by using pencils and blending stick
Drawing lips in such a detailed way is a step-by-step process. You will need several layers to draw them.
Don't be discouraged, when the first layer does not look like realistic lips. Simply continue drawing. And you will see, some layers later, the lips will appear absolutely different.
STEP 1: define the size of the lips by using basic forms
This step is the most important one.
Because here you define the proportions of the lips: the length and the width in total, but also the size of the upper and the lower lips.
The lines are drawn slightly (with a 6B, for example), so that you can easily remove the traces of the sketch and you can immediately start with the details of the drawing.
> if you have questions concerning the material, you are welcome to have a look on my tips here: "I'd like to start drawing-which material do I need?".
STEP 2: You continue to draw with the 6B pencil.
The lips in general protrude slightly from the rest of the face.
There are soft highlights on the lips, especially on the bottom lip. I'd recommend you to draw those highlights already at the beginning to avoid darker shades in the highlight. It’s much more difficult to brighten up darker shades to create highlights instead of leaving the highlights out.
This first layer is very soft.
When you darken the lips, keep in mind the texture of the lips and draw those curved vertical lines. Some lines are drawn softer, some are drawn harder.
STEP 3: blending stick
As you can see in the video, the blending stick is a wonderful instrument to create textures on the lips. Keep on drawing the curved vertical lines also with the blending stick. If you have no blending stick with you, let's make one by yourself - here's how:
Continue to draw lines and to add shades to form the lips by using different pencils as well as the blending stick: the 2B pencil is used for drawing thinner lines and the 6B pencil for the darker lines.
STEP 4: shading
The corners of the mouth are clearly darker than the rest of the mouth. For those dark areas, you can use the 6B pencil. Another dark area is also under the bottom-lip.
STEP 5: highlights
shading around the lips: as the upper lips are slightly in front, they stick out farther, there’s a brighter area at the top of the upper lip. This area can be accentuated by a light shading of the area above the upper lip.
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Hallo, I'm an award-winning illustrator and drawing tutor from Austria. After great experiences in the Marketing and Database sector, I finally realised that I simply need to follow my enthusiasm and fascination for drawing and illustrating.
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The idea for this blog comes from the bottom of my heart: to get you close to drawing and to show you that you too can draw #drawinggang It's all about learning to feel the drawing!
© 2024 Barbara Baumann Illustration. Feel the drawing.
