Tutorial :- Creating Lips using Mesh tool

Apr 15, 2008 Posted by AiVault on Apr 15, 2008 in Drawing, Tutorials | View Comments

Creating Lips the PepperStyle

User level : Expert
Essential tools knowledge : path finder , nodes handling , pen tool , freehand drawing.Practice tool :- Mesh

Step 01

starting off by creating two simple oval shapes , i draw these to keep in mind the muscls that we have underneth our skin. These are the most prominent ones!

Step 02

select both use pathfinder window and expand

step 03

Draw a similar shape on left side

Step 04

and on right side

Step 05

again path finder and join and expand

step 06

now work a little bit with shape and refine it a bit handling the nodes and deleting some unuseful ones

Step 07

something like this

Step 08

cleaning up and smoothin using handles of nodes

step 09

Herei s my second Guide for lower lip muscle

Step 10

continue with drawing the lower lip left side shape please note the oval shape i have placed here is a guide to understand the muscles underneath…. you can omit that part if you are confident enough

Step 11

Then right side shape …you can now delete your muscle guide

step 12

Select both shape join shapes and expand

Step 13

Tidy it up using nodes and handles

Step 14

Create another layer where we will copy the same shape

step 15

copy your layer 1 of lip shapes and paste in front on second layer

Step 16

Lock the first layer using the knife tool cut off some highlight area from the upper lip shape

Step 17

continue to cut off some shapes something like this…

step 18

tidy up layer 2 and get rid of negative space we only want to keep th cut out highlights

Step 19

For shading start by selecting cutout highlights one by one picking and colour it the base colour of the lips , ie the lip colour given to layer 1

Step 20

select the Mesh tool and click on an area where you want most of the highlight using the eyedropper tool select white colour

step 21

Step 22

Create another layer above layer 1 where we will give some shape to the lips and darker tones

Step 23

I used pen tablet and freehand drew a shape

step 24

select the upper lip shape and by selecting mesh tool click on a part where you want to drop the higlight

Step 25

select the lower lip in layer 1 select mesh tool and drop a little lighter tone by using the eye droper or simply adjusting the colour in colour pallette

Step 26

Click near the lower line and drag the colour selection towards a bit darker shade

Step 27

Create another layer below all the layers and draw a dark filled shape i used black colour here

Step 28

Draw some teeth shapes , i have done them one by one incase you want to put more details you can use the mesh tool here as well.

step 29

I used the line art brushes ( Download them!) and adjusted the stroke to get an uneven outline which will work for me as a shade of a lighter colour i used white for outline and light pink for fill.