Sketch and Shade a Baby’s Mouth
Outline shapes and then add shading to draw a baby’s mouth that appears three-dimensional
Supplies: drawing paper, pencils (2H, HB, 2B, and 4B), pencil sharpener, sandpaper block, vinyl and kneaded erasers
This activity has three sections:
- Introduction
- Outline Mouth Proportions
- Form a Baby's Lips with Shading
ArtSpeak
Crosshatching: A shading technique in which sets of straight or curved lines overlap or crisscross.
Form: An element of art that is created in drawings and paintings by using shading and/or colors to transform shapes into three-dimensional structures.
Graduation: (also called gradation, gradient, graduated shading, or graduated values) A continuous, seamless progression of values from dark to light or light to dark.
Hatching: A series of straight or curved lines (called a set) drawn closely together to give the illusion of values. Depending on the shading effects desired, the individual lines in hatching sets can be far apart or close together.
Highlight: A small section of a drawing subject that is rendered with white or a very light value to identify the brightest area where light bounces off the surface. Highlights are more pronounced on shiny or glistening surfaces than dull or matte surfaces.
Light source: The direction from which a dominant light originates. A light source identifies the light and shadow areas of a drawing subject, allowing artists to know where to add light or dark lines and values in their artworks.
Proportion: The relationship in size between two or more components of an artwork.
As an Aside
Compared to the mouth of an older child or adult, a baby's mouth is proportionately smaller and has more pronounced forms.
Challenge!
Check out the drawings of children's mouths in Figure 1. Compare the baby's mouth (bottom right) to the mouths of slightly older babies and toddlers.
Figure 1
Introduction
As the mouths of young children are in constant motion (talking, laughing, chewing, and making funny faces), they take on many shapes.
Compared to the mouth of an older child, a baby's mouth usually has fuller lips, and more pronounced individual forms. The width of a baby's mouth increases more quickly than its height thereby creating the illusion that lips become thinner with age.
Tip!
Remember: in the real world, no part of a human body is outlined with lines.
Skilled artists suggest the edges of forms with their shading.
As a baby grows from infancy to preschooler, the mouth grows to accommodate a growing jaw and mouthful of teeth (Figure 2).
In this activity, the five forms of a baby's lips are exaggerated to better provide you with a sense of their three-dimensional structures.
While these individual forms usually look less pronounced (flatter) in real life, you need to be aware of them in order to draw a believable mouth in a portrait of a baby or child of any age.
Figure 2
Outline Mouth Proportions
In this section, you first sketch five circular shapes to help establish the proportions of a frontal view of a baby's mouth. You then lightly outline the lips by connecting the outer sections of rounded shapes.
1.Draw three circular shapes to represent the upper lip (Figure 3).
Begin with the largest and highest (center circle). The two smaller and lower circular shapes (on either side of the large one) are the same size.
Keep your lines light so you can erase them later.
Figure 3
2.Draw two same-sized circular shapes to represent the lower lip (Figure 4).
Leave a space in the center of the five circles if you'd like the mouth to appear slightly open.
To make the mouth appear closed, draw the upper and lower sets of circles slightly closer together.
Figure 4
3.Use a kneaded eraser to lighten the circles.
4.Lightly outline the upper and lower lips (Figures 5 and 6).
The perimeter of the upper lip is touching/cutting through the outer edges of the circles.
For example, closely examine the line that defines the lower edge of the upper lip.
Figure 5
Figure 6
5.Erase the sections of circles that are outside the lips (Figure 7).
Figure 7
6.Add tiny circles inside each circular shape to represent highlights.
Remember to leave these highlights white (or light in value) when you add shading.
The light source originates from the upper right.
7.Lighten your entire outline drawing with your kneaded eraser.
If you can still clearly see the sketch lines around the five circles, pat them again with a pointed tip of your kneaded eraser until they are lighter.
Form a Baby's Lips with Shading
In this section, you add shading to the five circular shapes so that the baby's mouth appears three-dimensional.
Hatching and crosshatching are used in the illustrations in this lesson; however, you can use any shading technique you're comfortable with.
8.Use a 2H pencil and hatching to lightly shade the lips (Figures 8 and 9).
Remember: the light source originates from the upper right, so the overall shading is darker on the left.
The sections on the lower left that are not part of the circles need to be even darker.
Figure 8
Figure 9
9.Use a 2B pencil to shade the opening of the mouth (Figure 10).
Figure 10
10.Use a kneaded eraser molded to a wedge or point to lighten the outlines of the lips and the five circular shapes one more time.
11.Erase the contour lines around the perimeter of the lips until they are barely noticeable.
12.Use crosshatching graduations to smooth out the shading of the lips (Figures 11 and 12).
Figure 11
Figure 12
13.Use a 4B to slightly darken the shading inside the opening of the mouth.
14.Lighten any outlines that are still visible.
15.Use crosshatching graduations to shade the facial forms around the mouth (Figure 13).
Figure 13
16.Examine your shading and change anything you're not happy with.
If a section looks too light, add a few more crosshatching lines in-between others.
If a section looks too dark, use a kneaded eraser to lighten a few of the lines.
In Figure 13, all of the lines outlining the lips (especially those around the opening of the mouth) have been lightened more than once.
Tip!
Remember: the forms of realistic lips are rarely as prominent as they appear in this lesson.
Challenge!
Try your hand at drawing the wider, more mature mouth of an older child.
An outline of an older child's mouth is composed of three ovals to represent the upper lip and two circular shapes to represent the lower lip (Figure 14).
Use the same drawing process outlined in this lesson and the same light source.
Figure 14
