Drawing Mouths Is Easy When You Know What Not to pot

Drawing Mouths Is Easy When
You Know What Not to



Draw
There are a few basic tips to know that will help you with drawing mouths. I
probably learned these tips around high school when a friend of mine was drawing
a portrait for art class. There are just basic guidelines to follow when drawing the
lips and teeth, and if you've attempted to draw a beautiful smile but the end result
looked like a bunch of chicklets, then these rules are definitely for you as they
were for my friend.

Step 1:
Keep It Simple!
When drawing the mouth you should keep it even simpler than when drawing the
nose. Less is definitely more when drawing mouths.
Step 2:
Don't Draw the Teeth!
What do you mean don't draw the teeth?! Never draw hard lines for the teeth or
you'll end up with the chicklets issue. Instead, draw the gums. Let the gums define
the teeth. If the smile is just showing the top teeth, then draw the outline of the
bottom of the teeth.
You will get a better drawing if you stay away from trying to draw the teeth
themselves.
Instead, lightly draw the outline of them using the gum line, then lightly draw lines
that suggest the teeth.
Your teeth drawings will definitely improve if you follow this rule. As for the lips,
they can be drawn fairly easier than teeth.
Step 3:

The Top Lip
The lips take on more of the shape of a squished heart; well, at least the top lip
does. It's almost like two small waves that start at the end of the mouth and roll all
the way to the center where they meet. In the middle of the two waves is a little
trough. This little trough or indent is what gives the mouth its heart-like shape.

Tip: When drawing a smiling mouth, notice how the muscles around it push the
cheeks away from the mouth and stretch the lips. The cheeks create big
parentheses around the mouth. When drawing mouths, knowing how the muscles
of the face work is definitely to your benefit. Looking in the mirror and studying
how they move is one of the easiest ways to start!
The Bottom Lip
The bottom lip is the easiest part of the mouth to draw. It usually is the bigger of
the two lips, unless you have "Angelina Jolie" lips. Either way, it can be drawn
using the same basic shape. The bottom lip looks like a stretched letter "W or U."
Tip: When drawing the bottom lip, it rarely ever connects to the top lip with a hard
line. Where the two lips meet, it's most effective to draw a thin, dark line. This is
actually where you can start drawing the lips, as it will be easier to draw the
shapes for the top and bottom.
Step 4:
KEEP IT SIMPLE ALREADY!
Stop getting caught up with drawing the shapes perfectly and draw what you see.
The shapes are just so you can start learning to break things you see into
manageable, familiar shapes. Try to use as few lines as possible. Your lips will
look a lot better! Also remember that your lips are not flat. It is always better to try
and visualize your subject in 3-D. This will help you avoid drawing Wal-Mart
smiley faces! We don't want to keep it THAT simple!

If you can follow those few simple rules for drawing mouths, you should get the
hang of it in no time. I have created a small downloadable reference file to use for

practice. The mouths are mine, but if you've been using the other reference sheets,
then you're probably used to my beautiful mug by now. Like always, there are
plenty of magazine and reference books to look through for images to practice
with as well. Your own face is always good practice, especially if you're on a
budget, but you will have to get a mirror!