How to Draw Lips From the Side
By Darlene Nguyen - October 15, 2016
This tutorial has 3 examples for you to draw from: Overbite, Normal Bite and
Underbite. When going through the tutorial, please pick only 1 example to follow
instead of drawing all 3 lips at the same time.
Tools I Used (You can find all my recommended tools here):
● Kneaded Eraser
● Derwent HB, 2B pencils
● Mechanical pencil with 4B Ain lead by Pentel
● Canson Sketch Paper (I find sketch paper so much harder to work with. I
much prefer working on Canson Bristol. Unfortunately out of bristol paper
at the moment.)
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
1
Step 1
This first stroke will determine if you draw an overbite, normal bite or underbite.
Step 2
This second stroke will determine the thickness of the top and bottom lip and
whether the corner of the mouth with angle up or down.
Step 3
Turn your sketch into a triangle. The longer your triangle is, the wider the lips will
be.
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
2
Step 4
Draw the corner of the mouth. This can be a simple dot, bracket, raindrop shape,
triangle etc.
Step 5
You can start with the top or bottom lip. For this tutorial, I’m starting with the top.
Draw a curve that starts at the top left corner of the triangle. This curve can
roughly follow the shape of the triangle, jut out or be drawn well inside the
boundaries. It’s all up to you.
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
3
Step 6
Connect the curve you just drew to the corner of the mouth. Avoid drawing a
straight line across. It’s better to draw a slightly curved line than a completely
straight one.
Step 7
To draw the bottom lip, start your stroke from the bottom left corner of the
triangle and wrap it up until it touches the top lip.
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
4
Step 8
Draw the upper lip. Be careful not to extend your line too far. The upper lip should
be roughly the same thickness as the top lip or more. When drawing the lower
lip/chin for underbites, make sure the curve is less pronounced. The bottom set of
teeth push the bottom/lower lip forward, reducing a lot of curvature.
Step 9
Using an HB
pencil with as
little pressure as
possible, draw
the rims around
each lip. Then
erase your
guidelines.
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
5
Step 10
Time to shade! If you think your lines are too dark, use your kneaded eraser to pick
up 1 layer of graphite from your drawing. Then use a sharp HB pencil to lay down
your contour lines.
Step 11
Start building up more
contour lines using
your HB, 2B, then 4B
pencils. Around the rim
of each lip, soften your
edges so they don’t
appear too harsh.
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
6
Step 12
For this tutorial, I used circulism to shade the skin around the lips. I used a blunt
HB pencil and built up layers and layers of circles. Then used a 2B to shade darker
areas.
I shaded areas such as the lower lip, cheek, corner of the mouth and skin directly
under the nose a bit darker. If you still see a lot of white space, use your HB pencil
to go over the skin with even more layers. Don’t press too hard or your circles will
be very visible!
Like this tutorial style? Hate it? Let me know in the comments below!
Copyright © 2016 Darlene Nguyen, [Link]
All Rights Reserved
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