In this screencast portrait drawing lesson I share with you how I think about the structure of the eye. Thinking about the structure of the eye is completely different than using angles, shapes and tone to map out an eye on paper.
The key element to keep in mind when drawing an eye is that you are simply drawing a sphere. You are not drawing an eye, you are drawing a sphere. That sphere has lot’s of distractions, eye lashes and highlights. However if you can wrap your mind around the light that hits that sphere this will help you.
Too many artists cling onto the eye lashes like they are gospel. Worse yet many artists outline the eye with linear looking lashes. It’s super important that you approach drawing the eye from the standpoint of, what type of light source is hitting the sphere of the eye.
Most of the time light is coming from above. This simple fact will help you to see that the lower lid is in shadow and the upper lid is catching light. Stay away from using sharp outlines when drawing the eye. Definitely break your line on the lower eyelid.
I can go on forever in this post, but I think I’ll let the video tutorial do the talking.
If you are interested in learning more consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. You will gain access to every lesson in the course, plus be able to download the PDF that compliments this portrait drawing course immediately.
Thanks so much for taking the time to watch.
