How to Draw a Mouth

Task report from Yumiko, a Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course student

At Life Drawing Academy, students develop their drawing skills through a combination of video lessons, practical assignments, and personal guidance from Academy tutors. A substantial part of the course is devoted to portrait and figure drawing, including the construction, proportions, and anatomy of individual facial features.

One of these topics is how to draw the mouth. To understand its three-dimensional construction, students do not simply copy its visible outline. They study the anatomical forms beneath the surface, examine how the lips project from the face, and observe how the shape of the mouth changes when it is viewed from different angles.

As part of this assignment, Yumiko created a sculptural model of a mouth and drew it from life. Making the model helped her understand the volume, structure, and relationship between the upper and lower lips. She then produced detailed drawings and numerous quick sketches, studying mouths from many different viewpoints and under varied conditions.

Yumiko described her experience:

"I sketched various mouths in different ways. Just as I did with the previous nose sketches, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and drew many mouths from sculptures directly from life. I also drew my own mouth, as well as the mouths of different people I observed at the museum and in cafés."

Drawing from classical sculptures allows students to study clearly defined forms without the movement and time limitations of working with a live model. Museum studies also provide an opportunity to examine how accomplished sculptors interpreted the anatomy, character, and expression of the human face.

Yumiko combined these museum studies with drawings of her own mouth and sketches of people she observed in everyday life. This variety of subjects helped her see how greatly mouths differ in their proportions, shapes, expressions, and individual characteristics.

Such practice trains students to draw from understanding rather than merely copying outlines. Through repeated observation, sculpting, long studies, and quick sketches, students gradually memorize the principal forms of the mouth and become better prepared to draw it from life, memory, and imagination.

Learning how to draw a mouth is only one part of the Life Drawing Academy curriculum. Throughout the course, students progress from fundamental drawing principles to more advanced portrait, figure, and creative drawing assignments. They study constructive drawing, perspective, composition, human anatomy, proportions, and tonal rendering.

These subjects are closely connected. Anatomy explains the forms beneath the surface. Proportions help students position facial features accurately. Perspective shows how those features change as the head turns in space. Tonal rendering describes their volume, while constructive drawing provides a logical sequence for building the portrait from simple masses to refined details.

Students submit their artworks for constructive critique and receive individual advice from Academy tutors. This personal guidance helps them identify mistakes, understand how to correct them, and develop their drawing abilities steadily from one assignment to the next.

Yumiko's mouth studies demonstrate how focused practice can transform a single facial feature into a valuable lesson in anatomy, observation, construction, and artistic expression.

To learn good drawing techniques, enroll in the Life Drawing Academy course: