Eye Drawing Tutorial
Hello Steemians,
I created this eye tutorial a while ago, I hope it can help someone; I like doing these because, as a self-taught artist myself, it was this exact way that I learned how to get better.
This will be the finished eye:
1. First, you want to draw the general outline of the eye and outline any highlights that you want to preserve the whiteness of the paper for:
2. Fill in the darker spots (shadows). I will put in the dark areas, then dab with a kneaded eraser to lift some graphite/charcoal up and do again. The goal is to layer the light and dark areas to create some texture/depth. Since the eye has a lot of "random" texture in it, this is a good way to accomplish that.
3. Blend it together with a brush (or people use q-tips), then use a kneaded eraser to pull some of it back out in random spots (or non-random highlight places). You're continuing to layer and create texture. Your mind should be focusing on the main shadows and highlights, don't even think of it as an "eye", but sections of light and dark.
4. Continue to work the eye and put in some values around it. I've added more distinct shadows on the lip above the eye, in the corner of the eye, and in the eye itself.
5. The whites of the eye are rarely ever actually white, only portions of the white are - like where there is a highlight. Otherwise, there is almost always some kind of shadow cast across the eye - even though it may be a very faint shadow. Generally there is some almost pure white on the edges of the eye, either at the bottom lip or the corners where there is moisture and the light is reflecting off of it.
6. The goal of creating a good eye is first and foremost to have your proportions correct, and to create a lot of contrast between values. You want to have dark shadows and near white highlights. The highlights represent moisture. This is the finished eye:
I was just messing around with the rest of the drawing, but this is the eye in the context of the rest of the drawing:
I hope this helps, if you have any questions or comments, please ask away!
I hate that you can make it prettier than I can with my make-up. So unfair! :(
haha, trust me, if I had to do real makeup it would be hideous; also maybe another interesting tidbit is I actually do use a makeup brush for my shading!
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nice process shots
thank you!
This post has received a 0.20 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
hello my friend! thanks for sharing! lets support and follow each other!
My sp is depleted, I want to give you more. Your technique is so simple but you can catch the little nuance. I can do eyes really good but I suck at lining them up and I won't even go into how much I struggle with the nose....
Don't worry about the SP! I've actually found that simpler is better and what matters most is the overall value - something i'm still trying to work on (obviously perspective/proportions are actually what matter most). Trust me, you're not alone in struggling with the nose, it can be very difficult depending on the angle and the lighting; and hands can be nightmares too lol and feet...
The thing I struggled with a long time was figuring out what level of detail was appropriate for the size I was working with; for instance, if my main subject was smaller is size I would still try to fit all this detail in there that actually made it look worse, had I only focused on the overall values surrounding the eye, if that makes sense.
You know I ran into the size issue with details as well. I am going to remember your advice, less details when working on small pictures. But how small is too small! lololol
I have so much fun talking to you @artischristian, it's like talking to myself.
When you start to get really frustrated trying to add details that's when you know it is too small, haha
I agree, I look forward to many more conversations!
Dibujas hermoso
Ack! Eyes are a real troubl spot for me. Always has been. I've only ever gotten the output at step one, then I just color it in. If I'm able to do the one at step two, I would already consider it a huge accomplishment! Man, I feel like I have a long way to go, but I'm thankful for tutorials like this. As they say, one step at a time!
Gorgeous high contrast art! I feel like that deserves to be voted as a post on its own, brother!
Thanks! When your life isn't busy (if that ever happens!) you should give it a try and post your result!
It's kind of funny because when I talk with people (non-artists) about my art almost every time the topic of eyes come up and how hard they look to do; but I actually think eyes are some of the easiest things to do! Once you do them a few times you find that the same things repeat over and over (in terms of where the shadows and highlights are, etc) and it makes it easier to do next time. The hardest things imo are nose, hands, feet.
You know, that's exactly what I plan to do, especially with your Learn Art series. I plan on putting up results posts as a way to get people interested in that series and you, in general. For the eyes, man, if I see a remarkable improvement soon, expect a post to go up haha!
Looking back, when I was into anime when I was a kid, every time I drew characters, they always end up without any eyes haha! I forgot what excuse I make, but really, I just found it really difficult to draw. Maybe we all just have our own expertise haha! For nose, I just do the slit thin haha!
Yeah, that would be awesome! I found out my sister actually has a DSLR camera and so I might not even have to buy one! But she is currently in Cali and I haven't heard back yet if she is going to send it out to me, but, hopefully the first video in the "new" series is coming soon!
Very nice! So realistic!