How to Draw the Mouth

Outlining. Why is this a problem? With linear drawing, the line tends to indicate an edge - where two different planes meet. The edges of the mouth are not that defined, and if you were to paint them over with skin-colored makeup, you'd see that on many people, the change of plane can be very gradual. This can make heavily made-up lips particularly difficult to draw, as their neatly painted edges fight against the illusion of form that we are trying to create.

For most people, the color of the lips changes quite gradually, and we can also use a bit of artistic license. Outlining the lips, as in this example, makes them look oddly 'cut out' and not realistic at all.