How to draw a mouth

Like hands, a lot of people battle with drawing mouths. Choosing to use either the line mouth or teeth clenched mouth, all the time.

Too often we see characters speaking to each other with gritted teeth, what’s that about? Like before, it’s all about having fun and experimenting.

I use to sit for hours on end trying to get the perfect nose and the perfect eyes and in the end they were never perfect. Practice by jotting down a sketch as quickly as you can with the aim of just having fun. It’s a lot less frustrating that way.

So, with regards to the pic this week, the top two rows are men’s mouths and the bottom two rows are those of women. The big difference between the two is the fullness of the lips. I did this on the upper lip of the first guy mouth to add a good looking feminine-ish look to him.

Start the mouth by deciding what expression you want to capture then draw a basic outline of the shape, open for shocked or shouting, smiling for happy.

Now add the smaller details, the hair, the lips the teeth and tongue. Perhaps there is a mole on the top lip or a scar across the lip. I varied the mouths with things like hairy faces, fuller lips, funny expressions. Have a close look at each and give it a shot at doing some of your own.

how to draw a mouth

How to create the look for your character pt 2

The second part in how to illustrate a character. In this session we look at how to add colour.