by sirwiseowl

Guidelines for Pencil Portrait Drawing – Overall Muscle Structure of the Mouth

Capturing the delicate, fleeting gestures of human emotions in portrait drawing is a challenge for any artist. There are fundamentally 6 primary emotions: disgust, surprise, fear, sadness, anger and happiness.

The gestures of these primary emotions are instinctual, the muscle relationships and movements are subconscious. Generally, the facial muscles are delicate, finely in step and easily seen because they lie just under the skin.

The facial muscles not only communicate moods and gestures they also show sympathetic characteristics. For instance, when we are threading a needle we usually pucker our lips to “aid” the thread through the needle’s eye.

All facial gestures involve the muscles and other parts of the mouth. Therefore, to understand the facial gestures we must first understand the mouth which is more than just the red lips.

The mouth part reaches from the bottom of the nose to the Mentolabial Sulcus, i.e., the sulk-line of the chin. The mouth is a convex shape and wraps around the muzzle of the face.

Drawing the mouth should always start with the expression of the Interstice, i.e., the horizontal line where the lower and upper lips come together. The lips wrap around the convex outcrop of the dental arch and the interstice roughly corresponds to the middle portion of the front, upper teeth.

Note that the Nodes in the corners of the mouth are below the middle of the interstice, except in a smile when the facial muscles pull up the nodes.

The lips, or Labia, are composed of mucous membrane whose pinkness is the result of blood capillaries lying just under the skin.

The upper lip has three forms. In the middle is the Tubercle which is non-muscular and contributes to the ‘V’ form of the upper lip where it comes together with the bottom of the Philtrum. The Philtrum is the elongated, vertical trough that extends from the bottom of the nose to the tubercle of the upper lip.

The philtrum, which means “love drop”, is surrounded by ridges on each side. Practically every beginning artist overextends the philtrum, thus placing the mouth too low.

The other 2 components of the upper lip are 2, horizontal elongated forms. The muscles here, however, are the observable ridges of the middle vertical fibers of the Orbicularis Oris whose movement results in the pursing up of the lips. The numerous facial muscles fastened to the nodes of the mouth do the pulling and pushing.

The upper lip is flatter than the bottom lip. It is a downward tilting plane and ordinarily appears darker than the bottom lip. There is a tiny up-plane on the vermillion border of the upper lip that quite often catches a soft light. For most people, the upper lip tucks into the nodes.

The bottom lip ordinarily stops a little short of the nodes. The bottom lip is heavier and fuller. It is comprised of two elongated forms that give it a more squared-off look than the upper lip.

Somewhat below the vermilion border of the bottom lip is a elevated edge that develops laterally and is more clear at the nodes.

The vermilion border of the bottom lip should not be drawn with a distinct line, it has to be suggested more than drawn. Or else it will look like lipstick.

The bottom lip is an up-plane and will often catch the light. Like the upper lip, the ridges of the middle vertical fibers of the orbicularis oris shape the texture of the bottom lip.

The bottom of the mouth area is at the mentolabial. Shaping at the bottom edge of the lower lip’s two elongated forms are two columnar tubes that radiate diagonally downward. These are the Pillars of the Mouth. This is a down plane and thus will lie into shadow.

With this we end the general description of the things that make the mouth and in the end the smile.

More Muscle Structure Articles