How To: Draw a Face Part I: Eye

Okay, here we are on to the next part of the human figure! I'm going to help you with the most challenging part of the body(at least for me) the face. I was going to do this all in one post but as I wrote, I realized this is going to take to many words so, we'll go one feature at a time. The first feature of the face that we will do is the eye.

Supplies:
1 pencil
1 piece of paper
An image of someone's eye that you want to draw(optional, but it will help! A LOT!)
If you are a perfectionist(like me) you will also need a big eraser

Okay, I'm going to just start off with my head already drawn. (If you need help with this, look at my other How To)

Now, the line that we drew three quarters of the way down on the circle on the head is where the eyes are going to be. Your eyes are pretty much in the center of your head. Lot's of people draw their eyes too high up and the forehead is completely forgotten. So remember to give your person a forehead and to draw your eyes in the center of your head.

To draw the eyes, we want to start with the basic shape of the eye. Normally eyes are some what of an almond shape, but it depends on the emotion of the person you're drawing. My model that I'm drawing is happy, so the eye will have a little bit of a different shape then a 'straight face' person. To start, we just want to draw the outline of the eye, remember to include the tear duct. (It's okay if it looks a little creepy right here...we are just starting!)

Now we are going to draw the iris (the colored part of the eye). You don't want to see the top of the iris unless the person is frightened or alarmed. You are just pretty much drawing a a circle. Because I'm drawing someone who is smiling, my iris takes up pretty much all of the eye so there is not much white.

Next we are going to draw the pupil. This is the black in your eye. Normally you will have a bit of a highlight from some light in the distance and you want to be able to capture that. If you leave the eye without a highlight the eye looks dead and life less. (Sorry these pictures look so creepy...it turns out much better in the end!)

Okay, now I'm going to add the detail in the iris. Eyes have lot's of different detail and this is when I picture comes in handy.  You want to draw a really thin zig zag where the zig zag goes in towards the pupil. Around the iris there is a very dark line that you need to include. Around the pupil, the zig zag is much darker than in the center of the iris and the zig zag is also dark around the outside of the iris. There is also a shadow towards the eye lids.

Now we are going to make the pupil a little darker. (You might have already done this) You want the pupil to be darkest at the top of the eye(by the eyelid) and darkest around the highlight. This will add emphasis. Also, we will be adding shadows. You want your shadows to be around the edges of the eyes to create a 3D form. Shade around by the tear ducts to show the difference between eye and tear duct.

Now add the eyelids. They will be wrinkly but that's okay! If you are afraid that this might make your person look old you can add less detail. If you want to add the detail, yay for you! (If it doesn’t work, well...we will erase.) The more smily or elderly your person is, the more wrinkles you will have one your face. If your person is more straight faced then they won’t have too many wrinkles unless they are elderly. My person is smiling so they have more wrinkles.

When you are drawing the eyelashes you want to keep them smooth and have them all flowing in the same direction. Unless your person is wearing mascara, the eyelashes are not that high up in the air and are somewhat faded.
Towards the outside of the eye, near the edge of the head, the lashes should go outwards. My friend gave a a very helpful hit that they go this way (. As they come to the center they are more of a straight line like this: l. As they reach the tear duct, they face opposite of the other side of the eye, like this ). My person isn't wearing mascara and you can barely see her eyelashes so it looks as if she has none.

Now for our last step we will draw the eyebrows. Your eyebrows should flow one way. They have individual hair and are not squares or rectangles. They might be closer to your eyes or they could be further away in a more questioning expression.

Well, I'm sorry this is a sad post but I am getting very tired, so I'll be signing off for now!!! I hope this has helped. If you would like me to help more, leave a comment of what you didn't understand or if I need to explain one of the steps more! Thanks!!!