Introduction

Please check out the video tutorial for bonus information and see how I created some of these eyes.

This article is about how to design your eyes to show emotion. You can render the eyes in any style you like, such as the flat style shown below on the right eye, or the painterly style shown on the left eye. I've mostly chosen the flat style for this demonstration, so don't feel I'm locking you into that.

 

The following things influence the eyes' expression:

1. The location and shape of the eyebrows

2. The position of the pupils

3. The position of the eyelids

4. The size of the pupil in anime, manga, and cartoon art can be adjusted to create a more dramatic expression, which is a big difference between sketching realistic eye expressions.

 

 

Whites of eyes

When the eyes are open, the whites (sclera) of the eyes can be seen clearly. Sometimes the sclera is used to emphasize certain emotions. For example, the large white areas are revealed when the eyes are opened wide in surprise. In contrast, the sclera is not visible when the eyes are slightly closed during concentration. The sclera also allows you to see when your eyes move or roll. When the eyes are rolled, this can be an expression of annoyance or disrespect.

Simple Tips

Let's start with looking at the power of eyebrows. I'm only utilizing a simplified graphic head in these cases.

 

Using this simplified face and just moving the eyebrows around, you will find that doing that changes the expression. Sometimes it doesn't take much. There's a time to be subtle, and there's a time to exaggerate.

 

Expressions are your means to help communicate what the character is thinking or feeling.

 

They are tricky. The expression may not mean what you want it to tell outside of a story. Also, a smile usually means happy, yet the story context may change that meaning and any visuals you add.

 

The face by itself leaves interpretation to chance. The viewer's reaction to what the emotion conveys is limited without a body and context from the story, limiting appropriate communication.

 

The context is essential in determining how the expression is perceived, not just the drawing.

Realistic

We can draw six core emotions: happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. For each type of emotion, there are many variations and degrees of intensity. We will look at how the eyes contribute to expressing those emotions.

Happiness.

Happiness is conveyed through the eyes in several ways. Arched eyebrows accompanied by a smile indicate you are happy. When people are joyful, their eyes arc upward. Another approach to determining happiness through the eyes is to look at the size of the pupils, which is an instinctive reflex. Large pupils communicate to others that you enjoy what you see. Studies reveal that your pupil size expands when you look at something or someone you care about.

 

I also want to point out that eyes are not symmetrical. The face is not symmetrical. Don't take my word for it. Look at your face in a mirror. Look at other people's faces. Always use references and do research.

Surprise.

The facial expression remains the same whether the shock is favorable or bad. Surprised faces may only last a second or two. Wide-open eyes and a quick glance are displayed.

Eye-widening is associated with expressions that convey emotions like awe, interest, and anticipation.

Sadness.

One of the indications of sorrow is the inward-brow raise, which not many individuals can do on-demand. People's eyes fall downward when sad.

Anger.

Narrow eyes combined with tight lips indicate anger. Someone can tell you're upset. It makes no difference if you're also grinning. You can achieve the same effect on the viewer with your art.

Fear.

When a person is afraid, it is usually indicated by wide-open eyes and an "O" shaped mouth. When a person is scared or thrilled, their pupils dilate due to the body's natural adrenal response.

Disgust.

Eye-narrowing is associated with emotions like hate, disgust, suspicion, aggressiveness, and contempt.

Exasperation

A simple feeling to convey with eyes. You simply roll those eyes toward the sky.

Suspicion

Another feeling we might portray with eyes is suspicion. A sideways glance from the corners of the eyes is usually accompanied by a brow arch. It conveys genuine distrust at times and doubts at other times.

Manga/Anime

Now let's look at anime and manga eyes. Manga is for print, and anime is for cartoons. I'm mainly using the Magnolia and G-pen for this section.

 

You can download some eyes from Clip Studios Assets to help you get started. https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/

Some of the examples I'm going to give are not exclusive to anime/manga. You will see some in American cartoons too. The reason why will become apparent at the end of this section

 

When people are joyful, their eyes rise into arcs, and when they are unhappy, their eyes fall downward. When people are afraid, their pupils tighten, and their eyes expand. These tiny cues are emphasized in anime. The modest upward or downward arc extends into a complete arc. Huge eyes with tiny dots for pupils replace constricted pupils and expanded eyes.

A lack of detail to the eyes suggests the character is in a numb, weak, spiritually or mentally broken, or brainwashed state.

Half-closed eyes can mean varying ranges of mental or physical exhaustion.

Blank eyes (or nearly empty with barely visible pupils) show the character is shocked or afraid. Or are stunned physically or emotionally.

 

These blank white eyes also have jaggedly drawn borders.

 

Blank eyes with flushed cheeks imply shame, whereas blank eyes with shadowy lines across the face indicate dread.

