Hi, I’m LibertyFreedom! In this tutorial, I’ll show you two ways to draw captivating, sparkling anime eyes using blending modes.

 

 

First, prepare your character’s line art. For this tutorial, I’m using two cute anime girl line art drawings that I drew myself as examples.

 

 

Separate the eye line art into a new layer

Before filling in the base colors, use the Lasso Tool to separate the eyeball and eyelashes onto a new layer, apart from the rest of the line art. This will make it easier to color the eyelashes later.

Filling in Sclera and Eyelashes

After filling the base color for the skin and the hair, create a new layer above the skin layer for the sclera. Paint the sclera with white, then lock the layer pixels and add a greyish blue or greyish red shadow to the upper area.

 

 

Next, select the eye line art layer you separated earlier. Fill the eyelashes with a dark color.

Lock the layer’s pixels, choose a lighter color and softly paint the inner and outer corners of the eyelashes.

First way to paint sparkling anime eye

Now let’s focus on the left character’s eyes. Create a new layer above the sclera for the eyeball, then pick a dark and a light color. Select the eyeball area and use the Gradient Tool to apply the base color.

If you want to try out with different color, press Ctrl+U to conveniently shift the hue.

Create a new layer above the eye layer and clip it below. Set the layer mode to multiply. Use a slightly darker color to draw the pupil in the center. Alternatively, use the Ellipse Sub Tool to draw a circle.

Fill the selection with a slightly darker color (multiply blending mode) and transform it to adjust the size and position.

 

 

Then draw the upper eyelid shadow, since the light source is coming from above.

Next, create a clipping layer on top and set it to Add (Glow), or any similar lighting mode you prefer. Slightly hover the color on the color wheel for color variation, then use a brighter, more saturated color to airbrush the lower part of the eye.

You can use the Hue slider to quickly test different colors, and lower the layer opacity if the result feels too saturated.

 

 

Create another clipping layer and set it to Add (Glow). To draw the iris highlight, use the Ellipse Tool to make a circular selection, then pick a saturated color and fill the selection.

On the same layer, add a layer mask and use a soft airbrush eraser to gently erase the center while keeping the edges of the silhouette sharp.

You can apply Motion Blur from the filter if you prefer a softer glowing effect.

To add more color variation to the eye, create a layer set to Overlay mode and use an airbrush to paint in different colors smoothly.

Create a new clipping layer and set the layer mode to Add (or any similar lighting mode).

On this layer, draw the sparkle effects inside the eye.

You can draw the sparkles as circles, ovals, diamonds, stars, or any shape you like.

Alternatively, you can use sparkle brushes downloaded from the Clip Studio Asset Store.

Make sure there is one main sparkle that is the largest and brightest, so it clearly reads as the primary highlight of the eye.

 

 

Once we’ve finished drawing the sparkles for both eyes, use the Lasso Tool to select individual sparkles, then use the Transform Tool to rotate and resize them for more variation.

 

 

Then lock the layer’s pixels, hover the color wheel to pick different colors and paint over the sparkles to add more color variation.

 

 

Lastly, create a clipping layer set to Add (Glow) to enhance the vibrance of the sparkles.

I prefer to use a complimentary colour for the sparkles so that it differentiates from the iris.

 

 

One advantage of using blending modes is that you don’t need to repaint once the color is applied.

Simply use Ctrl +U to try different color conveniently, and lower the layer opacity to control the strength of the effect.

 

 

Once everything is done, group the layers neatly and rename the group.

Next, I’ll show you another way to draw a different sparkling eye.

 

 

Second way to paint sparkling anime eye

Create a new layer. Start by filling the eye with a light base color.

 

 

Create a clipping layer on top and set it to Multiply. Pick a darker color, draw only the pupil silhouette, and enhance the border line of the eye.

Then go back to the base layer, lock the layer pixels and use a soft brush to paint the upper shadow and add a saturated color to the pupil.

Next, create a new clipping layer and set its blending mode to Add.\

Choose a lighter color, then use the Lasso Tool to define the light shape on the iris. Gently apply the color with an airbrush to create the lighting effect.

You can also do the same to add a subtle light pattern to the upper shadow area, but keep the brightness slightly lower then the bottom one.

Moving on, create another Add layer and use a hard brush to add fine details to the iris.

 

 

After that, use the Fingertip sub tool to softly smudge the edges toward the pupil.

I also draw two longer, streak-like lines extending from the iris toward the pupil. After placing them, I gently smudge the lines inward so they blend smoothly into the pupil, creating a soft radial effect.

Anime-style eyes come in many different patterns, so feel free to explore and experiment with other designs to find what works best for you.

If the iris color looks a bit dull, you can make it more vibrant by creating a new layer set to Overlay.

Then, choose a saturated color and softly airbrush over the iris to enrich the color.

Next, create a clipping layer set to Add and draw the sparkle effects.

Slightly hover over the color wheel and pick different colors to vary the sparkle tones.

 

 

Make sure only one sparkle remains the brightest as the main highlight.

After that, use radial blur effect from the filter to slightly blur the sparkles.

Lastly, create a new clipping layer with add blending mode to give the sparkles a warm vibrance or any color you prefer.

A great thing about blending modes is that you don’t need to repaint after applying color.

Always feel free to press Ctrl+U to quickly try out different colors.

And that’s a wrap! Hope this helps you paint beautiful, sparkling anime eyes.

One last tip before you go: try this technique to make your sparkling anime eyes look soft and watery at the same time.

 

 

How to make your sparkling anime eyes look watery and soft

Once you are satisfied with the colors, duplicate the eye folders and the eye lash layer as a backup.

 

 

Then merge the duplicate folders and layers into a single layer.

Move the merged eye layer to the top, and hide the backup folders and layers.

(Rename your layers to avoid confusion.)

Next, lock the merged eye layer pixels and pick the surrounding colors to paint over the dark outline.

Once that is done, unlock the pixels.

Use the Blur sub tool to soften the eye edges.

You can also go back to the sclera layer and gently blur the sclera shadow.

 

 

For the eyelashes, blur only the inner and outer corners while keeping the center sharp.

You can also use the Fingertip sub tool to gently smudge the eye lashes.

Voilà! Finished!

To follow each step more clearly, you can check out my video. I hope you found this tutorial helpful—thank you for reading! 😊