Whenever I'm drawing somebody I always seem to mess up on the eyes, any tips for getting the eyes done right?

Question

I'm really serious about my drawings, I want them to look as realistic as they can, but the eyes always come out like cartoon eyes!!!

Answer 1

Observe, observe, practice, practice, practice! You really have to look at all types of eyes; down-turning, small, almond-shaped, big and round, slit-like, etc. Look for a few minutes at several images of eyes. Then, when you've finally gotten all settled down somewhere, ready to draw, concentrate on something around you and think what you want. What eyes do you want to represent? What impression do you want people to have when looking at them (or IT if some hair hides the other eye) ? What impression do YOU want to get? Keep playing around with the appearance of the ideal eye for you to draw. Next, draw exactly what's on your mind. Keep practicing; draw, erase, draw, erase, etc. It can be frustratingly repetitive, but patience! Your own method or special "thing" for doing realistic eyes will come. As for mine, well, here it is:

1. With a well sharpened, proper-length HB pencil, do a swiftly drawn line of the basic shape you want the top lash line to be like. Either the popular almond-shaped one (like half a lemon, basically), completely round or the elongated Asian style. Or whichever type you want!

2. Do the same for the lower lash line, but don't quite connect with the top one yet. Instead, do a little half-ball at the very corner of the eye (you might want to look closely at yourself in a mirror to see what I mean). Make sure you draw 1 and 2, the basic eye shape, a little lower than the top of the ear. Unless you start with the eyes of course... but keep this in mind all the same.

3. Now, the important part: in the middle of the outlined eye shape, draw a round ball inside. Next, a little ball in that (only a quarter of a centimeter/centimetre from the first balled all around)!

4. Draw some color in the exterior of the second ball; the space surrounding it.

5. For the inside of the first ball, draw the entire space inside EXCEPT for a tiny last ball. This is to give the effect of there having some light shone on the eye. This small ball should be northwest or northeast depending where you'd like the light to come from (if you want any, but it usually looks best in my opinion) and usually if the eyes are for a girl. It can be certainly nice on a boy, but it may look a bit too girlish unless you really know how to draw males good-- like me (kidding).

6. Ah, time for the eyelashes! The top ones for a girl: Long and curved (to make them curly looking). Make it swift. Don't dwell on them-- just go for it! You can either make them scarce or really numerous. For the bottom ones, the same, but shorter. And more commonly scarce (check out your own eyes and they SHOULD be more scarce than your top ones).

The top ones for a boy: tricky, tricky... but here's what I (recently) found out: you have to make a rather light, straight and thick scribble rooted from the lash line. You CAN make dark, longer and curly eyelashes, but then you have to make the boy really masculine for it to look just "handsome-beautiful", not just "beautiful-beautiful" like for a girl. I actually draw no lower lash line eyelashes, but if you quite want to, draw swift, lightly drawn and short lines. Not many; make it very scarce.

6. The eyelid crease: (if your eyes aren't Asian that is-- then they'll just be drawn similarly to this pic of Asian eyes:
http://www.pasquale.org/assets/images/1before.jpg) the crease can be drawn before or after the eyelashes are done. Anyway, it must be put a quarter/half of a centimeter/re from the top lash line and that's that.

7. Nearly final, you can but not obligatorily, draw extremely light "squiggly" lines for the red nerve occasionaly or permanently seen in eyes. Remember: only optional!

8. For the final touch: as eyelashes usually create a bit of shadow in under the top lash line, you'll want to add a small, moderately thick line of fuzz there. The whites of your eyes can actually never be totally white (unless light is shown onto you full blast, but...) !

*9* Eheh, this is a special last thing: you might want to finally add an under-eye crease, but for me, well, it always gives a "zombie effect"... I don't know, but why don't you give it a go? Perhaps it'll actually work for YOU!


*sigh* Done.... wrote this all at night; forgive me for any spelling mishaps which may have occured previously or wacko ways of how I wrote certain tips-- I used spell check anyways... whatever, I'm taking so long...... hope I helped and good luck!! =D

Answer 2

Make sure your drawing from life, this is very important, even if you are into illustration/cartooning. Establish a "skeleton" first. Even if it's just dots where the shoulders are, the spinal column, the hip bones, femurs, knee joints, lower legs, and ankles. Starting with this may seem strange initially, but it provides you with a map to start from. I highly suggest any kind of life drawing class you can get into, this will elevate your abilities beyond what you ever thought you could do, seriously.

Answer 3

I read somewhere that when you draw eyes, you should consider them as a ball shape - that the eye is not a flat surface - it's an orb shape. It helped me to envision it more as a 3 D object and to help me draw the lids and the skin around the eye. Each day I try to draw at least one thing so that I keep on practicing. Someday I'll like what I draw! :)

Answer 4

There are several ways to improve your drawing skills whether it is eyes or anything else. One way is to draw with the opposite hand as suggested by another responder. It is really a great way to improve. Another way is to only look at what you are drawing and not at your paper. Use this with both hands. I promise you will improve very quickly if you practice! It will force you to draw what you see without preconceived ideas. Next, eyes are basically almond shaped. There is approximately one eye width between the eyes. Always draw the eyelid and don't draw individual eyelashes. Leave a highlight in the edge of the pupil. The eye ball is just that, a ball so it will have a light reflection. Gradually build up shading, don't get too dark to quickly.

Answer 5

I used to love to draw and I think that I started with the eyes first, after a quick vague outline of the head. The eyes are really important so give this a try and see if it works. If you get the eyes right you can maybe focus less energy on the rest of the face or even caricature the rest on a tiny body. That latter part might come from my one time dream of doing caricatures for a living, maybe it isn't too late. Thanks for the question.

Answer 6

I draw alot and i love drawing eyes i have papers covered in little eye it's kind of creepy but the eyes are the most important part of the face they show a persons pain,joy,fear,anything. You should try to make dots before you draw of where you want the eyes to be.Then maybe you should get a pic of a real eye online and doodle with it for awhile.Don't get stressed we all hav our art problems like me and my drawings noses they dont look quite right.

Answer 7

One of the major problems with drawing eyes is that there are almost no lines, like the nose, they are comprised of mostly shadows. So next time you do the eyes, try to do the shadows without drawing in the defining lines until you are done. Then only the draw lines where the shadows are the darkest, for demarcation.

Answer 8

You might be focusing too much on what you THINK eyes look like. Next time you're drawing someone's eyes (or really anything you have difficulty with), stop and really look at how they appear. Eyes are not always almond shaped, or teardrop shaped, or anything that most people think when they think "eye".

Basically draw what you see, not what you think you see.

Answer 9

Sometimes, when I struggle with getting someone's face correct, I'll take a photograph of the person, blow it up, and then break it up into a grid, doing one section at a time. That frustrates me though, I don't have all the patience for that kinda stuff.

Answer 10

Remember that the eyes are half way down the face. Start with a circle for the eyeball,add a circle for the iris, and one iside that for the pupil. Place the eyelid over the eyeball. Remember the top and bottom eyelids meet at the edges of the eyeball. The top eye line covers the top of the iris. Remember that when the eye is open, the lid covers a bit of the top of the iris. The pupil is closer to the top of the eye opening, because part of the iris is covered by the eyelid. Remeber to draw lightly so you can erase the edges of the first circle you drew. Add shadows, highlights, and eyelashes to make it look more realistic. Art ed teachers normally tell their students that the size of the eye should equal five eyes for the width of the head.

Answer 11

1