Changing your character’s eyes can totally change how they look! In this tutorial, we’ll go over how changing certain things about the eyes can change how they look and how they make your character feel. Let’s look at an example.

The first one looks like your basic anime girl. She could be a heroine, love interest, or anybody really. In the second and third pictures, we’ve only changed the eyes, but the second looks more like a villain! Her eyes are sharper and more narrow, giving her a more dangerous vibe. Maybe she’s the first girl’s evil twin sister? The third has gentler, droopy eyes, giving her a kind of ditzy and laid-back look.

 

A lot of personality can be shown through eyes. Let’s look at how we can accomplish different looks just by changing the eyes.

 

First, eyes come in many different styles, but the basic shape is always a circle (our eyeballs are spheres, after all!), so if your eyes are coming out wonky or don’t look right, try drawing on top of a circle as a guide.

Parts of the Eye

Eyes can be broken down into three parts: the upper lash, the lower lash, and the pupil. Each one can change how a character looks. Let’s start with the upper lash.

 

The main things to keep in mind with upper lashes is lash length and direction. By adjusting either of these, we can totally change the feeling of an eye.

Depending on what direction your lashes go, it can give off different feels. Lines that point upward can make a character look more innocent or surprised. Lines that go downward give off more negative intense emotions like anger or sadness.

The other thing to keep in mind is how long you make the lashes. More lashes usually makes an eye look more feminine; less lashes make it look more masculine. Likewise, more lashes makes an eye look girly and can imply a lot of makeup. You can show even more makeup by adding a gentle gradient to the lid and right below the outer corner of the lashes!

Above your upper lashes you can add a lid. Without it, your characters can constantly look surprised or shocked. Some people have monolids, which means they don’t have this little line. Doing this can add variety to your character’s faces.

Lower Lashes

Some artists don’t draw the lower lash; instead, you can imply the lower lash by changing the shape of the pupil. By flattening the bottom half of the pupil, you can imply the lower lash without actually drawing it. But drawing the lower lash can give your eyes a lot of personality! It’s entirely up to you how detailed you want your lower lashes to be, but keep in mind the same ideas apply: more lashes make an eye more feminine, less make it more masculine.

Pupil

You can also play around with pupil size and style. A small pupil can show focus or surprise; it also makes a character look more mature. You can even make your characters look more animalistic by giving them a cat’s pupil. Meow!

There are many, many, MANY, different ways to color in eyes, but let’s talk about a few techniques that can elevate the way your eyes look.

This is the basic way I color eyes. You’ll need: white, a shadow for the white (I usually use a light blue or purple), a base color, two darker shades, and a highlight.

 

You'll want to add your shinies (the white dots) on a new layer above your lineart line. To really make your eye pop, on a new layer, add a light blue at about 40% opacity clipped to your pupil. Add the blue at the very top below the upper lash. Then, on another layer, add a light yellow on the "Overlay" function. This gives your eye a lot of depth. You can also add a little color to your lashes; I like to use either the skin color or the hair color, but feel free to experiment and see what you like best!

When choosing which colors you want, it’s important to pick colors that go together well, but don’t be afraid to experiment! For the shading colors, pick colors that are cooler and darker than your base shade. For the highlight, choose something warmer and lighter. The color can also tell us something about the character: blues and blacks are cool and calming, and greens and browns can show a connection with nature. An unnatural color like pink or purple can signal something magical about your character. The palettes above are standard examples, but you can get some really cool effects by experimenting! Go crazy!

There are many different ways to add highlights as well, and they can also tell you about your character's personality! A battle-hardened warrior probably would look silly with little heart sparkles… But that’s your choice! Go nuts! A lack of highlight can make your character look moody or scary, so sometimes it's best not to use any highlights at all!

Conveying Emotions

Alright, using what we've learned, let's add some emotions to this character here! We won't be changing anything at all except her eyes.

Okay, basic, but looking good! Making your character look directly at the viewer gives them an air of confidence. If you want your character to seem shy, have them look down or away from the viewer.

Wow, that's a whole different feeling! It looks like she's trying to smile through the tears. I wonder what happened? Notice how the downward slope of the eyes and more closed positions of the lids give her a softer and sadder feelings. The eyebrows pointing up also gives her a sad feeling. Of course, her tears definitely make her look sad! To add tears, add a new layer at 50% opacity and add some white blobs. Then, on another new layer, add some white at 100% opacity for highlights. If we gave her a frown, she would look REALLY sad, but even just changing the eyes can make a huge difference!

Uh oh, looks like somebody left the oven on and is just realizing it now! Small pupils and upward arching lashes can make someone look really surprised! When making pupils smaller, it's okay to make them less detailed. Focus on conveying the emotion first and foremost.

Looks like all that emoting tired her out! Closed eyes can be as easy as two straight lines, but remember the circle we used as a guide at the beginning. Having the lids curve along the circle can give closed eyes a more natural appearance.

And that's everything! Drawing eyes can be really hard when you're just getting started, but so much emotion and personality is conveyed through our eyes! Try out a lot of different and crazy things to see what you like the best; you never know when you'll stumble upon something that makes your characters pop!