This is a repost. A virus stuffed the original topic. That's very annoying, because some people posted their eye-drawing efforts and it was awesome. You could always give it a go and show us! The best bit about tutorials is seeing people try them out. --
Hokay, drawing eyes for beginners. Here we go.
1. Outline the shape of the eye. It doesn't have to be perfect - every eye is unique! This guide is based on an average Caucasian eye. You can find other shapes on google - in fact, it's good to try a few, so that you learn how to include that variety in your drawings. Asian eyes have a quite different shape.
2. It helps to remember that the eyeball is ROUND! This means it will have SHADING - light, reflecting surfaces and darker, shadowed surfaces, depending on where the light is coming from. Don't worry about that yet.
3. Did you notice not all of the iris is visible - it's not a complete circle? If you look in a mirror you'll see that your eyelid covers some of your iris unless you're staring in some sort of weird terror. Sometimes eyelashes even overlap the pupil. This is a useful thing to know. You can play with the position of eyelids to show lots of expression.
4. Chances are, if you're a beginner, you don't usually think of tear ducts. They help a lot with the realism of every eye you draw. Advanced note: they're pink, so they're darker than the white eyeball. Later you could shade them in, but for a simple picture, two lines do the job.
5. The picture pretty much says it all. Looking at your own eye in a small mirror can help if you get confused. Can you see how the eyelid actually has a bit of thickness to it? Eyelashes don't grow right next to your eyeball, they come off the edge of the lid.
P.S. that thing to the left is an eyelash :S
6. Eyebrows frame your eyes! There are as many different eyebrows as there are people. You could draw them in hair by hair, or just shade the general shape in - it's up to you. Next picture helps with where they go.
Some brows are lower or higher than others. Usually, if you leave room for another invisible iris between the eye and eyebrow, you'll be about right. If you're drawing a real person, keep checking their face and comparing it to your drawing. Draw what you see, not what you think you see.
7. The lines and shadows AROUND the eye help to give it shape and reality. The pink is a rough guide to the most noticeable grooves. Note - Asian eyes tend not to have the upper lid wrinkle (that's not the only difference, google photos if you need to).
Shadows and wrinkles differ for each person - and they also change depending on the light source! When you're drawing a real person, keep an eye out (haha) to notice things like that.
8. Reflections bring eyes to LIFE. They also change depending on the light in the room, but a couple of little dashes of light will do the job. You can draw them in, or use a fairly pointy eraser. I've done little squares. The reason the squares are a bit curved is that the eyeball is curved (remember?). Strict squares would look odd. Drawing distance and perspective can be tricky and is often something you pick up with practise, so don't fret over it. There are lots of books on the subject.
The orange shading shows some normal shadows. If you're not using colours, shade very lightly with your pencil over some of the eyeball to give it a curve (the shading isn't in a straight line, notice).
This is a closeup of a tear duct. There's a reflection on it as well as on the eyeball!
That's pretty much all I'm going to cover for now - I'm not an expert, but it should help you get a grip on the basics of drawing eyes.
Post edited at 6:29 pm on Nov. 15, 2008 by cutie2
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why the hell would a person care about drawing eyeds perfectly?
