Drawing a mouth is frustrating. You spend hours on a portrait, and then the lips end up looking like two flat sausages stuck onto a face. It happens to everyone. Honestly, the reason most people struggle with pencil drawings of lips step by step is that they treat the mouth like a flat sticker instead of a 3D muscle wrapped around a curved skull.
If you want to draw something that actually looks fleshy and real, you’ve got to stop drawing outlines. Lines don't exist in real life. Only light and shadow do.
Think about the anatomy for a second. The lips aren't just a shape; they are a series of pads. There are five main fatty masses in the human lips: two on the top and three on the bottom. When you understand these bumps, your shading suddenly makes sense. You aren't just "coloring in" anymore. You’re sculpting.
The gear you actually need (and what to skip)
Don’t go out and buy a 50-piece set of pencils. You don’t need them. Most professional artists—people like J.D. Hillberry or Kelvin Okafor—work with a very limited range.
You need a 2B pencil for your initial map. It’s light enough to erase but dark enough to see. Grab a 4B or 6B for the deep shadows inside the "cupid's bow" and the corners of the mouth. A monozero eraser (the tiny pen-shaped ones) is a lifesaver for highlights. And if you’re still using your finger to smudge? Stop. The oils from your skin ruin the paper over time. Use a paper stump or a soft tissue instead.
Mapping the structure without looking like a cartoon
Most tutorials tell you to draw a straight line. Don't.
Human faces aren't flat. Your mouth sits on the dental arch—basically a cylinder. So, when you start your pencil drawings of lips step by step, start with a curved centerline. This represents where the lips meet.
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- Draw a faint horizontal curve.
- Mark the "nodes." These are the little fleshy bumps at the corners of the mouth.
- Identify the "tubercles." That’s the fancy word for the little bump in the middle of the upper lip.
Instead of drawing the outer edge of the lips with a hard line, use "ghost lines." These are barely visible marks that act as a fence for your shading. If you press too hard now, you’ll have a permanent scar on the paper that shows through your final drawing. It looks amateur.
Why the cupid's bow is a trap
Everyone over-exaggerates the cupid’s bow. Unless your reference photo has someone wearing heavy, defined lip liner, that top edge is usually quite soft. It’s a transition of skin, not a border.
In real pencil drawings of lips step by step, the darkest part of the drawing should be the "line of occlusion"—the crack where the top and bottom lip actually touch. This is where the least amount of light reaches. If you make the outer edges as dark as the center line, the lips will look like they are floating off the face. Keep the edges soft and the center crisp.
Shading the "Five-Pad" system
This is where the magic happens. To get that 3D look, you have to treat the lips as five distinct cushions.
On the upper lip, you have a central pad and two flanking pads. On the bottom, you have two large teardrop-shaped pads. When light hits the face from above—which it usually does—the top lip is mostly in shadow because it angles downward. The bottom lip, however, angles upward, catching the light like a shelf.
Basically, the top lip is almost always darker than the bottom lip.
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Start by laying down a mid-tone. Use a blending stump to smooth it out until it looks like skin, not graphite. Then, go back in with your 4B pencil and deepen the corners. The corners of the mouth aren't just points; they are small pits. If you don't shade those pits, the mouth won't look like it's "set" into the cheeks.
Texture: The secret to realism
Lip skin is different from cheek skin. It’s wrinkled. It stretches.
To draw lip texture, you need to follow the "form lines." Imagine a bunch of vertical U-shaped lines wrapping around each pad. These lines should follow the roundness of the lip.
- Don't draw straight vertical lines.
- Make the lines slightly irregular.
- Leave gaps between the lines to represent highlights.
Here’s a trick: take your monozero eraser and "draw" white lines into your shaded areas. This mimics the way light reflects off the ridges of the lip skin. Then, take your sharpest pencil and draw a very dark, thin line right next to that erased white line. This creates a "peak and valley" effect. It looks incredibly real.
Dealing with "The Wet Look"
If the lips are supposed to look glossy or wet, contrast is your best friend. In art, "wet" just means "high contrast." You need your darkest blacks right next to your brightest whites.
Use a white gel pen for the final touch. Just a few dots on the lower lip where the moisture gathers. Don't overdo it, or it will look like the person just ate a powdered donut. Keep it subtle.
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Common mistakes in pencil drawings of lips step by step
I see this all the time: people forget the "filtrum." That’s the little dip between the nose and the upper lip. If you don't shade the columns of the filtrum, the mouth looks detached from the nose.
Another big one? Ignoring the "shadow core" under the bottom lip. Because the bottom lip sticks out, it casts a shadow onto the chin. Without that shadow, the lip has no weight. It looks like a sticker. You need that dark crescent shape right beneath the bottom lip to "push" it forward toward the viewer.
Also, watch out for the teeth. If the mouth is slightly open, don't draw every single tooth. If you draw hard lines between every tooth, it looks like a picket fence or a cartoon skeleton. Instead, shade the teeth as one solid block of light gray, and only darken the very top where they meet the gums and the tiny gaps at the bottom. The "suggestion" of teeth is always better than a literal anatomical drawing of them.
Putting it all together: A workflow check
When you're finishing up your pencil drawings of lips step by step, step back. Literally. Stand five feet away from your drawing.
Does it look like a mouth, or does it look like a collection of lines?
If it looks too "lin-y," take a clean tissue and very lightly sweep it over the whole thing. This will knock down the harshness. You can always go back in and add the sharp details afterward.
Actionable Next Steps for Better Drawings
- Practice the "Bean" Shape: Before drawing lips, practice drawing two beans stacked on top of each other. This helps you visualize the volume before you worry about the details.
- Study the Planes: Look at a 3D model of a face or a "Planes of the Head" (Asaro Head) bust. Notice how the mouth is broken down into geometric chunks.
- Check Your Values: Take a photo of your drawing on your phone and turn the "Saturation" all the way down. If the drawing looks gray and muddy, you need to push your blacks darker and your whites brighter.
- Tone the Paper: Try drawing on toned tan paper using a black pencil for shadows and a white charcoal pencil for highlights. It’s often easier for beginners to understand form when they aren't starting with a blindingly white background.
By focusing on the anatomy of the pads and the softness of the edges, you'll move past the "sausage" phase and start creating portraits that actually have some soul to them. Keep the pressure light, follow the form, and remember that the shadows do all the heavy lifting.