How to Draw Eyes - Observing the Eye
H South, licensed to About.com, Inc. When you learn to draw eyes, it is useful to think about the anatomy of the eye. Watch a friend's eyes as they look from side to side. ou can see that the eyeball is not a !erfect s!here. "he cornea bulges out in front of the iris #the colored !art$, so that the while the iris looks flat, reflections from the front of the eye show a curved surface. %ote that when viewed from an angle, the !u!il sits in the !lane of the iris, and being in !ers!ective is oval rather than circular. "he Eye &ocket
anatomy of the face and eye uncredited stock photo licensed to About.com, Inc.
When drawing, look for the signs of underlying structure that the e ye is !laced within. Observe the bones and muscles of the face. De!ending on a !erson's age and build, they may be more or less visible, bu they are still there. n awareness awareness of the sha!e of the e ye socket and the bands of muscle around the eye will hel! you identify and model changes of !lane around the e ye. Observe the Eye in Detail
the eye in closeu! F. Priestly, licensed to About.com "o draw a realistic eye, it is im!ortant to observe it very closely. %otice that the iris is not a solid tone, but has streaks of color, dark around the edge. Observe your sub(ect carefully to identify the !atterns of their iris, and note highlights and reflections on the surface of the eye, which alter their a!!earance. t this angle, the inside rim of the lower eyelid eyelid is visible, visible, and !art of the u!!er. Often a broken line line is used when drawing the lower eyelid, to indicate this lightness, or in a tonal drawing, there may be a highlight. "he 'whites' aren't really white. "hey have slight color and often visible blood vessels, and are fre)uently shadowed. *eserve !ure white for highlights. "he &ha!e of the Eyes
C Jewell We often draw the eyes as symmetrical ovals, and think of them as being mirror images of each other. +ut as you know, the human face is not symmetrical, nor is the eye itself. Eye sha!es vary a great deal, and the sha!e of the lids will change as the eye moves. When gaing to one side, they can change dramatically. dd a slight turn of the head or move your view!oint from the center, and the eyes can look very different indeed. Observing E!ression
Stock Photo / H South, licensed to About.com, Inc. E!ressions can drastically alter the sha!e of the eye. ay attention to the !lanes, lines and wrinkles around the eye, not (ust the lids themselves, otherwise the eyes will (ust look missha!en. smile !ushes the muscles on the face u!wards, making the lids bulge a little, sometimes making laugh-lines. /odels !ractice an artificial smile that doesn't reach the eyes, but most sub(ects have smiles that affect their whole face. lacement of the Eyes
H South/ DJ Jones, icensed to About.com, Inc. ay careful attention to !lacement of the eyes. 0f drawing without any aids, refer to the key 'landmarks' of the face, checking the angle and distance of the inner and outer !oints of the eyes in relation to the ears and nose. W hen you sketch a straight line through the eyes, base of the nose, mouth and brows, you'll find that they are in correct !ers!ective or !arallel. When 0 begin drawing a !ortrait, 0 use construction lines to indicate the !lanes of the face, !lace the !u!ils and draw in main lines of the lids and brows. 0ncluding wrinkles and lines at this !oint can hel! !rovide reference !oints. Drawing Eyes in ortraiture
H South, icensed to About.com, Inc. When drawing a !ortrait, 0 don't usually get too detailed at first, but work u! the whole face, adding further reference !oints and ensuring that everything fits together. &ome !eo!le !refer to focus on a single area at a time. Whichever a!!roach you choose, careful observation is the key. Observing the tiny details of light and shade in the eyes will bring the sub(ect to life. "his is true whether you are doing a detailed !ortrait, or a )uick sketch. Often, you may 'abbreviate' or suggest the details that you've observed, but the visual information that you've gathered will make your sketched 'abbreviations' accurate ones that make sense, so the drawing will be much stronger than when you've 1 of 1 rev %et How to Draw Eyes - "i!s
H South, licensed to About.com, Inc.
