How to Draw a Pair of Lips

You start drawing lips with a strait line. Once you master this first set of lips, then you can play with this line. It can be curved depending on the expression you are trying to accomplish.



Draw a small curved line above the strait line. It should be centered with the strait line and the curved side should be facing the strait line.



Connect the curved line with the strait line on both sides. You have now drawn the upper lip. This lip can be thin or thick. You have the option to play with the proportions. Everyone's lips are different.



Now you can add on the bottom lip. This lip is almost always larger than the top lip. Sometimes they look square like and other times they look like a half moon. Play with the size of this lip as well.



When you shade in the lips, the top lip is always darker than the bottom lip. It is facing the ground thus shading itself from the light above. The bottom lip is lighter towards the center of the lip. It has shadow closest to the top lip and at the very bottom of the lip. The bigger the lip, the bigger the highlight you will have.



Now you can add shading above and below the lips. There is a divot above the lips that match the little curve on the top lip. Shadows usually fall on the same side of both ridges. You can also hint that there is a chin below the bottom lip with a crescent shading that faces down.



Now play with the mouth. Above I opened the lips and hinted at some teeth. Below I opened the mouth a lot and showed you the tongue. I didn't shade these two so you can see the lines.



Let me know if there is something about this how-to I can explain better.