How to draw a person's eyes

Today we will delve into the study of one of the most amazing elements of the human face — the eye. Before we start drawing, let's understand its structure. We will begin with studying the diagram of the eye and its volumetric characteristics, in order to ultimately create a complete image of the eye, filling it with all the nuances and details. Let's get started! Considering the structure of the eye from a biological point of view, it may seem to us rather complicated, so we will list only those elements that will be useful to us in the process of drawing.

• Eyeball - the part that is a spherical body of white color, located in the eye socket.
• Iris - a slightly concave shape on the surface of the spherical body, it is a kind of diaphragm that regulates the entry of light into the eyeball.
• Pupil - a black hole in the iris, through which light enters the retina of the eye.
• Eyelids - movable folds of skin around the eyes with a thin muscle layer, due to which they close when a person blinks. The upper and lower eyelids form the palpebral fissure, and at the edges the eyes are attached to each other and to the eye socket.
• Lacrimal caruncle (lacrimal meat) – an element of the eye located in the inner corner of the eye slit. It is believed that it has no direct function, but it is very important for us so that the picture of the eye is believable. It has a slightly вытянутую shape and because of it the inner corner of the eye in the silhouette is similar to the head of a dolphin.
• Eyelashes - hairs growing from the upper and lower eyelids. Upper eyelashes are longer and more numerous than lower ones.
• Eye socket - the cavity in which the eyeball is located. The eye can be planted deeply or, conversely, protruding to the edge. This must be taken into account when drawing a person's face. Also, often we see the part of the eye socket hanging over the eye, sometimes the skin sags and lies in a fold right on the upper eyelid.
• Brows - arched strip of hair above the eye socket. They have a protective function, and also help to express emotions to a person. The shape of the eyebrows of each person is unique, so when drawing them, you can emphasize the character and features of the character.
• Cornea - the transparent part of the eye covering the surface of the iris and has an arched shape, so when drawing eyes, this feature must be taken into account.

Now let's start drawing the eye diagram

Let's outline the eyeball by drawing a circle (about 5-6 cm), then draw a horizontal and vertical line in the center. In the center, draw a smaller circle (about 2 cm) - this will be the iris, its diameter is half the size of the eyeball. Now along the horizontal line, draw the upper and lower arcs to get the silhouette of the eye. The width of the eye slit is slightly less than the width of the eyeball and it is important that the eyelids slightly overlap the iris. At the same time, draw the pupil in the center of the iris. Now we can add the volume of the eyelids and the lacrimal caruncle. To do this, draw the thickness of the eyelids by stepping back a couple of millimeters from the lines of the eye slit, at the same time you can outline the lacrimal caruncle in the corner of the eye and draw its line with the eyelids too. Then, stepping back 5-7 mm from the eye slit down and up, we can outline the folds of the eyelids to indicate their height. Now we can outline the outlines of the eye socket on top, which will slightly overlap the surface of the upper eyelid. And completing the eye diagram, we can draw the silhouette of the eyebrow above the eye socket. The length of the eyebrow is greater than the length of the eye slit, and the beginning of it, which is closer to the nose, is usually lower than the outer edge.

Eye shape

Next, let's move on to the shape of the eye itself, for this it is important to have skills in drawing basic shapes, in particular a ball. Understanding the structure of the eye as a spherical shape is a key point. You need to learn how to draw simple shapes, such as a ball, cube and cylinder, so do not be lazy to practice this once again. Yes, as you already understand, in reality the eye is close to the shape of a ball, we need to figure this out and make some simplified sketches, until we start to complicate the shape of the eye and begin to draw details. Let's imagine that our ball is an orange with a cut out part of the peel. And we get something similar to the eye slit. And now let's practice drawing this figure in different perspectives. First, draw a circle that will denote our eyeball and put two points indicating the corners of the eye slit. We will only see one point on the surface of the ball, but we also need to mark the second point in order to build the lines of the eye slit. Then draw the upper and lower arcs from one point to another. Next, immediately draw the repeated arcs to show the thickness of the eyelids. Now, based on this resulting diagram, draw an "orange eye" by cleaning the drawing of unnecessary lines. And do a few more such drawings yourself in different perspectives.

Eye sockets and eye spheres

And now let's plant the eye spheres in the eye sockets and see how the light falls on the shape. We see that the upper part of the eye socket is darkened, and the lower part is illuminated. The light on the protruding part of the sphere, on the contrary, is from above. Also note that the shadow of the eye socket falls on the sphere. Additionally, you can look at the drawing of a plaster face, in which the shape is manifested by chiaroscuro. Recommended: study the cool free lesson «Chiaroscuro in drawing».

Drawing eyes with a truncated head

Now, based on the diagrams that we have analyzed with you, let's put a couple of eyes in the eye sockets. We will need to draw a simplified truncation of the head with eye sockets, and insert spheres into them. You can make exactly the same truncation of the head as shown in the drawing, or draw just the eye sockets with spheres inside. Recommended: study the cool free lesson «How to draw a human head». Next, draw the eye slits on the spheres with arcs. And in the middle you can outline the irises. The distance between the eyes of a person is equal to the length of one eye, but it can also change to a greater or lesser extent, so when drawing a specific person, take this point into account. Draw the thickness of the eyelids and show the height of the upper and lower eyelids with folds. And we need to show that the eye socket overlaps part of the upper eyelid. If everything turned out well at this stage, then now you can draw the eyebrows, add shadows and show the modeling of the shape with a stroke. Also do not forget about the falling shadows from the eye socket on the upper eyelid and from the upper eyelid on the eyeball. And also, if you want your drawing of the eyes to look more realistic, you can darken the iris of the eye from above, after which draw a highlight on the cornea of the eye. A highlight is a reflected light source, so it can be of different shapes, if the light source is a window, then the highlight is rectangular, if the light bulb is round). Recommended: study the cool free lesson «How to draw highlights». Continue to practice drawing eyes on your own. Look at how other artists do it, especially pay attention to the drawings of old masters. It is very useful to make copies of such drawings, and it is not necessary to copy them completely, you can make a copy of only the eye. Remember that to masterfully draw human eyes, you need to devote time to practice. Drawing eyes requires attention to detail, nuances of chiaroscuro, shape and expression, and the only way to achieve perfection is constant practice. Do not be afraid to experiment, study new techniques and observe different styles. You can also watch a free lesson about how to draw a human face on our website.

Detailed video lesson "How to draw human eyes"