How to draw Chins, Mouth's and Necks.

Drawing Chins mouths and necks.

Step 5:

in this next step of our tutorial we will be drawing Chins, Mouth's and Necks.

Your portrait is really starting to look like your subject as you continue to learn how to draw a detailed portrait.
With progress being made we can now move on to the Mouth, Chin, and Neck.

Drawing a mouth:

With the nose and cheeks finished and the hairline extended we are now ready to draw the mouth.

Study your chosen subject closely and take note of which areas of the mouth are lighter and darker.

Normally the darkest areas of the mouth are at the edges, between the lips and just below the bottom lip. If your subject has an open mouth, you will need to take note of the darker areas, especially around the teeth, gums, and tongue. Examples of this can be seen in our tutorial on How to draw Lips and mouths.

Drawing Mouths, how to draw Lips.

When drawing the lips do not use heavy lines. The lips are very subtle unless heavily made up with lipstick. However, they should still blend seamlessly into the face. You will need to use minimal pencil pressure when adding the lips. If you make them too dark, they will not look natural. You will also need to pay attention to their shape. The slightest imperfection in the shape can alter the overall look of the face. It is also important to remember that the lips are three dimensional; they do not sit flat on the face. They have fullness and shape that you need to show in your portrait.

The top lip is always slightly proud of the face and tends to catch the light. Whereas the bottom lip is also proud of the face but always tends to have a slight shadow along its edge. It is only a very subtle shadow so do not use heavy shading. For this and most other parts of the lip, I use an HB pencil and only apply light pressure. When shading the lips I try to do this in blocks. I first pick out the lighter areas and then by adding a little more pressure to the pencil filling in the darker areas. There is also normally a place on the lips where the light catches them. I pick this highlight out with my custom-made eraser when the lips are finished.

Drawing mouth's, chins mouths and necks, shading the lips.

When filling in the lips I always shade each lip separately. I shade from the top edge of the lip to bottom edge making sure that I pay attention to the detail on the lip using a slightly curved action to emphasise the fullness and shape of each lip. When I am happy with the basic appearance, I then carefully blend each lip with a Q-tip, making sure that I do not blend it onto the surrounding area of the face. If I find that the lips stand out too much, or the edges of the lips are too dark I use my eraser to lighten the area. Carefully dabbing or lightly brushing your eraser on the area of the mouth you wish to lighten can achieve this.

NB: It is important that you do not apply to much pressure to the eraser. Another method you can use is to lift some of the colours with your Q-tip, but I always find using my custom made eraser better as it has a tapered end and therefore I can select the areas to lighten more accurately.

Drawing chins, how to draw the Chin.

Once I am happy with the overall look of the mouth I move onto the chin. Again using my original picture for reference I take note of the darker and lighter areas on the chin and then using my copied picture with the grid on I carefully add these areas to my picture. To do this I will use my 3B pencil and again carefully shade each area. When the shading is complete, I blend the area together with my cotton wool.

How to draw the Neck:

Study your original picture again and take note of where any shadow or light falls.

The neck contains the Adam's apple. It is more obvious in males than it is in females although most females do not have Adams apples. However Some women with a larger larynx do but it is only an indicator of the size of the voice box. Particular attention also needs giving to its location. In addition, there are two main muscles in the neck, which run diagonally from behind each ear to the head of the sternum (breastbone). These muscles also have another small piece that comes from behind and attaches to the clavicle (collarbone) which becomes more visible if the heads rotated slightly. This is because they create a prominent indent or pocket in the neck that needs showing by using careful tonal values to create the illusion of depth. This is visible in my example shown below.

Drawing chins mouth's and necks, neck detail.

First, I locate the most prominent edge of the indent on the neck. Then I add a darker shaded area with my 3B pencil. I also make sure that I shade to the line of the detail. Gradually I reduce the pencil pressure to get lighter shading as I work towards the top edge of the indent. This area is where the neck muscles are the most prominent.

I then locate the other side of the indent and apply the same technique before carefully blending the area.
Once I am happy with how it looks, I use my eraser to add any highlights. Carefully picking out any areas where the light catches the neck. I also add a small amount of shading under the chin line, which helps give the portrait a more three dimensional appearance. As the head sits on the neck, shading will make the chin appear more prominent. This will help emphasise it.