How to Draw Lips

Co-authored by Renée Plevy

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 Masculine 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.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Drawing Feminine 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.
- If you want to improve your drawing skills, find a good teacher.^{[1]
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- The teacher can help you to observe things better.
- Besides this, you should practice sketching.^{[2]
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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.