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Capturing the delicate, fleeting gestures of individual emotions in portrait sketching is a test for any draftsperson. There are basically six principal emotions: surprise, happiness, sadness, anger, fear and disgust.

The gestures of these key feelings are instinctual, the muscle interactions and actions are involuntary. In general, the facial muscles are fragile, finely in step and easily seen because they lie just below the skin.

The facial muscles not only convey moods and expressions they also show sympathetic characteristics. For example, when we are threading a needle we very likely pucker our lips to “aid” the thread through the eye.

All facial expressions involve the muscles and other regions of the mouth. Therefore, to grasp the facial expressions we must first comprehend the mouth which is more than just the pink lips.

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

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

Note that the Nodes in the corners of the mouth are lower than the center 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 redness results from the blood capillaries lying just under the skin.

The upper lip consists of three forms. In the center is the Tubercle which is non-muscular and add to the ‘V’ shape of the top where it meets the base of the Philtrum. The Philtrum is the stretched, vertical trench that extends from the base 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 two components of the top lip are 2, horizontal stretched forms. The muscles here, however, are the observable ridges of the central vertical fibers of the Orbicularis Oris whose activity results in the puckering up of the lips. The various facial muscles attaching to the nodes of the mouth do the pushing and pulling.

The upper lip is flatter than the bottom lip. It is a downward facing plane and commonly appears darker than the lower 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 lower lip usually stops a little short of the nodes. The bottom lip is heavier and fuller. It consists of two stretched shapes that give it a more squared-off look than the top lip.

A little below the vermilion border of the lower lip is a raised edge that develops laterally and is more conspicuous at the corners.

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

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

The base of the mouth region is at the mentolabial. Forming at the lower edge of the lower lip’s two stretched shapes are two columnar tubes that radiate diagonally downward. These are the Pillars of the Mouth. This is a down plane and thus will lie in shadow.

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

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Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and expert sketching teacher. See his work at graphite pencil portraits.

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