How To Paint Lips With Acrylics

New Blue Indian Bride Portrait In Progress

4 ft x 5 ft ~ Acrylic Paint on Canvas

I thought it might be fun to go through my process for painting in the beautiful lips of my current work in progress. I often get asked for advice on how to paint and master artistic skills. While I am very confident in my work and absolutely love my personal style, I would never pretend to be "perfect" or all-knowing. I can only share my own techniques and ways in which I achieve my style. Want to know what colours and steps I took to achieve that pink pout? Keep reading! 

NOTE: I'm planning to video tape the eye painting process! Stay tuned to my FB Page or YouTube Channel! :) 

Here is my palette with all of the colours I used for the lips. 

Left to right: Titanium White, Naples Yellow Red Light, Cadmium Red Deep, 

Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Mars Black, and Dark Burnt Umber.

 The lips pre-paint.

Start by defining where the lips meet. I did so using a mixture of black and dark umber. I also did a bit of shading in the corners of her mouth to give her a bit of a pout.

 Then apply the basic layer of pink all over the lips. This colour should be the mid-toned colour. In this case I used a mixture of Alizaron Crimson, Cadmium Red Deep, Naples Yellow Red Light, and Titanium White.

 I used thin washes of Cadmium Red Deep where the lips are more red than pink.

 I then applied thin washes of a redder version of Burnt Umber I have. This is put in where the shadows appear in the lips.

 Taking a break from the darks, I created a light pink with Cadmium Red Deep and White to begin adding shine. Apply this thinly where the light touches the lips.

 Mix more white into the light pink and do another layer of thin washes where the light touches the lips. Also add some lines, particularly in the lower right area where the lips aren't covered by the shadow of the veil.

 In this stage I used thin layers of Naples Yellow Red Light to add more shine and lines on the lower and upper lip as well as in the corners and outline.

 Using washes of my darker Burnt Umber I pumped up the shadows in the corners of the mouth making it seem a little more puckered. I also added more to the shadows and middle line. This colour was also used to outline the lips in the shadowed areas.

 Very carefully I used a bit of Mars Black to deepen the shadow between the lips and redefine the corners of the mouth. More shading was applied to the bottom of the top lip however this was removed in the next stage because I wasn't fond of the textured look.

 In this stage I softened and lightened the shadows on the lower part of the upper lip and used some Burnt Umber to add some minor defining lines.

 In this stage I finished outlining the lips with Naples Yellow Red Light and White. I also added more shine lines and little shine dots on the lower and upper lip using White.

In the final stage I re-added the Naples Yellow Red Light trim along the veil and this really finishes off the look. Beautiful pink pouty shiny lips! :)