- &ometimes a little artist's license is needed if light is !oor or when working from a !hoto. dding a little curved highlight cutting across the !u!il and iris, a shadow under the lid, or detail to the iris, can brighten flat eyes. - Don't automatically outline the lower lid - often the lower rim is h ighlighted and needs to be lightly indicated. - Draw the subtle changes in tone which indicate the eye socket, and the !lanes of the nose and brows, which hel! to sit the eyes into the face. 0f using line, you can use broken or im!lied line only guessed at what it should look like. Drawing the /outh2 Observation
courtesy P. !"m"kers When drawing any sub(ect, your first ste! is to carefully observe. 3orget what you 'know' and trust your eyes. &o what might you see as you look at your sub(ect's mouth4 0n this 567 view, you can clearly see the effect of foreshortening on the curve of the li!s, on the right of the !hoto the line of the mouth is almost !arallel to the !icture !lane, while on the left it dro!s away, almost !er!endicular to the !icture !lane. "he amount of curvature de!ends, of course, on the individual, as well as their e!ression - some e!ressions !ull the li!s more tightly around the teeth. Here you can see that there is very little change of !lane between the edges of the li!s and the skin - the li!s curve in gradually - though it is a little shar!er along the edge of the u!!er li!. #"his
can be more obvious in different light.$ "here is a slight crease below the li!, where the shadow dro!s off, before the outward curve of the chin begins to catch the light. ou can also see how the skin gradually begins to crease at the corners of the li!s - sometimes this crease will create a )uite obvious shadow. Drawing the /outh - &tructure
H South #rom photo courtesy $. Chi%nolli, licensed to About.com, Inc. common !roblem in drawing !ortraiture is misalignment of the nose, mouth and eyes. void this by roughing in your structure first - notice that a line through the eyes, a line through the base of the nose, the line through the mouth, and a line through the chin, all !ro(ect back to a vanishing !oint - front-on, these lines would be !arallel8 at an angle, they are #slightly$ in !ers!ective. Drawing the /outh2 +uilding "one and 3orm
H South, #rom photo courtesy $t"&i"no Chi%nolli "he sub(ect of this !hoto has beautiful white teeth, but even the whitest teeth are shaded by the li!s, so won't look totally white all over. "he scan has darkened the white !a!er, but you can a lso see that the lower teeth and back teeth are )uite shaded in this drawing. *eserve !ure white !a!er for the very whitest areas of highlight in a !hotorealist drawing, and with a sketch, suggest some shading where a!!ro!riate. "he sub(ect's shiny li!stick makes the li!s more defined, but a slightly relaed a!!roach to the line,and use of shading on the face, kee!s them from looking too shar!. "he shine of the li!stick makes the highlights very cris! and white. %ote that the corners and inside of the mouth can be )uite dark, de!ending on the fall of light don't be afraid to draw it that way. Drawing the /outh in 0nk2 What %ot to Do
H South, licensed to About.com, Inc. Outlining. Why is this a !roblem4 With linear drawing, the line tends to indicate an edge - where two different !lanes meet. "he edges of the mouth are not that defined, and if you were to !aint them over with skin-colored makeu!, you'd see that on many !eo!le, the change of !lane can be very gradual. "his can make heavily made-u! li!s !articularly difficult to draw, as their neatly !ainted edges fight against the illusion of form that we are trying to create. 3or most !eo!le, the color of the li!s changes )uite gradually, and we can also use a bit of artistic license. Outlining the li!s, as in this eam!le, makes them look oddly 'cut out' and not realistic at all. Drawing the /outh - 9ey lanes
H South, licensed to About.com, Inc. useful a!!roach to drawing the mouth is to sim!lify, and look for the sha!e of the two !lanes which together can give you a great deal of visual information about the sha!e of the mouth - the angled !lane of the u!!er li!, and the shadow cast beneath the lower li!. With (ust two deft strokes, the sha!e of the li!s is established. "he wash edges look cris! but are much lighter than a solid ink line, so they give definition without being as shar! as a drawn line.ou can suggest the mouth with sim!le brush-strokes or smudges like this, or use these marks as aDrawing the /outh - 0nk Wash and :ine
