Realistic Female Eyes
by Sarah Franks
Posted 2007-07-12
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STEP ONE. Draw a curved line, letting it curve outwards a little at the right side. This line will serve as the top lash line.

STEP TWO. Draw a second curved line underneath the top lash line, making a bump on the left side to create a lemon shape. Make sure the top line extends further than the bottom one.

STEP THREE. Draw a three-quarter circle inside the lemon shape. This will be the iris of the eye. Be sure not to let the circle touch the bottom lash line. Additionally, close off the bump in the lemon shape to create the tear gland.

STEP FOUR. Draw two more curved lines, one above the top lash line and one below the bottom one. Follow the contours of the lash lines so they will look more natural. Inside of the iris, draw two smaller circles, the smallest overlapping the other. This will eventually become the pupil and the highlight.

STEP FIVE. Fill in the pupil and darken the top lash line. In my drawing, the highlight is completely enclosed within the pupil, but you can make yours overlap into the iris if you'd like. Be sure when darkening the lash line to include the part that extends out at the right.

STEP SIX. Above the eye, draw a contour line for the eyebrow. This line can vary greatly in shape and length, as many women shape their eyebrows differently. In this example, I made them simply curve, but try experimenting and finding a shape that you prefer.

STEP SEVEN. Fill in the contour line to create the eyebrow. The easiest way to do this is to make small, quick, sketch-like strokes. Eyebrow hair grows in the direction away from the nose, so only make strokes in that direction. To give your eyebrow a more realistic look, try making a few stray hairs around the innermost and outermost part of the brow.

STEP EIGHT. Now it's time to draw the eyelashes. Typically, eyelashes curve outwards and up, and towards the center of the eye they appear to be curling in the opposite direction as the others. Don't make only a few lines for the eyelashes; draw a few long ones and several shorter ones alternately. For the best effect, thicken the lashes using a "spider leg" effect, where the bottom of the lash is thicker than the tip, making it appear as if several lashes are clumped together. Don't make the bottom lashes as dramatic as the top ones, as the bottom lashes in real life are finer and shorter than the top lashes.

STEP NINE. First, shade in the tear gland. Second, fill in the iris. The iris usually displays lots of different shades of color, so the best way to create this effect is to darken the outer edge and make a gradient effect from dark to light towards the center. Additionally, I like to add dark flecks in the iris as occurs in real life. Keep in mind the color you want the eye to be; the shading in this example is ideal for darker colors, but if you would like to make the eye a light color, just make the shading lighter.

STEP TEN. Add the rest of the shading to the image. Here, I darkened the top and bottom creases slightly and shaded both above and below it. Make sure not to shade too much under the bottom lash line, or else it will look as if she hasn't slept in a while. I also put a little bit of shading right below the eyebrow. Also, due to the many blood vessels in the eye and shadows cast by the lashes themselves, the white of the eye rarely appears white; make sure to add shading to that, especially at the top under the lash line. Without shadows to the white of the eye, it looks flat and unrealistic.

STEP ELEVEN. Repeat the process to create the right eye. If you are having problems with the symmetry, there are two easy methods to go about making the other eye. The first is to flip the paper over, make another left eye, then turn the paper back over and trace through to the other side. Just make sure the highlight is in the same place as the original eye. The second method is to take a ruler, index card, or any other straight edge and make lines across the paper to mark where things should be (ie, the apex of the top lash line, the tear gland, the eyebrow, etc). Remember that your eyes are not exactly identical, so it is okay if the other eye you draw looks slightly different in shape or size.

Congratulations! You can now easily make realistic female eyes. Always remember, however, that eyes are like fingerprints in that no person's eyes are exactly the same as another's. Experiment with eye shapes, sizes, and colors!

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