{"id":3300,"date":"2016-10-15T10:18:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T14:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/?p=3300"},"modified":"2026-01-19T22:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:48:48","slug":"how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/2016\/10\/15\/how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side\/","title":{"rendered":"How to draw lips from the side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This tutorial has 3 examples for you to draw from: Overbite, Normal Bite and Underbite.\u00a0When going through the tutorial, please pick only 1 example to follow instead of drawing all 3 lips at the same time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3303\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/How-to-draw-lips-from-the-side_-overbite-normal-bite-underbite.png\" alt=\"how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side_-overbite-normal-bite-underbite\" width=\"637\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/How-to-draw-lips-from-the-side_-overbite-normal-bite-underbite.png 704w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/How-to-draw-lips-from-the-side_-overbite-normal-bite-underbite-300x132.png 300w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/How-to-draw-lips-from-the-side_-overbite-normal-bite-underbite-696x305.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1nOMkaP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Kneaded Eraser<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1SCbZ4S\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Derwent HB, 2B pencils<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2d0HS57\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Mechanical pencil with 4B Ain lead by Pentel<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Canson Sketch Paper (I find sketch paper so much harder to work with if I want to blend smoothly. I much prefer working on <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1QYryju\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Canson Bristol<\/a>. Unfortunately out of bristol paper at the moment.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How to Draw Lips from the Side:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Step 1: Choose top and bottom lip positioning<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3304\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/1-drawing-lips-from-the-side.jpg\" alt=\"1-drawing-lips-from-the-side\" width=\"493\" height=\"126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/1-drawing-lips-from-the-side.jpg 493w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/1-drawing-lips-from-the-side-300x77.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\" \/>This first stroke will determine whether you will draw an overbite, normal bite or underbite.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 2: Choose the lip angle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3305\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg\" alt=\"2-draw-lips-from-the-side\" width=\"649\" height=\"124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg 649w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2-draw-lips-from-the-side-300x57.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\" \/>This second stroke will determine the thickness of\u00a0the top and bottom lip\u00a0and whether the corner of the mouth with angle up\u00a0or down.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 3: Draw a triangle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3306\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/3-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg\" alt=\"3-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side\" width=\"651\" height=\"124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/3-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg 651w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/3-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side-300x57.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/>Turn your sketch into a triangle. The\u00a0longer\u00a0your triangle is, the wider the lips will be.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 4: Draw the mouth&#8217;s corner<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3308\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/4-draw-lips-from-side.jpg\" alt=\"4-draw-lips-from-side\" width=\"646\" height=\"119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/4-draw-lips-from-side.jpg 646w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/4-draw-lips-from-side-300x55.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\" \/>Draw the corner of the mouth. This can be a simple dot, bracket, raindrop shape, triangle etc.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 5: Draw the top lip<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3309\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/5-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg\" alt=\"5-draw-lips-from-the-side\" width=\"642\" height=\"119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/5-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg 642w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/5-draw-lips-from-the-side-300x56.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can start with the top or bottom lip. For this tutorial, I&#8217;m starting with the top.<\/p>\n<p>Draw a curve that starts at the\u00a0<strong>top left\u00a0corner<\/strong> of the triangle. This curve can roughly follow the shape of the triangle, jut out or be drawn well inside the boundaries. It&#8217;s all up to you.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 6: Complete the top lip<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3310\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/6-draw-side-lips.jpg\" alt=\"6-draw-side-lips\" width=\"639\" height=\"116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/6-draw-side-lips.jpg 639w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/6-draw-side-lips-300x54.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/>Connect the curve you just drew to the corner of the mouth.\u00a0Avoid drawing a straight line across. It&#8217;s better to draw a slightly curved line than a completely straight one.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 7: Draw the bottom lip<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3311\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/7-draw-side-lips.jpg\" alt=\"7-draw-side-lips\" width=\"644\" height=\"121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/7-draw-side-lips.jpg 644w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/7-draw-side-lips-300x56.