H South, licensed to About.com +uilding on the sim!le !lanes of the mouth shown in the !revious ste!, a light wash is used to describe the shadows of the face. &tudy the whole area first so that you can a!!ly the wash )uickly, kee!ing it light and fresh, without fussy detail or overworking uncertain areas. few lines of black ink define the mouth. "he u!!er and lower corners of the li!s are not defined, as that area shows only a slight change of !lane between the li!s and skin. ou would use similar lines for a !ure line drawing. foundation for a more finished d rawing. natomy of the %ose
;artilages of the %ose When you're drawing !eo!le, it hel!s to know what is going on under the skin. ou don't need to remember the latin names, (ust so long as you remember roughly what goes where - what it looks like. "he sha!e of the nose varies enormously from !erson to !erson, because of their bone and cartilage structure, as well as the musculature of their face and the amount of fat under their skin. 0ts im!ortant to observe each individual carefully and study the sha!e of their nose and its !osition in relation to their other features. Drawing &im!lified %ose &tructure
"he nose can be sim!lified into a basic !rism sha!e. "his will be formed with its a!e at the bridge of the nose, and its base across the widest !art of the nostrils, ta!ering u! to the ti!. "ry drawing this sim!le sha!e with the f ace at different angles. %ote that in this eam!le, the right side of the nose is longer than the left because of !ers!ective. Drawing this sim!le !rism first hel!s you to master the !ers!ective element. Drawing the %ose - lacing the %ose on the 3ace
"o !lace the nose on the face, start by sketching the structure of the head. Observe the sha!e of the face, with its curved !lane, which the nose sits into. Draw a line through the forehead and mouth to indicate the mid!oint on the face. "his will hel! you ensure that the features are aligned correctly. Drawing the %ose - &hading the 3orm
void outlining and use areas of light and shadow hel!s to create a three-dimensional effect. "he use of directional shading - where your !encil marks follow the form - can accentuate this. :ook for highlights and shadows. %ote how in this drawing, the nose is )uite rounded, so that there isn't a hard line along the nose - its sha!e is suggested by highlights, but it blends into the cheeks on each side. Drawing the %ose - :ine Drawing
0n this line drawing, you can see how the rounded sha!e mentioned in the !revious ste! is suggested by use of im!lied line. "he line from the ti! of the nose lifts off gradually then re-starts at the bridge of the nose, suggesting a soft edge but not outlining it. &ketchy cross-contour lines also he! to suggest the sha!e. Drawing the %ose in rofile
When drawing the nose in !rofile, observe carefully and draw what you see, using other landmarks on the face as reference-!oints. 3or eam!le, the nostril may line u! with a corner of the nose, or the bum! on the bridge will be level with the lower lid - de!ending on the angle of the face and the anatomy of your sitter. "ry holding a !encil out between you and the sub(ect - line it u! vertically with a !oint on the face, and see what other !oints are !erf ectly above and below it. +e aware of de!th - draw !arts of the face that are closer more firmly, and allow the more distant !arts to blend in behind them. ro!ortions of the Human Head Drawing the &tructure of the Head and 3ace
"o draw the human head accurately, first become familiar with the basic !ro!ortions. "raditional rules of !ro!ortion show the f ace divided into si e)ual s)uares, two by three. "he u!!er horiontal division is roughly at the 'third eye' level mid-forehead, the lower at the base of the nose. "he eyes sit on the horiontal centre, the mouth on the centre of the lower third.
0f you are ske!tical of such sim!le mathematics, try it out on some models in magaines - it works< While this is an ideal which does not account for racial and individual variation, observing these basic !ro!ortions gives you a starting !oint to measure against. +y ensuring your basic !ro!rtions are correct to begin with, you will avoid ma(or re-draws at a later stage of the drawing. "o construct a well-!ro!ortioned head, follow these sim!le ste!s.
