Hey Stan Prokopenko here, welcome to another episode of Proko! You should watch my previous
video in which I cover some anatomy and structure of the lips.
If you want to look at the reference photo while you watch me draw, just find this post
on proko.com and it's just below the video.
THE LAY-IN
With lips, I start my layins with the landmarks. Find the width and angle of the lips by indicating
the corners. Since, she's looking slightly away from us to the left, the center line
will curve out and to the left. This will help me find the placement of the top of the
tubercle and bottom of the bottom lip.
With the landmarks in place, lets think about those squishy little pillows. Remember how
in the last video I said there are three at the top and 2 at the bottom? On her, the tubercle
is flat and you can barely see it. This is actually quite common. The tubercle is just
fatty tissue, so its prominence will vary.
The wings on the sides of her lips are very round and easy to see. The two pads on the
lower lip are subtle, so the separation is kinda hard to see.
TWO-VALUES
When I start shading a drawing I like to first determine the angle from which the light source
is coming from. This will help me visualize what values to make each plane. If the plane
is facing the light it will be lighter, if its facing away it will be darker, and everything
in between. To figure out the direction of the light source I mainly just look at 2 things.
First, the cast shadows. The bottom lip is casting a shadow on to the left side of the
chin. So, I know that the light source is at the top right. But it's not too far to
the right, its very close to center. The other indication of the direction of the light source
is the highlight. It's on the right side of the lip, towards the top, same as the light
source.
So, all the planes that are facing down and to the left, are in shadow.
Now, notice how there is actually a Second light source coming directly from the left.
This secondary light source isn't as bright as the main light source, and for now I'm
going to ignore it. Most of the volume is defined by the main light source, so I'll
focus on that first.
The side of the top lip face down and are in shadow, but as we get closer to the middle,
her top lip gets very round and the top portion actually points up at the light source. So,
the core shadow in this case is towards the bottom in the middle, and along the top ridge
on the sides.
Going FULL VALUE with DARK ACCENTS
The darkest accents on the lips will almost always be in the corners, along the crease,
core shadows, and just under the bottom of the bottom lip. When defining the crease,
make sure to think about the overlapping forms and vary your line weight, so it doesn't just
look like an outline.
HALFTONES and HIGHLIGHTS
The top lip, even though it curves and points up, doesn't curve enough to point directly
at the light source, like the bottom lip. So, the entire lit area of the top lip will
all be a darker value halftone. With gradations to define the roundness of the squishy little
pillows.
Add some gradations to define the bottom lip. I want the highlight to be bright and sharp,
so I need to make sure the halftones around it are dark enough the make the highlight
stand out.
Once you start making your halftones dark, double check to make sure that the shadows
are significantly darker, so that the halftones don't start looking like shadows.
The corners of the lips have a slight gradation, but the bean shape of the nodes, is not very
prominent on her.
I'll define the plane changes of the region above the top lip. I'm going to take out
the cast shadow from the nose. I feel like it would look strange there without a nose
casting it. And instead I'll define the planes of the philtrum.
The area under the lips will be mostly halftone since these planes face down.
Now I'll add that secondary light source and make sure it stays in a supporting role
and doesn't become the main character.
Finally let's CLEAN UP some EDGES AND SHAPES
I'll go through the drawing one more time and do some cleanup work to define things
a little better.
Alright, so I'm going to be giving this drawing away. If you'd like a chance to
win, go to proko.com and subscribe to the free mailing list to get occasional updates
and be notified of new videos. I'll pick a winner from my email list on October 26,
and will post the name of the winner below this video.
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