Brenda Hoddinott

P-13 INTERMEDIATE: PEOPLE

In this project, you draw the slightly open mouth of a baby, by first sketching five circular shapes to represent its five basic forms. When compared to the mouth of an older child or an adult, a babys mouth is proportionately smaller and has fuller lips; in addition, the five basic forms are more pronounced. This project is divided into the following two sections: CIRCLING MOUTH PROPORTIONS: You first sketch five circular shapes, to help establish the proportions of a frontal view of a babys mouth. You then outline the lips by connecting the outer sections of the rounded shapes. FORMING A BABYS LIPS WITH SHADING: You add shading to the five circular shapes to create a babys mouth that appears three-dimensional. Suggested supplies include 2H, HB, 2B, and 4B pencils, vinyl and kneaded erasers, a pencil sharpener, a sandpaper block, and good quality drawing paper.

6 PAGES - 14 ILLUSTRATIONS
This lesson is recommended for artists of all levels. The curriculum is easily implemented into instructional programs for home schooling, academic and recreational learning environments.

Published by Hoddinott Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada 2002 (Revised 2007)

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INTRODUCTION
Young childrens mouths are in constant motion doing such things as talking, laughing, chewing, and making funny faces. Hence, their mouths take on many shapes. Check out these eight drawings of young childrens mouths.
Figure 1301: Compare the babys mouth featured in this project (lower right) to the mouths of slightly older children.

When compared to the mouth of an older child, a babys mouth is not as wide, has fuller lips, and has more pronounced individual forms. Figure 1302, demonstrates how a babys mouth widens to accommodate the growing jaw and a mouthful of teeth.
Figure 1302: As a baby grows from infancy to preschooler, the width of his/her mouth increases more quickly than the height.

In this project, the five forms of a babys lips are slightly exaggerated to better provide you with a sense of their three dimensional structures. When you examine the mouths of babies in real life, you may find that the individual forms look a little flatter; however, you need to always be aware of these five forms, in order to draw a believable mouth for a portrait of a child of any age.

CIRCLING MOUTH PROPORTIONS

In this section, you first sketch five circular shapes, to help to establish the proportions of a frontal view of a babys mouth. Proportion is the relationship in size of one component of a drawing to another or others. You then outline the lips by connecting the outer sections of the rounded shapes. 1) Draw three circular shapes as the upper lip. Begin with the largest and the highest (the one in the center). The two smaller and lower circular shapes (on either side of the large one) are the same size. Keep your lines light so you can erase them later.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

Figure 1303

-32) Draw two same sized rounded shapes (or circles) as the lower lip. Refer to Figure 1304. Leave a space in the center of the five circles if you want the mouth to appear slightly open. To draw a mouth with closed lips, make the upper and lower sets of circles slightly closer together 3) 4) Use a kneaded eraser to lighten the circles. Lightly outline the upper and lower lips. The perimeter of the lips is touching the outer edges of the circles (Figure 1305). Note that the two upper circles, on either side of the bigger one, have been cut into by the line that defines the lower edge of the upper lip (Figure 1306).
Figure 1305 Figure 1306 Figure 1304

5) 6)

Erase the sections of circles that are outside the lips. Add tiny circles inside each circular shape as highlights. A highlight identifies the brightest area of a form where light bounces off its surface; usually the section closest to the light source. The highlights are sketched on each of the five forms so you remember to leave them white (or light in value) when you add shading. The light source is from the upper right. A light source is the direction from which a dominant light originates. A light source identifies the light and shadow areas of a drawing subject.
Figure 1307

7)

Lighten your drawing again with your kneaded eraser.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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FORMING A BABYS LIPS WITH SHADING

In this section, you add shading to the five circular shapes to create a babys mouth that appears three-dimensional. 8) Use your 2H pencil and hatching to lightly shade in the lips. Refer to Figures 1308 and 1309. Remember, the light source is from the upper right, so the overall shading is darker on the left. The sections on the lower left, that are not part of the circles, need to be even darker. Hatching is a series of lines (called a set) drawn closely together to give the illusion of values.
Figure 1308 Figure 1309

9)

Use a 2B pencil to shade the opening of the mouth (refer to Figure 1310).

10) Use a kneaded eraser, molded to a wedge or point, to lighten the outlines of the lips and the five circular shapes. Erase the lines around the perimeter of the lips until they are barely noticeable. If you can still see the lines around the five circles, pat them gently with a pointed tip of your kneaded eraser until they are very faint. 11) Use crosshatching graduations to smooth out the shading of the lips. Refer to Figures 1311 and 1312. Crosshatching is a shading technique in which one set of lines crosses over (overlaps) another set. A graduation is a continuous progression of values, from dark to light or light to dark.
Figure 1310 Figure 1311

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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12) Darken the opening of the mouth slightly (Figure 1312). 13) Use crosshatching graduations to complete the facial forms around the mouth (Figure 1313). 14) Check over your shading and change anything you are not happy with.

Figure 1313

Take note that I again lightened all the lines outlining the lips (especially those around the opening) before I considered the drawing complete. If a section looks too light, add a few more crosshatching lines in between others. If a section looks too dark, use a kneaded eraser to lighten a few of the lines.

CHALLENGE
Try your hand at drawing the wider, more mature mouth of an older child. To help you get started, refer to Figure 1314. Use the same drawing process as in this lesson and the same light source.
Figure 1314: An outline of an older childs mouth uses three elongated ovals for the upper lip, and two circular shapes for the lower lip.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY

As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda Hoddinott utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, cont crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable.
>Brenda Hoddinott<

Born in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted Learn to Draw books. During Brendas twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brendas skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from Forensic Artists International. Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her communitys recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several childrens art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites. Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.

LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT

Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally. The Complete Idiots Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com