Sketching an eye is easy. Sketching a "real" human eye can be difficult. Getting that charm in the eyes and making them look lively is an art. ArtHearty gives easy step-by-step instructions, explaining the details of drawing human eyes.
Take a good-quality image for reference―a real photograph or a hand sketch―or consider observing your eyes in the mirror, for giving your eye sketch a realistic effect!
When we are supposed to draw eyes, we often end up creating almonds with eyeballs. Even a great sketch can look undone if eyes don’t seem realistic, or lack their charm. We’re gonna tell you how to span the steps from the basic sketch of an eye to the dramatic eyelashes, creating eyes that don’t look fake. Take your time, and do it slowly and cautiously. No need to rush when it comes to sketching. We hope you won’t rush, ’cause artists have all the enthusiasm in the world if it comes to sketching something.
Here are step-by-step instructions to draw human eyes!
Things you’ll need
✦ 2B Pencil
✦ Kneaded Eraser
✦ Smudge Stick
✦ Color Blender
✦ Loads of Patience
✦ A Little Creativity
Realistic Human Eye
Step 1: Basic Top Eyelash Line
Start by drawing the basic top eyelid line. Play attention to the width and the curvature.
Step 2: Adding the Eyelashes
Thicken the upper eyelash line. Then move to making the lower eyelid; add individual eyelashes at the eye edge.
Step 3: Lower Eyelash Line
Faintly draw the lower eyelash line. Be careful, for if you darken it at this moment, it might look fake. Add upper eyelashes, spaced and softly stroked. Remember, the upper eyelashes are slightly longer.
Step 4: Lower Eyelashes and Eyeball
Make some lower lashes on the lower eyelash line that you have drawn. These are shorter and scarce in number. Smudge them a little with your finger, or use a smudge stick, for a natural appearance.
Step 5: Pupil and Iris
Pupil is the smaller, inner hole in the middle of the eye. Fill that hole with black or brown. This should be really dark. To make the eye look realistic, we need a blob of light or two, and a good place to put it is above and below the pupil. This is just a rough shape, so don’t worry about getting it exactly the same, as shown in the sample. Now, give a dark outline to the ring of the eyeball, and then smudge it towards the inner side.
Step 6: Eyeball Detailing
Start shading the inner portion of the iris. Keep it dark initially, and as you move towards the pupil, lessen the darkening. Refer to our image, and add specks, strokes, and dots carefully. Usually, people don’t highlight the top portion of eye, which makes it look incomplete and unreal. So, darken the topmost portion of the white of an eye. This will make it appear like a shadow cast by eyelashes.
Step 7: Curves Around the Eye
Add a curve above the eyelash line. This curve should be in sync with the top eyelid layer, keeping the spacing uniform and minimal. With a smudge stick, soften the curved line. Similarly, give a faint, curvy effect on the lower side too. This shouldn’t be smudged much, as though almost negligible, yet producing a shadow and the skin wrinkle kind of thing. Increase the eyelashes.
Step 8: The Eyebrows
Make the basic outline of the eyebrow above the eye. Again, the spacing between the eye and eyebrow is an important factor here.
Step 9: Eyebrow Detailing
The direction of the eyebrow hair is usually outwards, so make light outward strokes in a slanted manner at first. Then, darken the strokes. The other end of the brow should be sharp and pointed, while the starting part can be smudged. Look down carefully into the image you are referring to.
Now, you can lightly make the bridge of nose, and use the same technique to make other eye. Draw symmetrical eyes. Start by making an outline of the eyebrow and the eye.
Eyes Looking Down
Drawing eyes that are looking down can be very easy, and at the same time, a bit difficult. Just one wrong curve, and you will get eyes that don’t look like one. Let’s see how this goes.
Step 1
Draw a somewhat S-shaped curve. This is actually the upper eyelash line, looking downwards.
Step 2
Now, darken this eyelash line. Add light strokes to it, i.e., eyelashes. These should be drawn outwards, and should look very tender.
Step 3
Draw the eyeball. Make a semicircle (lower eyelash line) and then two circles (one for iris, another for pupil) within that semicircle. The outer ring of iris should touch the bottom line, i.e., the semicircle. The inner circle should be smaller. Now, make a slightly triangular shape, showing the corner of the eye.
Step 4
Starting from the inner corner of the eye, make the lower eyelid (faint curve). Draw lower eyelashes as instructed previously. Now, we move on to shading the eyeball. Blacken the pupil, and shade the iris like we did before.
Step 5
Give a final touch to your eye, by smudging the area around it, especially the eye shadow part. We wanna make it look like the eye just blinked down. You can increase the eyelashes, but be cautious about the direction in which you draw them. With a smudge stick, shade the area around the lower eyelid.
Practice! Practice! Practice! Don’t lose interest if it doesn’t seem perfect at first. With practice, you’ll start getting an idea of how to go about it, and you may yourself start exploring ways of shading them, projecting different angles and light effects.