How to draw makeup

Learning how to draw makeup right can have a dramatic effect on your fashion illustrations. There are many different ways to draw makeup, but in this tutorial, you will find a step-by-step technique to create a beautiful, natural-looking style for your models. The colors are of your choice! Enjoy!

4/10

10 min

drawing paper
pencil
eraser
soft pastels
colored pencils
white gel pen

Step 1: Draw the base color

Choose a color for the base of the makeup. It should be lighter than the rest you will be laid down later. Place it all over the upper eyelid and carefully double the eye contour from the bottom side.

Step 2: Second tone

Lay down a second tone, which will be darker than the base. Start from the outer corner and extend it to about 1/3 of the eye, or where the pupil stands. Do both the upper and the lower eyelids. Try to blend the makeup gently with the base color, without any harsh lines. If you want the makeup to be bold and really catch the viewer’s attention go over the eyelid fold too.

Step 3: Shadow’s secrets

It’s time for the darkest makeup shade. Draw the last layer with a pencil and use a q-tip to smudge the color and make it look like real eyeshadows. Do both the upper and lower eyelids.

If you like to draw your fashion sketches with pencils consider smudging the colors or laying down enough layers so that the gaps between the pencil strokes disappear. Coloring using color pencils takes a lot of time. If you do it quickly the sketch might not look professionally.

Step 4: Add depth

Find a shade that is slightly darker than the base and place it in the inner corner of the eye. For natural-looking makeup smudge the pencil with a q-tip. Make sure that the base color is visible only in the middle of the eyelids – above and below the pupil.

Step 5: Draw eyelashes and eyeliner

While drawing the makeup of your model the eye outlines might have disappeared a bit. Outline the eyes with a black pen, make the line thicker in the outer corner. Draw a few eyelashes and make sure they are slightly curved, not completely straight. See examples of different eyeliners and eyelashes for fashion sketches in the “How to draw fashion eyes” tutorials.

Step 6: The blush

The blush is a very tricky part of fashion makeup. Find a soft pastel in an appropriate color and draw a few lines on a separate piece of paper. Use a clean q-tip as a brush- take from the color and place it on your model’s face in а circular motion. You will need several turns to make it look vivid. Don’t forget that when it comes to blush less is more!

Step 7: Lipstick base

Isolate two ellipses – one in the center of the lower lip and one on the upper lip, where you see it in the example illustration. Color everything but the little ellipses using a lipstick color of your choice.

Step 8: Lipstick volume

In order to make the lipstick of the fashion face look 3-dimensional take a darker shade and color right below the lower lip ellipse. Color the bottom half of the upper lip too, trying to keep the shape of the lips. Gently blend the colors. This easy technique will give your model a shiny lip gloss that looks very nice on fashion sketches.

Hopefully, you liked the tutorial and your results. The last step is optional- use it only for “special occasions” styling. Take a white gel pen on gouache and place tiny little dots all over the makeup you just created. This will add a glittering effect and make it look glam and shiny.

Happy drawing!