Introduction

The mouth is the second-most expressive feature on the anime face, after the eyes. In the front view it is deceptively simple — often just a short line or a small curve — but the same mouth shape drawn with a slightly different curvature completely changes the character’s emotion. A mouth is rarely drawn in isolation; it works in partnership with the brows and eyes to form a readable expression.

This tutorial breaks down the anime mouth by type: the neutral line, the closed smile, the open laugh, the frown, and the detailed lip. You will learn the placement rule, how to pair each mouth with the right eyes and brows, and how the mouth behaves in profile.

What You’ll Learn

The placement rule for the mouth on the face
The five core mouth types and their emotion pairings
How to draw open mouths with teeth and tongue
How the mouth changes in profile view

Step 1: Learn the Placement Rule

The mouth sits halfway between the nose line and the bottom of the chin in the front view. It is narrower than most beginners think: in most anime styles, the mouth spans less than the width of the space between the eyes, and usually much less.

The mouth line is not flat in a relaxed face. A neutral closed mouth is a very shallow curve, dipping gently in the center. Drawing it perfectly straight makes the face look tense, so give even neutral mouths the slightest softness.

Female anime face front view showing the neutral mouth placement

Step 2: The Closed Smile

The closed smile is the most common mouth in anime. Draw a shallow upward curve, strongest at the corners, with no teeth showing. The corners pull up and slightly outward.

Pair the closed smile with relaxed eyes and gently lifted brows for a warm expression. To make it warmer, raise the corners and add small cheek lines; to make it more polite or restrained, flatten the curve and keep it small.

Female anime face with a warm happy closed smile

Step 3: The Open Laugh and Open Smile

When the mouth opens, the lower jaw drops and the mouth becomes a rounded or wide shape. There are three common open-mouth styles:

Open smile with teeth: An open curve with a line of teeth across the upper portion. Draw the teeth as a single light shape, then add vertical separations sparingly.
Full laugh: A wide open mouth with the corners pulling up hard, upper and lower teeth visible, and sometimes the tongue. The eyes nearly shut in a matching laugh.
Open mouth, no teeth: A soft rounded shape used for surprise, singing, or speech. The interior is a single dark shape.

The wider the mouth and the more rounded its shape, the more intense the emotion. Pair an open laugh with crushed, happy eyes; pair a surprised open mouth with wide, shocked eyes.

Female anime face laughing with a wide open mouth

Step 4: The Frown and Sad Mouth

The frown is the emotional inverse of the smile: the corners pull down and the center of the mouth curves downward or trembles. A subtle frown is a gentle downward curve; a strong frown becomes a wobbly line with the corners clearly dropped.

Pair frowns with drooping brows and eyes for sadness, or with sharp angled brows for anger. The same frown shape reads completely differently depending on the eyes above it — soft and drooping for sadness, hard and narrow for anger.

Tip: For crying faces, draw the mouth open with the corners turned down and slightly wobbly. The open, uneven mouth against scrunched brows is the signature of an emotional breakdown scene.

Female anime face front view with a sad frown

Step 5: Detailed Lips (Semi-Realistic Styles)

Some anime styles, particularly in shojo close-ups and semi-realistic art, draw fuller lips. The upper lip is drawn as a soft M-shape or a gentle bow, and the lower lip as a fuller curve with a subtle shadow beneath it.

Keep the lip outline light. In these styles the lips gain volume through a small shadow under the lower lip and a faint highlight on the upper lip rather than through heavy outlines. Detailed lips are usually paired with a small nose shadow and larger eyes to maintain the anime balance.

Female anime face in 3/4 view with fuller, semi-realistic lips

Step 6: The Mouth in Profile

In profile, the lips sit on the profile S-curve between the nose and chin. They read as two soft bumps: a smaller upper lip and a slightly stronger lower lip, with a small notch between them.

For an open profile mouth, the lower jaw swings down and the opening is a narrow wedge. The teeth, when visible, are drawn as a small block inside the opening. Keep profile lips minimal — the nose and jaw carry the silhouette in side view.

Common Mistakes

Mouth too wide — keep it narrower than the eye spacing.
Neutral mouth drawn straight — give it a shallow curve.
Smile with teeth always open — the closed smile is the default.
Mouth and eyes contradicting — always match the mouth to the eye expression.
Lips outlined heavily — soft, light lines read as anime; heavy lines read as cartoon.

Practice Advice

Draw the same face five times and swap only the mouth: neutral, closed smile, open laugh, frown, and open surprise. Notice how each mouth alone changes the perceived emotion. Then pair each mouth with matching eyes and brows and draw the full expression set. Finish by drawing each mouth type in profile to reinforce the S-curve placement.