CHAPTER 1 | EYES
THE SHAPE OF AN EYE
The shape of our eyes looks a bit like an almond (left). The lacrimal gland is located on the inside. So here’s a left eye drawn.
The eye is protected by the eyelids above and below. The iris with its wonderful colors is usually partly hidden. Check on someone while just looking at each other.
Exercise 1: Draw these right and left eyes.
I show you three different ways of looking: when you see the iris in full, the eye looks surprised, surprised, fearful or startled (left). When the iris and pupil are half hidden, the eye looks dreamy, sad or tired (center). A squinted eye seems to be having a bit of fun or staring (right).
Exercise 2: draw these three different ways of looking. If you like you can draw even more ways of looking.
SLANTED EYES
Eyes can be slanted. I ‘glued’ two faces with slanted eyes together. This way you can see the effect of an exaggerated slant of the eyes.
Exercise 3: draw a row of these faces next to each other. You can make a whole strip of I, if you like with different noses and mouths.
Sometimes slanted eyes are called cat eyes. An example is the film star Audrey Hepburn, here drawn as photographically as possible by my daughter Frouke.
EYES FROM THE SIDE
A simplified way is to draw the eye as a triangle. The upper eyelid is a kind of shelter/roof for the eye. The iris becomes a line instead of a circle. Note: the eye is in the eye socket and you do not draw against the line of the head.
Exercise 4: Draw these simplified eyes from the side, including the eyebrows and nose.
Right
Wrong
If you want to make it more realistic, the eye with the eyelids becomes a more convex. The iris and pupil are no longer circles, but ovals (see The Versatile Oval, Chapter 1, level 2).
Exercise 5: In the next two drawings you can see how the eye lies in the eye socket from the side. You can add some shadow stripes. Copy the examples, nose to nose.
If you also want to make the eye with the eyelids look a little more convex from the front, you need shadow. In the example of a left eye the shadow falls under the eyebrow and under the lower eyelid. There is also some shadow under the ‘shelter/roof ‘ of the upper eyelid.
EYES IN COMICS AND ANIMATION
Of course, there are many more ways to draw eyes. Artists of comics and animation use eyes that match their figures. Sometimes a dot and a few lines are enough! I’ll show you a bunch of examples.
Exercise 6: You might like to copy one or more of the following examples or use their eyes for a character of your own.
Eyes in Japanese Manga comics or cartoons are large and colored with often large white glints in them. Also in Manga eyes, the top edge of the eye is usually the most obvious.
The following Manga eyes from Japan are drawn with a black fineliner. Note the different ways of drawing eyelashes.
The eyes of the witch from Snow White are very expressive: in the old witch has bulging bulbous eyes and the same witch disguised as a queen has slanted ‘cats eyes’ with the iris half hidden under the upper eyelid. Note how important eyebrows are to facial expression (see also Facial Expressions lesson). Who do you think looks meaner, the witch disguised as the jealous queen or the old witch without disguise?
The Old Witch from Snow White The Witch disguised as the jealous Queen
EYES OF THE WORLD
There are no two people in the world with exactly the same eyes, not even within the same family or classroom. Also the eyes of people of East Asian descent in general are different from the eyes of people of African or Western descent. It remains amazing and beautiful how many differences there are between people, wherever we come from.
EXTRA:
in this chapter you’ve seen all kinds of examples of eyes and copied a couple of them. Try to draw real eyes of someone close to you. Also look at the colors of the irises and try to imitate that with colored pencil or transparant watercolor. You can also have someone else draw your eyes.
Drawing of a student in high school
Suggestion for teachers: you can have this exercise done in alternating pairs. One draws, the other is a model and after a few minutes you turn the tables.