Drawing Tutorial- How to Draw a mouth and teeth

Step 1 Many people struggle when it comes to drawing mouths. For this tutorial I will show you how to draw a realistic looking mouth. I began with a basic outline sketch of the mouth. Identify where you want the lips, teeth, and gums to be.

Step 2 I laid down some graphite above the top lip. Tones will be darker towards the outsides of the mouth. Don't worry about precise shading at this point because this area will be blended later. Just scribble some tone down on the paper.

Step 3 Next, I used a blending stump to blend the graphite around. I used blended circulism for this step.


Step 4 I moved on to the top lip. The bottom of the top lip will always be darker than the other parts so I used a 3B pencil and laid down some tone in this area.


Step 5 Still using a 3B but applying less pressure, I started laying some tone down on the left side of the upper lip.


Step 6 Moving on, I finished the right side of the upper lip. At this point, you can see how the drawing is starting to look 3 dimensional and lifelike.


Step 7 I began working on the gums. Remember that the gums have to be darker than the teeth so don't make them too light. I used a B graphite for them.


Step 8 Next, I started working on the teeth. I notice alot of beginners think that teeth are white. Teeth are not white. The only thing that may be white on teeth are the highlights. Teeth have brilliant highlights so pay attention to your reference picture and draw around these. If the highlights don't stand out like you want them to, darken the area around them. I used a 2H on all of the teeth.


Step 9 I worked on each tooth individually. As I got closer to the front teeth, I used a lighter touch. The front teeth should be the lightest ones.


Step 10 I continued working on the teeth. They might take a while but the end result will be worth it.

Step 11 I finished up the teeth and moved onto the bottom lip. Bottom lips can be tricky because they usually have several different tones on them. I started by laying down some of the darker tones with a 3B.

Step 12 I continued working on the bottom lip paying attention to tone variations. The right side of my drawing is slightly darker than the left. This is not the case all the time, it was just my choice.


Step 13 Here is the final drawing of the mouth. There is always a dark area just underneath the bottom lip. Also, the lips were blended in slightly to the surrounding skin. Tone adjustments can be made at this time and details can be added too.

I hope this tutorial has helped you in some way or another. I can explain how I do things all day but the basic idea of drawing is to just understand how tones flow and to train your eye to see what others don't see.