+egin with a ball. Dro! a line from mid-forehead to the chin. '&lice off' a circle at the side of the head, and from the front of this circle, curve a line down to the chin. ;om!lete the !lane of the face with a line on the other side. %ow add the (awline. ;onstruct the nose, indicate mouth and chin !osition and elongate skull slightly. #"he distance from chin to crown is almost the same as from forehead to the back of the skull$. •
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3or an in-de!th e!lanation of this method, see *on :emen's ecellent tutorial.
0t's im!ortant that you take the time to walk through and com!lete the =nderstanding 5D 3orm tutorial before you're ready to take this net ste!. nyone who thinks they are beyond the basics !resented there is kidding themselves, myself included. %o matter how good you may be, if you don>t get the basics it will come back to bite you.
&te! ?. "his is the biggy. "his ste! dictates the entire head drawing, and or !ose for that matter if you are attaching an entire body to this. &tart with a s!here, freehand will do, so long as it reads as a ball. ou are going to divide the s!here into halves, then fourths. "here will be 1 sections total. "hink of this as a 5D s!here, which you should d o anyway, because what you draw will ultimately be 5 dimensional. Once the s!here has been evenly divided you are going to find the golden cross section that dictates and determines the sie, sha!e, tilt, character, and !ro!ortions of the head to be drawn. "he cross section determines where the brow line begins, and divides our face !lane in half with a centerline. "hese divisions also hel! determine where the ear will sit on the side of the head. maing how it all comes down to a sim!le cross section, isn>t it4 "he centerline of the face is derived from our cross section. "his centerline is drawn net. %ote that the centerline of the head doesn>t follow the form of the s!here once we have established the cross section. Why4 +ecause, the chin etends away from the s!here sha!e. 0f our chin was a !art of this s!here, we would have a !retty darn round face. 0t doesn>t have to be any !articular length at this !oint, it is only there to establish the two main divisions of the head, or divides the head into an even left and right half.
With a minimal degree of shifting of one feature or another, all faces are fairly symmetrical. 0 say minimal degree of shifting of features, meaning not everyone>s eyes are !erfectly even across the face laterally, not everyone>s ears are laterally even, etc. :yle :ovett for eam!le, really asymmetrical. +ut his face still is evenly divided, and it has all the com!onents re)uired to call it a head.
Once you know the tilt, have found the cross section, and laid in the centerline of the head, your net ste! is to shave to two side of our s!here on either side of the cross section. "his will hel! you begin forming the side !lanes of the head. Why shave them4 Well, the skull isn>t actually round like a ball, but flattened on all sides with a fairly round to! for the skullca!. 9ee!ing those round side !lanes would actually be deceiving, and the skull drawn would end u! a little too wide, awkward looking, and the ears would be mounted on these little tiny ends, with no real cohesive attachment to the whole@
&te! A-%ow that you have the cross section established, the net thing you will do is divide the head into thirds. "his is the golden division you will use to lay all of the feature elements of the skull u!on, i.e., the eyes, nose li!s, ears, and so on@ "he !rimary, or stock look for the average human is even divisions between these thirds. +ut once understood, these divisions will be your guide to drawing charactures, character ty!es for stories, or whatever. "hese divisions are as im!ortant as the golden cross section that began all this. "he u!!er third is what you start with. "his establishes the divisional units of the skull, i.e. it creates the volume to which the other A65rds will be measured. "he u!!er ?65rd is from the hairline to the brow line. "he And division establishes the location for the nose, ears, and eyes. *emember, when you find the nose, you have also found the ears. "hey follow the to! of the nose, or brow ridge, and the bottom of the nose division evenly with (ust about everyone. 9nowing this will hel! you. 0 see
many drawings and !aintings where the ears look like they were !asted on to the skull after the fact because of little or no understanding of !ro!er !ro!ortion, or !lacement were !rivy. "he middle divisions go between the to! of the brow, to the base, or bottom of the nose. "he lower 5rd sets u! where your mouth goes, and finishes the skull with locating the bottom of the chin. "hus, this lower 5 rd goes from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin. "hese divisions of thirds wra! entirely around the skull. "hese divisions remain evenly !ro!ortioned no matter what the tilt of the head is. &o if the head is looking straight u!, all the divisions will be shrunk down to little segments, but still even in their division. "his is soooo im!ortant in !lacing all the features on the head. "he side division of the head hel!s !lace the ear in its correct !osition, to the left of the vertical division line for the right ear, and to the right of the vert line on the left side of the head. "his vertical division also tells you where the (aw begins, since it attaches to the skull (ust in front of the ears. When it is all said and done, and this golden division of thirds is well understood, and heavily !racticed to the !oint of intuitive understanding, the rules of !ro!er thirds can be broken. "his is where character ty!es are created. "hey don>t necessarily follow !ro!er s!acing and !lacing, but rather take on their o wn divisions. "his is valuable information for s!acing and !lacing the features on the face. 0 can>t stress this stuff enough. 0 see many a drawing and !ainting that (ust didn>t )uite work because these basic !rinci!als weren>t known. *emember it well, and you will always draw a !ro!erly divided, and !ro!ortioned head, or head attached to a body in a figure drawing.
