Do you want to learn how to draw lips in anime? Well, you’re in luck! In this article, we will teach you how to create realistic and anime-inspired lips. We’ll go over the different techniques that you can use, as well as provide some helpful tips and tricks. So whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist, this guide has something for everyone!
How To Draw Lips Anime
It is not an easy thing to draw lips in anime, but don’t worry it can be done. I’m here with some helpful tips to make the learning process easier for you.
- Start by drawing your mouth in a turned-up position like most smiles go. Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time for step two.
- Make sure to draw both sides of the mouth symmetrically unless the character has a huge scar or something coming out of their mouth, then draw ONLY one side of their mouth no matter what situation they’re in. For example, Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin has only half a mouth because of the huge scar on his face.
- It’s important to draw slightly tilted eyes and slightly rounded corners for the mouth unless the character is smiling, laughing, or shocked (in those cases, they will be completely straight.) For example, Yato from Noragami is always smiling, so his lips are turned up as well as his eyes as if he has been smiling since birth.
- Make sure to make your lips look like they’re actually connected to your skin and that parts of them aren’t see-through! I know it was hard enough just drawing them this time around, but practice makes perfect; we can’t say anything else about that.
- Finish the drawing by adding shading if you want to or even color! It’s up to you.
Draw A Basic Outline Of The Lips
Lips come in many shapes and sizes. They can be long or short, thin or thick, and they can have a very noticeable shape to them. In this article, I will show you how to draw a basic outline of the lips for any design that you may want to bring into the 3D form on your computer.
Step 1
Start with a straight line going from one corner of the mouth to another, as shown in figure A. It doesn’t have to be perfect as it is merely there as a guide for the bottom lip, so go ahead and make the line more curved if you want.
Step 2
Add two small lines connected at both ends by short diagonal lines, as shown in figure B below. Once again it does not need to be perfect. These lines are merely guides for the upper lip, so don’t stress if it’s not 100% accurate.
Step 3
Connect two more diagonal lines across the original line, as shown in figure C below. The length of this line will determine how much space there is between the lips, and this space can be increased or decreased depending on what works best with your design.
Step 4
To wrap up, I’ve added another two straight lines that connect at both ends to finish off the upper lip shape in figure D below. This is essentially a re-imagining of step 1 but with shorter, straighter lines instead of longer curve ones. That’s me! Now all you have to do is go ahead and repeat these steps to create the lower lip shape.
Step 5
I’ve shown how it should look after you have finished drawing both lips in figure E below. This image should be used as a reference when you are ready to move on to adding other features like eyes, noses, ears, etc. If you wish to add shading then that’s easy enough because all you need to do is use lines that follow the curvature of your original shapes rather than crossing over them as I did with the upper lip in this example since I was going for an outline effect which only requires very basic shading techniques.
Add In The Top Lip Curve
The process of adding in the top lip curve is relatively simple. If you are familiar with drawing a basic upper lip, then this will be an easy step for you. Follow these steps to draw the lip line:
1. Draw a circle for where the head begins at the bottom of the chin.
2. Connect that circle with a vertical line straight up through the middle of it. This vertical line should touch where your nose begins at the center of your face. This is where your philtrum (the divot above your lips) touches your nose on most people.
3. From the top of that vertical line, draw a diagonal line straight to the left. This is your guide for where your top lip will end.
4. Draw another diagonal line from the right side of your mouth to touch up against that first one at an angle. Make sure there’s enough room between them for your other lip later.
5. Finally, draw a circle at each outer ending point of those two diagonal lines at their base points where they meet up with the horizontal centerline you drew earlier.
6. You’ve drawn almost all of it now! You just have to draw in the other curve on top connecting with the first one you just drew and then add in some shading depending on if they’re fuller or thinner lips.
Finish Up By Adding Color
The lips are an integral part of the face. Most people use makeup to enhance their lips and make them more beautiful. But why spend money when you can do it yourself? Follow these simple steps and learn how to draw anime lips for yourself.
1. You will need a skin color that is about one shade darker than your natural skin tone. Apply this all over the lip area using a thin paintbrush or lip brush. Be sure to apply in straight lines and in the same direction as your upper lip hair growth.
2. Take a lighter skin color (but still darker than your natural skin tone) and apply this to the areas where you want your lips to be darker. Here, we chose to use a purplish color for the bottom lip and a pinkish color for the top. Apply carefully using small dots and lines inside and around your mouth so it looks like spots and wrinkles.
3. Blend the two colors together by smearing them with your fingers until they meld into each other naturally. Careful not to smear outside of your drawn-in lip lines!
4. Draw in some blush or freckles if you’d like to bring out the shape of your face more by accentuating your cheeks. Be sure not to make them bigger than your actual cheek size. Also, draw in some shadow under your bottom eyelid to give the illusion of depth and a pop of color! For this example, we used a teal shadow, but feel free to use whatever color you’d like.
5. With a black eye pencil, carefully apply thin lines along the inside and outside of your lip line for definition. You can also choose to darken up just the lip line or both to bring out more detail and define the shape even more!
6. Apply matte red lipstick over top of all the other colors (it doesn’t matter if it looks messy as long as it is filled in completely). It’s best to go with something bright red for anime-style lips. Now you have a cute and simple lip color.
7. Don’t forget the final step in this drawing tutorial. In order to see the results better, add a background that contrasts well with your final product. For example, if you used pink lips then something very brown or green would work well as a contrasting background.
8. The final step is to add color to your lips. Since this is anime, don’t be afraid to exaggerate the size of them just a little bit. Then choose whatever lip color you’d like and apply it carefully with a thin paintbrush or watercolor brush. Outline your lips in black, and then draw streaks of color across both top and bottom lips for that extra push of energy and excitement!
Wrapping Up
Drawing anime lips may seem daunting at first, but with a little practice, you can create wonderfully realistic and expressive lips. In this tutorial, we’ve outlined the basic steps for drawing anime-style lips and shared some tips to help you get started. With a bit of patience and these guidelines in hand, you should be able to draw beautiful anime lips that accurately reflect your character’s personality. Have fun experimenting with different shapes and colors to create unique and memorable characters!