Eye Tutorial Design

How to draw character & creature eyes

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Fireytika

Simple shapes to draw eye

Using simple shapes such as diamond, round, crescent, leaf, as guide to draw your eye shape. Different eye shapes will determine your character's personality. Also can show their emotions.

Expressions

The Key of drawing character's expression are :

Eyebrows directions
pupil size & shapes
eye shapes

Even though the shape of the eyes and the pupil are the same, with different eyebrows will tell different expression.

How to coloring character & creature eyes

Now, after learning the basics of designing eyes, let's learn how to coloring them.

In this tutorial, i'm sharing character's eye, dragon's eye, and cat's eye tutorial.

The expression is default.

Anime's Character Eye Coloring Tutorial

How to Draw Character Eyes:

Since I draw in an anime style, I’m sharing this technique. Although I rarely using this one, since I like exploring new techniques or observing other's artist coloring style for study.

Depending on the purpose, I usually draw eyes by making them more detailed for illustrations, or make it more simple for my comic, Frozen Heart.

Step by Step:

1. After sketching your eye shapes, make a new layer, and put it on the top. Should you use Vector layer or Raster layer? For eye drawing, I’m using raster layer. Use the pen tool, and pick black color to draw the lineart. After that, make a new layer below, for the sclera. I don't use pure white for this, so move the color wheel a little bit to grey.

2. Make a new layer above sclera, for the iris base. Also use darker color of skin fir shading the outside of the eye — especially for the eyelids.

3. Make a new layer, clip it to the iris layer, pick a darker color of base color for coloring on the top part of the iris, and use a lighter color for the bottom part. Use blur tool to blend them well. Make a new layer above the eyelashes layer and clip it. Use a red-brown and spray.

4. Make a new layer for pupil, clip it to iris layer. Use even more darker color, (almost black for me), and draw the pupil and outer circle. Using the finger tip tool to make them spiky.

5. We are now playing with effects. Make another new layer. Draw a circle on the bottom of the iris with airbrush, and blur it if it’s not enough. Set layer to “luminosity/add glow.” Add a new layer again for drawing a bunch of strips, then add glow layer setting. Make new layer for the eyelashes’ reflection; I use a very dark color but not black.

6. Finishing touch: make new layer below eyelashes, set it to “add glow layer” setting.

I also record my eye coloring tutorial as timelapse, the red one only

Don't forget to play with different color palettes!

How to draw your dragon's eye

In this tutorial i'm showing you how to draw red dragon's eye. It doesn't have to yellow color for the eye, but i find it suitable for the color palette.

1. Draw lineart on the top layer. Draw sclera & iris on lower layer.

2. Paint the gradation on iris with airbrush tool. Add shading on the sclera with pen tool but slightly blend it.

3. Make new layer for pupil, draw a sharp diamond shape. Also make a new layer clip it to sclera layer and use 'add glow' layer setting. use the same technique to paint glossy parts of the eye muscles

4. By using diamond texture that i downloaded free on CSP asset, i make the eye has prettier effect. Set it to overlay.

5. Add shadow by using Multiply layer setting. I made another layer below pupil's layer and add sparkles in 'add glow' layer mode.

6. Add some details. Make it shiny, and shading the scales near the eye.

How To Draw Cat's Eyes

Coloring cat's eye pretty much the same with the dragon's eye but with less details. I also using diamond texture for this eye. Diamond texture is optional and faster way than drawing the decoration manually.

Don't forget to use references for coloring eyes. Eyes has many color options. As for cat, the pupil will have different size and shape depends on existence and absence of lights around them.

I'm using cat photos on pinterest as reference.