&te! 5-Here 0 basically summed u! what it all means when it is said and done. "his head took about 5 minutes to draw because 0 know the !rinci!als of drawing a well done head, and 0 !racticed them re!eatedly for years and years. 0 also had an idea of what 0 was after for a finish. "his guy could easily be refined many times over, but 0 am not ba shing or criti)uing, merely demonstrating what a good understanding of the basics can get you. Here are a cou!le !ages of head drawings 0 have accumulated from a number of my sketchbooks.
Here is an assignment if you so choose. 0f you do this assignment, DO%B" DO O%E D*W0%C %D ;:: 0" 30%0&HED. ou shoud draw entire !ages of at least a doen drawings on the !age. *e!etition is the 9E to successful drawing, can>t stress that enough. ;ome to my studio some time and 0 will show you the doens u!on doens of !ads filled front to back of studies. Cood, +ad, Horrid, Eye Wrenching, etc. but done no less. /ileage is the hamburger hel!er of the basic !rinci!als, trust me. Doing a hundred heads before understanding how they work is great, so long as by the time you h ave done them all, you understand volume and !ro!ortion to a logical degree. Drawing the heads re!eatedly over and over again is boring to only those who refuse to learn, interesting to those who are curious, and fascinating to those who need to know.
&o the assignment is to do doens of these wire frames, attach the chin, find the ear and the nose, like the one in ste! two. Different tilts, and different angles. 0 want to see !ro!er division. %o guess work, you have the rules in front of you, follow them closely, and 0 guarantee you net time you draw some figure in a scene or in a !ose of some sort, that head is going to look well constructed from a !ro!ortion stand !oint, because you took the time to learn those !rinci!als of head division and will never sto! using them until you sto! !roducing art@ 0 ho!e this hel!s you out a bit. Cood luck and en(oy. *on :emen *ecomened +ooks
ndrew :oomis-3igure Drawing for all its worth ndrew :oomis-;reative 0llustration ndrew :oomis-3un with the encil ndrew :oomis-Drawing the Head and Hands ndrew :oomis-&uccessful Drawing natomy +ridgeman's ;om!lete Cuide to Drawing from :ife &te!hen eck-tlas of Human natomy for the rtist ohn ander!oel-"he Human 3igure 3rit &chider-n tlas of natomy 3or rtists ers!ective Dora /iriam %orton-3reehand ers!ective and &ketching rthur Cu!till-&ketching as a Hobby Cu!till-&ketching and *endering in encil Ernest Watson-;reative ers!ective for rtists and 0llustrators "he 3amous rtists ;ourses from the 3ifties to the early ?FG's 0 would tend to stray away from the Hogarth books, only because what he does is !urely inventive, not using real models or anything for his basis of structure. s a result, his images tend to be a bit too sinuey, rubber like, and (ust not )uite right. +ridgeman though is a bible that no artist should be without.