How To Paint A Eye with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Easy paintings for beginners and everyone.
Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below
Today’s tutorial will demonstrate how to draw human eyes. A few years ago I posted a tutorial on how to draw eyes with a pencil and since then I’ve been getting a lot of requests for a colored version. I will be doing this painting digitally, however most of the steps will be the same even if you are painting with traditional paint. Let’s start!
You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below
Step 1 – Sketch
To begin with the eyeliner, we will first draw a circle for the eyeball itself, and then draw an almond shape, which will be the opening of the eyelid.
Step 2 – Base Color
Next, we need to overlay a base color on the iris and also define our light source. As you can see from the image, I have selected the light source in the upper left. This means that the area just below the eyelid should be darker because the upper eyelid casts a shadow over the iris.
Step 3 – Add Bookmarks
I am adding a very bright highlight near the upper left corner of the iris. To get a wet effect, make sure your highlights are bright and clear. I also decided to make the pupils a bit larger.
Step 4 – Adding Striations
Start adding some very fine lines extending outward from the pupil to create the texture of the iris. Everyone has their own unique eye contour pattern, so don’t spend too much time trying to make them look perfect. Keeping your wavy lines will make your eyes look natural.
Step 5 – Add Skin Tone
Apply a little color around the eye area to create an outer layer of skin. For my painting, I chose a light skin tone to combine with the blue eyes. Also, don’t forget about your light source. Make sure the area of skin facing the light source is brighter so that the eyeball looks rounder.
Step 6 – Build Value
Once you have a base color for the skin, continue to build those values around the shaded area of the eye to represent the roundness of the eyeball below the surface. I also added a bit of red to the base layer for a more natural skin tone.
Step 7 – Add Eyelashes
What would an eye look like without eyelashes? Paint a few thin lashes extending from the edge of the eyelid. If you look closely at the real eyelashes, you will see that the top row curls up and the bottom row curls down. Also, there are usually about twice as many eyelashes on the top as there are eyelashes on the bottom. Look into your own eyes in the mirror, or check out the reference images below to see this.
I also added a slight highlight to the lower part of the iris to give the eye a little more depth.
Step 8 – Add Eyebrows
Depending on your own artwork, you don’t necessarily have to draw eyebrows. But they add a nice frame to the eye, and of course, give it a more natural look.
