Heloo ladies and gentle unicorns, and everyone else.. here is my tutorial that is about the eyes.

 

This is an learning experience for me as well as you, so register the fact that I am not a professional and you should not take this thing too seriously.

Intro

First off, the eyes are extremely complex organs that have features that distinguish between all organisms.. but I will be teaching you about the human eyes. Human eyes tend to differ from each individual, but have about the same structure. They express all sorts of things about the individual, therefore are important in knowing how to draw, that I will explain soon.

This tutorial is about realistic eyes. If you're interested in anime eyes, this can help you draw them, necause before you draw anime, you need to know how to draw realism, or else your anime is gonna look like a deformed truck with extra long limbs.

The eye

The best part about drawing eyes is that you can go absolutely nuts with it and still make it look good. The downside is that you take away from the rest of the body and make the eye the center of attention. This isnt necessarily bad, it's just that you need a kind of balance. You can't have your eyes looking like a dazzling masterpiece while the rest of the body looks like it was hit by a freight train.

Eyes are the most stylistic part of the artists style.. But there are a few universal rules that are applied to them, and a few basic knowledge about the eye before the user takes a creative leap in the sylistic direction.

Proportions

proportions are hard. If you make something too big or too far apart it already looks wack, and no matter how much time you spend trying to polish it, it still looks wack until you get the proportions down right. And if you got a firm hand on proportions.... consider your job done. If you manage to make the sketch look good, then the rest doesnt even matter that much.

What I like to do to get the proportions right is look at myself in the mirror, and take mental notes. I also study people occasionally- I spy on them. Make sure you do this without them noticing, because they'll probably freak out or something. Then I apply that knowledge to my art, and ask myself questions- "Does it look a little off?"

A tip:

Try flipping the canvas. Sometimes you spend so much time studying a drawing that it looks completely normal to you. Try flipping it and it automatically looks a bit off.

On the right, the left eye looks a bit too big and too far down.

Proportions are hard, but once you know them, you'll be doing it correct without even thinking about it. It takes time, but its worth it. Practice and practice.

Every Nook and Cranny

Basically I'm gonna write about eyes. Every. Nook. And. Cranny.

 

Again, eyes are extremely complex, so what I'm covering isnt half of what eyes are.

1. Eyes are reflective because they're covered in a viscous substance called water, which reflects some light. Some light. Not all of it. Therefore, they reflect their surroundings. The white dot up there is the reflection of the sun. If you can tell, I added a slight wash of blue, its opacity turned down. It's supposed to be reflecting the sky, because they're looking at the sky.

If they were in a room with a moderate amount of light, then the eye would reflect the room. Know that the eye is a sphere, and when light reflects on a object, it should take its shape. So when the eye is reflecting, a room, let's say. The room will look a bit warped, because the surface is uneven.

A Diagram of the Human Eye- I.E. a lesson in biology

The eyes reside in two holes in your skull. Skin envelopes your eyes and parts in the middle to form "eyelids." Your upper eyelids retract into a fold of skin in the shallow recess between your skull and your eye.

 

On the edge of your eyelids are eyelashes which serve to protect your eye from dust and debris. They are present on almost every mammal, yet are not as noticeable on men as they are on females.

 

Above your eyes are eyebrows, a bunch of hairs that probably protect sweat from getting in your eyes. They are usually angled downwards.

 

At the base of your eyes- by base of your eye I mean the part closest to the center of the nose and around the lowest point of your eye- are the tear ducts. Tear ducts are a fleshy tube which drains tears and eye fluids to the back of the nose. They are covered by the eyelids, which form a small space where the tear duct resides. The tear duct is something artists neglect, because it seems unappealing. If you were to incorporate the tear duct into your style it could give your eye a little more structure and realism.

 

In your eyes -I'll name a few basic ones, the noticeable ones- are the pupil, iris, cornea, and sclera.

 

The iris is a flat, ring-shaped membrane with an opening in its center- also known as the pupil. This is important to know because many artists neglect to learn the anatomy of the eye before putting their interpretation on them. I used to think that the pupil was a black dot, but it is actually an opening in the iris that allows light to hit the retina. Therefore it is flat when you draw a sideview of it.

 

The cornea is a clear disc that covers the iris and pupil. This is why the pupil and iris are drawn at the back of the cornea. It is separate from the sclera, the whites of your eyes. The cornea is shaped like a dome. This is important to know, because any light that reflects on the cornea will be reflecting on a dome, which means the light will be a bit distorted.

 

The sclera is the white layer that surrounds the insides of your eyeball. If you look close in a mirror, you will find that its not a pure white, but an off-white, like eggshell or ivory. Since there are veins all over your eye, it may appear a little pink, or depending on the lighting, blue or yellow. If you've watched Camp Camp, then you may notice this: some of the characters eyes are light yellow. Its a stylistic choice, really.

End and a final note

Heres the end. The last note is, knowing how to draw something is one thing. But understanding what you're drawing is another thing. Being able to draw is good, but if you're able to think about what you're drawing in a thoughtful and critical way is crucial to being not good, but a great artist. For example, being able to draw beautiful eyes is great, but thinking about how it would look in different angles on the character is important. To be able to vision your drawing in different angles and distinguishing whether it looks sensible or too idealistic, and understanding WHY it looks like that, is something that you could practice as well as learning anatomy or shading or whatnot. This is osmosos signin out. As always, practice, and examine. And take breaks. And stuff.