How to draw lips – 10 easy steps

Darlene Nguyen May 10, 2013

In this tutorial I will teach you how to draw lips in 10 easy steps using
a simple triangle shape. You can create different kinds of lips by
making small changes in the first step. I came up with this method
one day by somehow associating a pair of lips with a bow and arrow
haha.

I always receive messages from readers who have tried

this tutorial and say it works great for them. I hope it works for you
too! Enjoy!

I will be using the following materials for this tutorial:

– Mechanical Pencil with 0.5mm HB Ain lead

– Derwent Graphic 6B Pencil
– Kneaded Eraser
– Blending Stump
– Smooth Bristol Paper

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 How to Draw Lips

Step 1: Draw a Triangle

Draw a long isosceles triangle. Partway down draw a curve (similar

to a “u” shape). Draw a straight horizontal line between the “u”
shape and the base of the triangle. The longer you draw the
horizontal line, the wider the lips will be. The shorter the line, the
more plump they will be.

“But what if I want to draw this on a face, Darlene?” Check out my

tutorial on drawing faces to find out where you should place your
triangle. It covers proportions and will help you determine how long
the triangle should be as well as how wide the lips should extend
taking other elements of the face into consideration.

Step 2: Draw a bow

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 Create the outlines for the top lip by making a shape that looks
similar to a cupidʼs bow.

Step 3: Draw the bottom lip

Create the bottom lip by drawing a curved line which goes no

further than the triangleʼs base. Complete the opening of the mouth
by using the horizontal line as a guide.

If youʼre stuck on this step or not quite sure how to do it, click here
to watch me draw it step by step on YouTube with plenty of
examples!

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 Step 4: Decide on the light direction

After erasing the triangle, determine where the light source is

coming from. For this example, the light source is coming from the
top right. Iʼve outlined the areas I want to highlight as well as added
a cast shadow on left side of the bottom lip.

Step 5: Shade the top and bottom lip

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 Shade both the top and bottom lip leaving the areas mentioned in
STEP 4 the lightest. As you can see there is a dark shadow under
the bottom lip. It starts to fade on the right side to show that the
light source is coming from the upper right.

Step 6: Add lip wrinkles

Create some lip wrinkles using a 0.5mm HB pencil. You donʼt want
to press too hard or else it will be difficult to achieve the effect in
the next step.

Want to find out how to incorporate lip wrinkles in your drawing

without making them look unnatural? Try the contour shading
technique as mentioned in my shading tutorial :)

Step 7: Blend the bottom lip

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 Using a blending stump (learn how to use one here), smooth out the
shading on the bottom lip. Avoid areas mentioned in STEP 4. Those
areas will make the lips appear more plump and round. You will
notice that the lip wrinkles slowly start to blend in with the shading.
But they shouldnʼt disappear!

Step 8: Clean up highlights

Go over the lighter areas with the pointed end of a kneaded eraser
and clean up the highlights to create the glare effect.

STEP 9: Repeat

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 Repeat STEP 7-8 for the top lip.

Step 10: Touch ups

Using a 6b pencil, darken the shadows in areas such as the outer

edges of the lips, under the bottom lip, the wrinkles and the corners
of the lips.

You can change the size of the lips by moving the horizontal line up
(to make the upper lip thin) or down (to make to make the upper lip
thicker). Also, adding more glare will make the lips look even more
plump.

Have any questions or requests? Let me know in the comments!

Donʼt worry if your drawing doesnʼt turn out the way you expected

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 on the first try. Keep going at it and you will understand and grasp
each step. It will become much easier! Also, donʼt forget to
experiment with different triangle shapes and positioning of the
guides in STEP 2. If you enjoyed this easy step by step tutorial on
how to draw lips, please share this post using the share buttons
below to support RFA :) Thank you!

Click here to learn how to draw 10 different kinds of lips (smile,

frown, smirk, etc).

More Lip Tutorials:

Drawing lips from the 3/4 view

Drawing a smile with teeth

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 Drawing lips from the side

How to draw lips on a face

Want to try a different method? Hereʼs a more simple one:

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 How to Draw + Shade Lips in Pencil

If you love RapidFireArt tutorials and want to support what I do,

check out my Patreon page where you can support RFA and earn
cool rewards at the same time!

Darlene Nguyen

Darlene created RFA In 2013 with the goal of sharing simple yet
detailed drawing tutorials with other artists on the world wide web.
She is a self taught pencil portrait artist and Youtuber.

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