Drawing lips may seem like a daunting task for beginners in the world of art, but with a little practice and knowledge of basic techniques, you can master the art of drawing realistic and expressive lips. In this article, we’ll guide you through 13 simple steps to draw lips.

1. Gather your supplies: Before you begin, make sure you have the necessary tools including a sketch pencil (ranging from 2H to 6B or higher), an eraser, paper or a sketchbook, and some references or images of lips.

2. Observe your reference: Study the shape of the lips in your reference photo or real-life model. Pay close attention to the size, proportions and curves of the upper and lower lip.

3. Draw a centerline: Lightly sketch a horizontal line where you want the middle of the lips to be. This will help you maintain symmetry as you draw.

4. Draw the lip outline: Begin by drawing a rough outline of the upper and lower lip. Start at one corner of the mouth and move toward the other end using gentle curved lines.

5. Create basic shapes: Simplify the lips into basic shapes such as circles or ovals for easier drawing.

6. Add details to the lip shape: Refine and adjust your basic shapes by adding more details like Cupid’s bow, that is visible at the middle part of the upper lip, and other features specific to your reference photo.

7. Refine and perfect proportions: Compare your drawing with its reference image ensuring it has proper proportions between both upper and lower lips.

8. Add shadows and highlights: Identify areas where light falls on the lips such as highlights on Cupid’s bow or subtle shadows under the lower lip by gently shading these areas with your pencil.

9. Define lip edges (texture): Gently add texture by creating small lines from lip edges towards the middle. These lines will vary in length, thickness, and direction, depending on the lip texture.

10. Draw in the surrounding facial features: To make your lip drawing more realistic, draw the surrounding facial features like the nose, chin, or cheeks.

11. Erase guide lines: Remove any unnecessary sketch lines, following or adjusting the plans you have created earlier.

12. Deepen the shading: Use a darker pencil (4B or 6B) to deepen shadows and emphasize lip creases.

13. Final touches (optional): You may add final touches like lipstick or gloss by using softer pencils for adding color and highlights to accentuate details or smudging your pencil shades with your finger or blending tool.

With these 13 steps, you should now have a better understanding of how to draw lips. Practice drawing different types of lips from various references to improve and master this skill. Happy sketching!