Lips in Colored Pencil

I thought I would share with you some of the lessons I teach to my students.  Last week in class, we drew lips in colored pencil.

Reference Photo

First, we used light washes for the skin tones around the lips.  The skin tones were created using the following Prismacolor colored pencils.

Cream, Light Peach, Jasmine, Pink Rose, Yellow Ochre, Beige, Peach, Peach, Blush Pink, Rosy Beige, Goldenrod, Blush Pink (again), Clay Rose.

In the darker areas of the face we used, Pink, Burnt Ochre, Mineral Orange.

We burnished the whole face with Light Peach.  After burnishing, we added a light layer of Greyed Lavender and blended with the Colorless Blender.

For the lips, we left the highlight area the white of the paper.  We then applied a light wash of Peach, Blush Pink, and Pink.  To the line where the lips meet, we added Dark Brown, Henna, Terra Cotta and Tuscan Red.  We also added Henna to the shadow parts of the lip. 

One thing to remember about lips, the upper lip curves in and the bottom lip curves out.  The upper lip is always darker than the bottom lip because it curves in and doesn’t receive the light.  The bottom part of the bottom lip is darker because it is curving down toward the face.

Print these off and try them for yourself!