A nose seen between two lights is more difficult to draw than a nose seen in one light—and that from above.
And there is such an infinite variety of noses! You can amuse yourself by noticing the different characteristics: snub, aquiline, peaky, pointed, inquisitive. Artists declare that a pretty nose is seldom seen, but a pretty mouth, I think, is almost as rare.
Only once do I remember to have seen the ideal mouth, the Cupid's bow, with the pouting, rather full under lip, and the upper lip rising into two small dimpled curves. But how many times do we see long lips—the mouth that shuts with a thin, ugly, straight line, the loosely drawn under lip, the pursed-up, discontented mouth?
Hold up your glass and study your own mouth.
The mouth is sometimes depicted as a mere slit in the face; curved upward it represents mirth, curved downward grief or distress.
Try first sketching your lips closed. Draw a single line across your paper as a guide, and finding the thickest part of the lips in the middle, sketch the flattened pyramid shape of the upper lip and the lower lip with one long curve.
Next you will notice that the upper lip is composed of two slightly indented curves. The under lip probably curves slightly in the centre.
Next we look for shadows. The upper lip, protruding slightly, casts a shadow, as does the lower lip in a lesser degree. Observe wrinkles or folds, the shape of the corners, and the soft indication above the upper lip and beneath the nose.
Then, for a second example, we might smile at our own reflection and draw the parted lips, revealing the teeth within. Here we have the curved line. Draw the upper lip and lower lip first, and then the arc of teeth within, remembering that the lips hid the greater part, and, therefore, not making these few teeth too many, too big, or too prominent.
The corners of the lips will, no doubt, throw a deep shadow, and the lips curving round the teeth will also be thrown into shadow; shadows there will be on, and under, the lip. The
