How to Draw Eyes

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In this video, you will discover how to draw eyes in a realistic manner. I will make sketches in reed pen and sepia ink, so you will clearly see all the lines. An eye has an asymmetrical shape. Its top and bottom points are not on the same vertical line but shifted off-center in opposite directions. When it comes to depicting the iris of an eye in a drawing, there are certain rules you need to know about to avoid making mistakes. In the full-face view, an iris is seen as a circle, but how does its geometry change in the three-quarters view? When the pupil of an eye is off-center, imagine a virtual line that connects it with the center of the eyeball and another line that is perpendicular to the first one. These would be the two axes of an oval that represent an iris in this view. Once again, there is the right angle between these axes.

I will make another sketch to illustrate this rule. This time, the eye will look downwards. We connect the pupil with the eyeball’s center and draw a perpendicular line. Such a line is the main axis of the oval, while the line that connects a pupil and the center is the secondary axis. Those exes are perpendicular. In the profile view, don’t forget the volume of the eye’s lens.

Now, let’s put this knowledge into practice. I will make a quick drawing of eyes looking sideways. This sketch will be in the three-quarters view. Three slightly curved horizontal lines represent the levels of eyelids and the middle line of eyes. Medial and lateral corners of eyes lie on that middle level. Eyelids are depicted with their thickness. The eye on the right-hand side is slightly foreshortened. The eye looks sideways, and because the pupil is off-center, the iris has an oval shape. When shading an iris, remember that a shadow is always cast from the upper eyelid when light is coming from above. You may also leave an un-rendered highlight to suggest the glossy surface of an eye. The upper part of an iris is slightly covered by the upper eyelid, while its bottom edge only touches the lower eyelid. The thickness of the upper eyelid is in shadow, yet the thickness of the lower eyelid is always light when the source of light comes from above.

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