Tutorial 4: Eyes

The eyes are in the center of the face, it is the most frequent facial moving organ. The structures of the eyes are opposite to one another which adds difficulties when drawing them. Therefore, the understanding of the physical structure of the eye becomes particularly important.

An eye is formed by the eye ball, upper eyelid and lower eyelid. Eye ball was embedded in the skull within the furrow of the eyes. We can see the exposed part of the eye which is the whites of the eyes, iris and the pupil. Pay special attention to the performance of the eye changes. The upper eyelid creates a darker shade on the lower lid. Iris is a complex dark transparent part and on the black pupil, there’s a tiny and bright highlight. The curved upper and lower eyelid separated into two parts, wrapping the eye balls.

The upper eyelid is thicker and longer than the lower eyelid, it also covers most of the eyeball. Upper eyelid has more lashes than the lower lid which are thicker, denser, longer, and can affect the lighting, reflection on the eye ball. In the performance of the eye, remember to depict as many of these structural features, with particular attention to the size of the eye and the thickness of part of the eyelid.

The shape of the eyelid and position of pupil strongly reflects a person’s emotion and the soul of one. Even if it’s only a small change, you will convey a totally different expression of an eye. Therefore, artists should pay extra attention in observing the changes in the eyes and capture it down.

The performance of the eye cannot be confined to the eye itself, but also should include the performance of other parts around the eye. The eye brow has a structural relationship with the eye. There are changes in the shades of the eyebrow which make the part more interesting when you are drawing the hairs and the shadows.