reaching the centre of each eye. Marking the corners now stops the lips creeping inward as you draw.

   ڏسو Drawing the mouth too narrow.

   چيڪ Both corners should be the same distance from your centre line.

4. قدم 4

   Draw the cupid's bow: two shallow curves meeting at a dip.

   Not a sharp M. The two peaks are rounded and the dip between them is shallow, and on most faces the whole thing is subtler than the version in your head. Keep it inside the middle third of the mouth's width.

   ڏسو Making it too pointed and too wide.

   چيڪ The peaks should sit within the middle third of the mouth.

5. قدم 5

   Run the upper lip edge from the bow out to each corner.

   It thins as it goes. The upper lip is thickest at the centre and almost vanishes at the corners, and drawing it at even thickness the whole way is what produces the drawn-on look.

   ڏسو An upper lip of constant thickness.

   چيڪ The upper lip should be visibly thinner at the corners.

6. قدم 6

   Draw the lower lip as one full curve.

   The lower lip is fuller than the upper - commonly about half again as deep - and it is a single continuous curve rather than two halves. Sweep it in one motion from corner to corner.

   ڏسو Making the two lips the same depth, which reads as a cartoon.

   چيڪ The lower lip should be clearly deeper than the upper.

7. قدم 7

   Darken the line between the lips until it is the darkest mark.

   Go over it and commit. That dividing line is in shadow at every point along its length, and it should be darker than anything else on the page. Timid here is the commonest reason drawn mouths look weak.

   ڏسو Keeping it at the same weight as the outline.

   چيڪ Squint. The dividing line should be the first thing you still see.

8. قدم 8

   Deepen the corners into small dark pockets.

   The corners of a mouth are recessed, so they are darker and softer than the line between the lips. A small dark note at each corner, fading outward, is what makes the mouth sit inside the face rather than on top of it.

   ڏسو Ending the mouth line in a hard point.

   چيڪ Each corner should fade out rather than stop sharply.

9. قدم 9

   Shade the whole upper lip a middle grey.

   It angles away from the light, so it is darker overall than the lower lip. Shade it evenly first and add the variation afterwards - trying to do both at once is how the upper lip ends up patchy.

   ڏسو Leaving the upper lip as light as the lower.

   چيڪ Upper lip clearly darker than lower, everywhere.

10. قدم 10

    Shade under the lower lip, and leave a highlight on top of it.

    The lower lip catches light on its upper surface and drops into shadow underneath, where it also casts a shadow onto the chin. That light-on-top, dark-underneath pattern is what makes it read as a rounded form rather than a shape.

    ڏسو Two symmetrical highlights, which look like plastic. One, slightly off-centre.

    چيڪ There should be exactly one highlight, off the centre line.

11. قدم 11

    Add vertical texture lines, in the shadowed parts only.

    Lips are lined vertically, and the lines follow the curve of each lip rather than running straight up and down. Put them where the lip is already darker and leave the lit areas alone - texture everywhere flattens the form you just built.

    ڏسو Covering both lips evenly with lines.

    چيڪ The highlight area should have no texture lines in it.

12. قدم 12

    Soften the outer edges until they nearly disappear.

    This is the step that decides whether the mouth looks drawn on or grown there. Go round the outline and lighten it, especially at the corners and under the lower lip. Keep only the dividing line strong.

    ڏسو Leaving a crisp outline all the way round.

    چيڪ From arm's length the outline should be hard to find.

13. قدم 13

    Go over the lines you want to keep, and lose the guides.

    This is the step that turns a construction drawing into a finished one, and it is the one most people skip. Press harder on the outline and the features; leave the small stuff light. That difference in weight is what makes a drawing look deliberate rather than traced, and it costs thirty seconds.

    ڏسو Going over everything at the same weight, which flattens the drawing back out.

    چيڪ The outline should be clearly darker than the smallest details.