need helpful suggestions for lines on lips

[seeker3313]

i am doing a lip study, and the color,tones, shading is all airbrush...nice smooth look. i want to add the tiny wrinkle lines on the lips, but they are not subtle or realistic when i put them out. i have tried the pencil tool, pen ,crayon....nothing gives the right effect. i am requesting any suggestions or advice please.

[Liquid Len]

i am doing a lip study, and the color,tones, shading is all airbrush...nice smooth look. i want to add the tiny wrinkle lines on the lips, but they are not subtle or realistic when i put them out. i have tried the pencil tool, pen ,crayon....nothing gives the right effect. i am requesting any suggestions or advice please.

Hi Seeker,

Have you tried putting in the lines/wrinkles on a separate layer, over the lips, and tweaking the transparency and/or blurring the layer to get the effect that you want? Using layers makes these trials 'non-destructive' so, if it doesn't work, you can 'throw it away' and try again using a different method.

[HannahRage]

I usually draw pencil on layers and then use a soft palette knife to lightly smudge them - blurring the layer evenly would look unnatural.

But also - this can be one of those times when you don't actually need to soften, as it can actually look more realistic if you can resist the urge to meddle! (It does depend on how big said lips are).

[Someonesane]

Adding to what has already been suggested, I'll suggest that you consider playing with the layer textures. The Pastel (set to use its "Chalk" type and with a low pressure) will only graze the top of your canvas or layer grain. This can be used to your advantage, by adding a random texture to the lips, which can then accentuated using other tools, to create an illusion of pores and skin wrinkles. Here's a basic example: