How to Draw Lips

Knowing how to draw lips is a useful skill to have, especially if you like doing portraits. This tutorial will teach you to draw lips in just a few easy steps. Let's begin!

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:
Drawing a Man’s Lips

1
Create a couple of small circles above the centre of the page.
2
Recreate a couple of more circles at a diagonal base below the earlier created smaller circles touching their bottom edges.

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3
Pass a wavy line between the circles.
4
Join the upper edges of the circles with symmetrical hill-shapes to form the upper edge of the lip.
5
Join a curve at the bottom touching the circles below to the upper extremes of the lip-line.
6
Erase all unwanted lines and circles.
7
Color the lip.

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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:
Drawing a Woman’s Lips

1
Draw three overlapping circles in an imaginary triangular area.
2
Create an open pea shape-like area touching the edges of the upper and the bottom circles.
3
Make a couple of wavy lines within the pea-shape –the bigger one in the centre of the area and the smaller one in the upper area of the pea.
4
Join the edges of the centre wavy line to the tapered corners of the pea-shape.
5
Erase the circle-guides.
6
Color the lip with appropriate highlights and shades.

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Community Q&A

Question

How can I draw a baby's lips?

Community Answer

Babies' lips are generally very full, so make sure to draw even bigger circles. Also, make the lips about as long as they are wide.
Question

What other types of lips can I draw?

Community Answer

You could draw lips for men or women, different aged people or cartoon characters.
Question

How do I properly shade lips?

Community Answer

First, you need to determine where the light source is coming from. For example, if the light is coming from the top right, the highlights should be near the top right. The shadows are always the farthest away from the light source (in this example, the bottom left). The corners of the lip will be slightly darker than everything else.
Question

How do I add texture to drawn lips?

Community Answer

Draw a small oval in the middle of the lips. Then, draw lines curving away from the lips. Erase to your preference. I like to make the lines on the lips I draw soft, but if your drawing has chapped lines, you can make the oval more angular and not erase as much. Or, if you would like, you could shade the lips in, starting from the edges and getting lighter and lighter, or perhaps you would prefer forcefully rubbing a lip-colored crayon on the lips, then scratching it with your fingernails, producing a cool texture and color.
Question

How do you draw a nose?

Community Answer

Draw a small curve with two oval shapes at both sides for the nostrils. Draw two more vertical lines at both sides.
Question

How do I draw smaller lips?

Community Answer

You just make the circles smaller. This should make the lips smaller in comparison to the face of your drawing.
Question

How would I make them less full? They're not pleasing with the face I've drawn.

Diamy Wang

Community Answer

You could draw smaller circles. Adjust the circles as needed. For example, if you want them fuller, you could make larger circles.
Question

How do I make smiley lips?

Community Answer

Curve the circles up to the sides a little bit, but basically just follow the steps.
Question

How can I make the shading more realistic?

Community Answer

Figure where your light source is coming from. The closer you get to the light, the lighter your shading should be.
Question

Why is it hard to draw lips?

Community Answer

I personally hate drawing lips as well, but if you want something really simple, you can just make them a line or curve. You can also draw a "3" sideways to make the lips.