The Mouth

Okay, lets talk about the mouth! The mouth is very important to expression, so make sure you practice making different expressions! I definately suggest making different expressions in the mirror and observing how the mouth changes. You may feel a little silly, but it's very helpful! And don't forget to make some sketches! ^_-

The lower portion on the face is composed of several bones, together they make two forms we're all fimiliar with. That being the jawbone and the uhh.. "upper jawbone". The two bones you should know are the Mandible (the jaw bone) and the Maxillia (If you feel the area just above your lips, that bone is the maxilla). These are the two major bones.



The mouth and lips are formed by muscle. It's not important to know the muscles of the mouth and jaw; just understand that they "fill out" all of the despressions in the bones. They also flex and stretch when we talk and make expressions.

In life drawings, the lips are an important part of the face. With comic's they can and can't be depending on the style. In manga,you typically don't see many lips actually drawn in. Instead they're often indicated by shadow. That's not to say that they are never drawn in, it's just more common not to.

Even if you choose not to include the lips in your drawing it's important to understand how they look and move.

The upper lip is formed with two "circular shapes"in the center. There is an indent in the shape of the lip directly under the "curly cue" coming down from just below the nose. Now the upper and lower lips are often fairly close in size, however one may be larger than the other depending on ethnicity. The lower lip is made from two ovals. There is a slight indentation between them as well (much less pronounced compare to the upper lip).

As the face turns, the lips turn as well. The edge of the lips receed, as the center of the lips protrude.

With the side view, half of the lips can't be seen. This view is a good time to bring up another important feature of the lips. The Upper lip is angled inward, and with traditional lighting, is in shadow.



It may be a little easier to see the upper lip angle in this image. Remember, lips aren't flat! They have volume and protrude off the face. How soft or how angular the shape of the lips depend on, amoung other things, gender. In general, males have much more "harsh", pronounced and angular features than females. As you can see, the face on the left is female. Although her face still has form, her features are much softer. In contrast, the males face on the right is much more angular. His features are much more pronounced. Children are a bit of an exception to this rule. Young boys don't have as prounced features, they develop those as they get older.



Expressions with the mouth are pretty easy as long as you understand that the mouth is moved and shaped by a series of pulling and flexing. I've illustrated these expressions in an "animated" way, so you can see all of the expressions inbetween.

the first example (the far left) the mouth is pulling slightly downward at the corners, and the upper lip is stretching outward showing the teeth in a "gritting mannor". If the mouth is pulled open enough the gums will show (can't be all teeth ya know ^_-)

The yell is formed by the downward pull of the chin which streatches the edges of the mouth into long "lines". If it's a neutral of "happy" yell (like you yell if you were at a sporting event or something to that nature) the corners of the lips wouldn't be puilling downward, that's a characteristic of being angry or sad. instead they'd be pulling slightly upward.

The grin is easy one. The corners of the lips are pulled up and outward as the mouth opens. easy right? ^_^

In contrast to the pervious yell this one is a sad or angry yell. The corners of the mouth are pulling down and outward.

And lastly the half grin (this can be a sneer if the edges are pulling downward). This is another easy one. One side of the mouth is pulling up and open while the other corner is not.

Easy right? ^_^ As long as you observe and practice, you should have expressions down in no time ^_-

Now, on to the Next Lesson!