Lesson 5: "If I Wanted Any Lip Outta You..." or...Getting Mouthy

Mouths have a lot of muscles that
create an ever changing feature.

After the eyes, the mouth is the most identifiable shape in a caricature. It is also the most dynamic and variable facial feature in that, not only do mouths come in different shapes and sizes, the same mouth can change in innumerable ways with emotion, age and style of facial hair (and that's just for Eastern European women). Add the varieties of lips and teeth and the possibilities are endless.




Sink your teeth into this
Personal quirks are often revealed by the mouth. That crooked smile, toothy grin, pursed lips, overbite or "gummy" smile can give your caricature the "that's totally him" look you are shooting for.

A smile with too many lines make
the teeth look dirty and gross.

I'm learning that one of the pitfalls of drawing mouths is putting too much detail into them, particularly the teeth. Teeth are white and shiny (unless you're from Arkansas) and too many lines make them look blocky, gappy and wooden. The use of "implied" lines will add depth to your smiles and make them more lifelike.

I drew this one with too much detail.

I redid it with less lines here
 but am still not happy with it.

Here's a mouth a banjo player would be proud of!
(It's funny because I'm a banjo player. Stick
around and you'll find that I end up as the
butt of most of my own jokes).

Drawing the outline of the teeth and then filling in a few light details is usually enough. If you are going for a cartoony look, just the outline may be sufficient.

Mustaches can make
a mouth very unique.

Less detail makes the
smile cleaner.

Getting Lippy

Shading under the bottom lip
gives it depth.

Lips have depth and are often shiny. To show this you need to use shading. Darken the creases and leave the parts where the light hits uncolored.  Lips come in many varieties and are very individual, except here in LA where they all come from the same surgeon.

Some people have almost no upper lip.

I'd say drawing mouths correctly has been my biggest struggle so far. Lots of trial and error has me wishing for a 'Control Z' on my sketchbook (PhotoShop and Illustrator geeks know that's the shortcut for 'undo'). Instead, I am the proud owner of a jar full of eraser nubbed pencils.


p.s. No offense to my Arkansas brothers and sisters. I spent several years there myself and almost everyone I knew was very proud of their tooth. :D