Struggling drawing the human eye? Here is a quick and easy list of things to focus on that will get your eye drawings to the next level.
Many famous artists have made guides on drawing the human eye and the human head, making human proportions a highly agreed upon topic.
When drawing something anatomically correct like a hand or a face, we must be conscious of the unchanging basic geometry that all humans share. This, if it is incorrect, will give your viewers the “Something is wrong but I’m not sure what it is…” thoughts when looking at your figures (and eyes). It’s understandable that a beginner artist wouldn’t understand. We all see eyes every day, but how many people out of 10 could draw one on command?
Anatomical correctness is what we are actually striving for in our drawings, but the structural breakdown of the mathematics in nature is something you have to do a study of to understand first.
I put this list together to get you started.
3 EASY TIPS FOR DRAWING THE HUMAN EYE :
TIP #1: PLACEMENT OF THE EYE ON THE HEAD
Begin drawing the face by placing the eyes relative to the cranium and jaw, only then should you start adding the other features.
Pay attention to the placement of your eyes on the cranial sphere, and notice how the chin is the lowest point of the jaw. When you add the jaw, remember that it hangs lower than the cranium.
This is a great free resource I have found that has a 3D poseable skull that you can use for reference when drawing your heads. I have used it many times.
https://ecorche.anatomy4sculptors.com/head-and-neck/head-anatomy/skull-block-out
Use this one next for adding the eyes into the orbits and seeing how the eye looks from different angles.
https://ecorche.anatomy4sculptors.com/head-and-neck/head-anatomy/nose-and-eye-area-block-out
You will see the benefits of placing the eyes first because you can use them as markers for every other feature.
TIP #2: DRAWING SPHERES AND ITS INTERIOR CONTOUR LINES
This will help you immensely when drawing the human eye. It will allow you to center the pupil on the eye and also helps to place the eye into the cranium accurately every time. The cranium and the eye are both spheres within spheres. The orbit of the eye on the skeleton is also spherical in order to house the eyeball itself. The interplay of spheres on spheres in your most basic preliminary sketches will instantly grant you the appearance of a 3D head.
Just learn spheres OK? OK.
TIP #3: ADDING LASHES THE RIGHT WAY
When adding lashes while drawing the human eye, you must start in the middle or on the far edge. Lashes on the far edge can appear nearly horizontal with a slight upward curvature. As you come to the middle of the eye, when viewing someone from the front, the lash can appear simply as a vertical line or a crooked vertical line. Try to achieve this gradient from the middle to the edge using simple ‘C’ shapes. Bulk up the ‘C’ shapes one over another to form clusters.
If you haven’t already, this is a great time to try out my free drawing course called “Drawing a Human Eye” on Udemy. I will take you through what I’ve taught you here plus you get worksheets and actual video demos!
Get the course here: