PAINTING EYES

A little knowledge helps you understand drawing and painting the eye. Here is a cutaway side view diagram of an eye. Notice how the cornea bulges. The cornea has fluid between it and the iris, which causes a lot of the shiny reflections and hilights we notice in the eye. It is especially noticeable when 

drawing the side view of the eye.

Below is a kind of gross model, but useful. See how the eyeball is placed inside the eye sockets of the skull and held in place by the muscles. 

Below is an ALMOST side view of a young child's eye. The iris is an oval shape, and you really don't see much of the white of the eye. You can see a little of the inner pink (on the left side) and the flap

of the lower eye lid is visible. Hilight is at the top of the eye.. Pupil is also almost flat oval. The lashes curl up and partly over the eyeball as they travel down the side. They begin on the outer

edge of the top rim, not closer in.  

In a true side view only the round area of the cornea would be visible, not the skin on the left side. Sometimes the tear duct will be slightly visible.

Here is how I think about drawing an eye.

The first chart shows I start with a square (kind of representing the sockets in the skull) and mark the square in quarters. This helps me make a more perfect circle and find the perfect center. I make a smaller circle in the exact center, using abut 1/3 of the space. This will be the iris. (the iris takes up approximately 1/3 or more of the space of an eye). 

The second square shows how you can make almost a 45 degree angle across the iris through the pupil. This marks the high point of the upper eye lid and the low point of the lower eye lid. (ON THE RIGHT EYE, THE DIAGONAL GOES THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION) You position the tear duct a little lower than most of the eye, and draw the lid around those points. (this is the left eye)

In the third picture I've drawn the inner thickness of the lids. In reality, depending on the angle of the eye, you would only see the upper or lower, or part, not both, but I include them in my drawing to remind me they are there. LOOK FOR HOW THEY ARE PLACED IN YOUR REFERENCE. I also drew the creases in the upper lid and lower lid. 

In drawing #4 Ive added lashes (attached to the outer thickness of the lid). Lower lashes should be barely visible. Lashes can be drawn in small cluster, and go in different directions. Just pay attention to your model or reference. In an eye that is facing forward, they are not as noticeable. 

For the eyebrow, start at the inner corner above the tear duct and work up to the arch. In general, if you draw a line from the edge of the nose through the pupil, you will find the high point of the arch.

(yellow line)

When the eye is completely drawn, notice that the pupil looks higher up. That is because the upper lid covers more of the eye than the lower one.  If your eyelid does not cover the iris, and the iris appears as a perfect circle, the eye looks scared or surprised.

PAINTING EYES

Remember that eyes should look wet and shiny. And these are suggestions, not the final word in how to paint an eye. 

1. Start with a drawing as above. Paint the skin around the eyes. 

2. Paint a little pink on the tear duct, corners of the eyes, and the outer upper lid. 

Shade the white (sclera) of the eye with cobalt on the sides and underneath the upper lid.

3. Paint the creases by applying paint in the crease and softening the edge over the lid. Let that dry.

Do the same for the lower lid crease. Put a drop of masking fluid in the upper part of the eye above and into the pupil. (Be sure to look at your model to see the placement) Paint some quin gold

into the iris and dry. I also painted a faint wash of blue on the left side where the nose would shadow it.

4. For a brown eye I mixed quin burnt orange with blue and painted in the color. While the paint was wet, I lifted an arch of light with a thirsty brush. I added a few more pinks in the tear duct and outer edges. For the brow, put in a light brown wash just to show general shape. 

5. Strengthen the cobalt shadow underneath the upper lid. Shade the skin above the eyelid, applying paint to the crease again, but this time pulling the paint ABOVE the crease to account for the curve and shadow in that area. Add some dark browns around the outside of the iris and painted in the pupil. When dry remove the miskit in the hilight.

6. For the lashes, with a very thin brush put in some tiny lashes on the bottom, giving them some curve....don't apply in straight lines. the lashes begin at the outer edges of the rim on the lids. 

For the brow, use several shades of brown and burnt sienna. With tiny stroke put in the lash hairs, follwoing the direction of the brow. Soften the bottom of the brow with some lifting. 

This is an example of a green eye. All the same steps were followed, just color changed.  In this, I started with some flecks of quin gold first. When dry, I added some cobalt blue and dropped in quin gold. The outer edge of the iris is not painted with black, but with darker blue.