Drawing the eye

We will be stepping out drawing an average eye. We’ll be drawing it larger than the eye on your composite. You be doing this on a separate sheet of paper.

On your grid, you already have this in place.

1. Draw a line and mark off the two ends of the eye so you have a 1 1/2 inch line.

In an eye this size, the medial canthus will be 1/4 of an inch wide.

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2. Your iris is 1/2 the width of the white of your eye. On this size drawing, the circle will be 5/8”. Use your circle template. On a composite, the iris will be around 11/32 or slightly smaller.

3. Notice in the eye above, the iris isn’t centered on the eye line. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the iris is below the line. Most of it is above the line. Your eye isn’t shaped like a football made up of two equal halves. It’s more flat on the bottom and curved on the top.

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3. The way I place the eye is to put the bottom mark found on the circle template so it is in the center of the white of the eye, then move the template down until 1/4 or so is below the line.

4. The pupil is centered in the iris. I draw cross-hairs to be sure I’m in the middle. The size of the pupil depends on lighting conditions and drugs.

Because the pupil can vary so much, I use the pupil to give information on the

person’s eye color and whether or not you will like the person.

If the eye is dark in color, you don’t have to draw a pupil. Lighter colored eyes show the pupil.

Studies have shown that when you like something, your pupil gets larger, then returns to its normal size. If you draw a larger pupil, your drawing will be more “likable.”

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5. Your upper eyelid arcs across your eye. Above this is a crease (in an average eye.)

The shape of the upper eyelid and crease causes different appearances. Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces should have a variety of looks and the names of each.

6. Your lower lid is a flat shelf that rounds as it gets near the medial canthus.

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Projects Draw the step-by-step above.

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Project: Draw a line drawing of the eyes below.

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Project: Draw the pair of eyes (line drawing only, no shading) on your grid.

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