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To draw the bottom lip, start your stroke from the <strong>bottom left corner<\/strong> of the triangle and wrap it up until it touches the top lip.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 8: Draw the upper and lower lip<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3312\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/8-draw-lips-from-side.jpg\" alt=\"draw lips from the side\" width=\"644\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/8-draw-lips-from-side.jpg 644w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/8-draw-lips-from-side-300x103.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px\" \/>Draw the <em>upper lip<\/em>. Be careful not to extend your line too far.\u00a0The upper lip should be\u00a0roughly\u00a0the same thickness as the top lip or more.<\/p>\n<p>When drawing the lower lip\/chin for underbites, make sure the curve is less pronounced. The bottom set of teeth push the bottom\/lower lip forward, reducing a lot of curvature.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 9: Draw the rim of the top and bottom lip<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3313\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/9-draw-lips-from-side.jpg\" alt=\"9-draw-lips-from-side\" width=\"632\" height=\"452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/9-draw-lips-from-side.jpg 632w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/9-draw-lips-from-side-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/9-draw-lips-from-side-587x420.jpg 587w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 632px) 100vw, 632px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Using your HB pencil with as little pressure as possible, draw the rims around each lip, connecting them to the corner of the mouth. Then erase your guidelines.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 10: Add contour lines<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3315\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/10-drawing-lips-from-the-side.jpg\" alt=\"10-drawing-lips-from-the-side\" width=\"638\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/10-drawing-lips-from-the-side.jpg 638w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/10-drawing-lips-from-the-side-300x102.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Time to shade! If you think your lines are too dark, use your kneaded eraser to pick up 1 layer of graphite from your drawing. Then use a sharp HB pencil to lay down your contour lines.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 11: Shade the lips<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3316\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/11-draw-lips-from-side.jpg\" alt=\"11-draw-lips-from-side\" width=\"632\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/11-draw-lips-from-side.jpg 632w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/11-draw-lips-from-side-276x300.jpg 276w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/11-draw-lips-from-side-386x420.jpg 386w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 632px) 100vw, 632px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Start building up more contour lines using your HB, 2B, then 4B pencils.<\/p>\n<p>Around the rim of each lip, soften your edges so they don&#8217;t appear too harsh.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 12: Shade the skin<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3317\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/12-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg\" alt=\"how to draw lips from the side\" width=\"673\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/12-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side.jpg 673w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/12-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side-300x109.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For this tutorial, I used circulism to shade the skin around the lips. I used a blunt HB pencil and built up layers and layers of circles. Then used a 2B to shade darker areas.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3319 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/13-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how to draw lips from the side\" width=\"700\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/13-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side-RFA.jpg 700w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/13-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side-RFA-300x110.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/13-how-to-draw-lips-from-the-side-RFA-696x257.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I shaded areas such as the lower lip, cheek, corner of the mouth, and skin directly under the nose a bit darker. If you still see a lot of white space, use your HB pencil to go over the skin with even more layers. Don&#8217;t press too hard or your circles will be very visible!<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed this tutorial and would like to support RapidFireArt, please share this with your friends. Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This tutorial has 3 examples for you to draw from: Overbite, Normal Bite and Underbite.\u00a0When going through the tutorial, please pick only 1 example to follow instead of drawing all 3 lips at the same time. Tools Kneaded Eraser Derwent HB, 2B pencils Mechanical pencil with 4B Ain lead by Pentel Canson Sketch Paper (I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[19,70],"class_list":["post-3300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-how-to-draw","tag-lips","tag-side"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3-300x218.jpg",300,218,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false],"large":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false],"ug_big":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false],"gg_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/THUMBNAIL-Side-Lips-324x235-3.jpg",324,235,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Darlene Nguyen","author_link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/author\/darlenenguyen\/"},"uagb_comment_info":17,"uagb_excerpt":"This tutorial has 3 examples for you to draw from: Overbite, Normal Bite and Underbite.\u00a0When going through the tutorial, please pick only 1 example to follow instead of drawing all 3 lips at the same time. Tools Kneaded Eraser Derwent HB, 2B pencils Mechanical pencil with 4B Ain lead by Pentel Canson Sketch Paper (I&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3300"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8213,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions\/8213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}