How to Draw Lips from the Side

In this drawing tutorial, we will show you how to draw lips from the side. This guide is a part of our series of lessons about drawing lips from different angles.

The ability to draw lips, like other parts of the face, is extremely important for any artist. This is necessary primarily in order to draw portraits and various drawings in which people are present.

To more fully understand the structure of the lips, and draw them in the most convincing and beautiful way, we advise you to read our article on the anatomy of the mouth for artists.

So let’s get down to the tutorial on how to draw lips from the side.

 

Step 1

First, sketch a vertical line. It will serve as a guideline that will help in the future to draw lips in compliance with all proportions. Use a short horizontal line to mark the mouth opening.

Step 2

Using the guidelines from the first step, draw the outlines of the lips. Start with the upper lip by drawing its curves as in our example, then draw the lower lip.

Step 3

Now draw the borders of the lips that separate them from the rest of the face. In the corner, draw a line of the labial commissure.

Step 4

Erase all the construction lines and give your lips drawing a clean and finished look. Be sure to check the correctness of the picture by looking at it through a mirror or moving away from it a short distance.

Step 5

Now is the time to give your lips drawing a more correct look. To do this, you need to draw shadows using hatching. We examined the structure of shadows and the whole process of drawing them in our article on light and shadow.

Step 6

Compare your lips drawing with our example, find any mistakes and inaccuracies, and correct them. You can try to make your drawing of the lips even more voluminous by adding additional shading layers. You can also draw the background, or simply shade the area behind the lips so that the lips themselves acquire additional volume.

Lips are a fairly complex subject to draw. Of course, they can be drawn in the form of a simple line but this will deprive your drawing of any realism and credibility.

In order to be able to draw lips most correctly, you must first study their structure, at least in general terms. It is necessary to understand how they look in reality and what affects their appearance.

It is also necessary to be able to correctly draw shadows and understand their structure in order to be able to add volume to the lips drawing.

This will all take some time, but the result will be a complete understanding of how to draw lips, and not just copy the drawing.

After that, you will need to consolidate your knowledge. As we have said many times, it is necessary to draw the desired object as often as possible in order to bring the whole process of creating this object on paper to automatism.