When a character's pupils shrink while the rest of the eye stays the same size or grows even in contrast, that usually indicates extreme terror, shock, pain, or insanity. In a manga, we would need a panel before this to show the pupil at a regular size first.

Tiny Dot Eyes show a character's fear. These characters can also feel overwhelmed or confused.

Sadness will make the upper eyelids droop. The eyes may appear blank.

Sadness can also be expressed with trembling eyes. We'll see that later.

A character with hard-edged, narrowed eyes could be either evil, morally ambiguous, or perhaps just have a jaded outlook on the world.

If the eyes are narrowed simultaneously, and eyebrows are furrowed and arched downward, it's anger or extreme focus.

And here are a couple of stylized representations of anger.

Dull eyes show a character's disappointment or unhappiness toward another character. Sometimes they signify a dead character. Dull eyes lack pupils and highlights. They can be confused with Empty Eyes.

Fear. Afraid. Also very awake, surprised, confused, and mildly disturbed by something.

 

I used the Fast Hair Brush to draw the eyes

In addition to wide-eye fear, you can add a tremble to the eyes. This can also be used for extreme sadness before someone starts crying.

Fatigue

Dark heavy eyelids.

Eye Symbols

Symbols are shared with western cartoons and comics as well.

 

I downloaded some symbols from the Clip Studio Assets for this section.

Love

Love or infatuation is shown when a character encounters someone they become enamored with, literally creating hearts.

Greedy

A greedy character's eyes turn into dollar signs.

Excitement

A character hit by something genuinely extraordinary will have eyes literally swirl with a brilliant star twinkling with excitement for a brief moment.

 

Eyes with sparkles and white dots are cute.

Amazed

The character's eyes sparkle with giant yellow four-pronged stars, indicating that they're amazed or in awe.

Grief

To convey grief or depression, the eyes are replaced by vertical lines and blue or purple colors.

Nervous

These eyes > < represent a variety of emotions, such as nervousness, embarrassment, or excitement.

Confused, dizzy or overwhelmed, illness, and confusion.

 

Spiral symbols in a character's eyes can indicate that they are dizzy, sick, or perhaps unconscious. It can also be used to depict a character who is entranced. It can also refer to being overwhelmed with information and unable to keep up. Also, can show dread, disease, and befuddlement.

Used to express hopelessness. This expression also has a visual feeling of being dazed.

 

You can get a lot of mileage out of using spirals.

And the man responsible for the industry's characteristic "anime style" is none other than Osamu Tezuka, dubbed the "Godfather of anime and manga" by many.

 

Osamu Tezuka's inspiration drew from such large-eyed American cartoon icons as Betty Boop, Disney's Bambi, Donald Duck, etc. And now American cartoons are being influenced by anime. We've come full circle.

 

This leads us nicely into our final section on drawing eyes with emotion. The Cartoon.

Cartoon

In cartoons, anime, and manga, the size of the pupil can be adjusted to create a more dramatic expression, which is a big contrast to drawing realistic eye expressions. I borrowed some other artists' styles to get variety because drawing cartoons is wide open to personal expression.

 

Eye expression is consistently the best clue for drawing the correct facial expressions. What we've already discussed with realistic eyes applies to cartoon eyes, such as eye-widening and eye-narrowing, except now on a greatly exaggerated scale.

Disgust / Distaste

When you observe someone's eyes narrow when you speak to them, it's usually a negative reaction indicating that they consider what you're saying insulting. The narrower the eyes are while showing disdain with the eyes, the more uncomfortable the reader will find what is being conveyed.

 

The brow line is lowered and tensed.

The nose is wrinkled.

The upper lip is raised.

 

When determining how specific eye traits are related to emotions. Be aware of eye openness, the distance between the brow and the eye, the slope and curve of the brow, and wrinkles around the nose, temple, and below the eye.

Anger

The eyes have a severe look in them.

The brow line is drawn together and lowered.

Eye-narrowing also happens with emotions like hate, suspicion, aggressiveness, and contempt

Fear

The brow line is drawn together and raised.

The upper eyelids are up.

Lower eyelids are tense and lifted.

Eye-widening is associated with expressions that convey emotions like awe, surprise, and fear.

Surprise

The brow line is raised and curved.

The eyes are widened.

Happiness

Crow's feet may be seen outside the eyes.

The eye muscles are active.

The cheeks are puffed up.

The teeth are usually visible.

Sadness

The upper eyelids droop.

The eyes appear blank.

The jaw comes up.

The corners of the lips go down.

As you can see, there are many ways to express emotions with eyes and varying degrees of intensity and exaggeration. I hope this has been helpful. Please leave any questions and comments below. Let me know how this has helped you and if you would like to see more on the subject.

Article and art copyright 2022 Howard Simpson