How To Draw The Structure Of The Eye

How To Draw The Structure Of The Eye

I recently completed a portrait drawing course that focuses on how to draw the features of the face. In this particular drawing lesson, I share with you two different ways to think about drawing the eye.

The first way to think about the eye is basically drawing a ball in a socket. Do your best to visualize light hitting a sphere. That sphere is sitting in a socket, the eye socket of the skull. I love drawing with outlines, however, too many artists focus on the linear aspect of the eye’s lashes.

Instead, try drawing shapes of light and dark. Those shapes of light and dark with be dictated by which direction the light is hitting the ball in the socket.

Another way to think about the eye is with surface planes. The master of surface planes is certainly George Bridgeman. I never like my surface plane type drawings. However, they are a necessary evil when learning how to draw the eye. Try your hand at completing a surface plane drawing of the eye.

Lastly, in this short lesson, I also share with you what not to do when drawing the eye. You do not want to draw the eye in the form of an almond shape. You do not want to draw super sharp eyelashes, instead, think of grouping the lashes together in a soft shape.

Lastly do not draw the iris as a full-round circle. The round iris is usually covered up by both eyelids making it look more like a rounded rectangle.

This drawing lesson basically provides you with two exercises to complete. These exercises will help you to think about how to draw the structure of the eye.

Thank you so much for watching.

 

 

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How To Draw The Eye

How To Draw The Eye

I recently completed a course titled How To Draw The Features Of The Face. In this new course, I break down the features of the face in a step by step process. I cover how to draw the eyes, nose, and lips.

I wanted to share this particular lesson with you because it is short and to the point. You really want to draw the eye in a loose, curvy organic sort of way. You do not want to incorporate any straight lines when drawing the eye, everything about the eye should look rough and organic.

As you can see in this rough sketch of the eye I did not really focus too much of my time on the lashes. Do your very best to draw along with me, avoiding the lashes for now. Think more about the structure of the eye, not the lashes.

When drawing the lashes do not draw them with straight lines, instead, try to group all of the lashes into a shape.

I’m really happy with the way this course turned out. It’s really helping people improve their portrait drawings.

Download the Photo reference.

 

 

Thank you so much for watching the drawing lesson above. If you are interested in seeing the rest of the course consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. Not only will you gain access to this course and many more, but, you will also be able to get feedback on your portrait drawings in our member critique gallery.

 

How To Draw The Structure Of The Eye

How To Draw The Structure Of The Eye

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.