Find out how to draw your own eyes!

We conducted a survey on our Twitter and instagram channels and many people wanted to know more about how to draw eyes, so in this article we would like to focus on the eyes and explain specifically how to draw eyes in realistic and animated tones!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Let's compare

3. How to draw, procedure

4.How to capture the eyelids

5. Eye highlights

6. Eye contours

1. Introduction

The eyes are an important element in characterisation, not least in your drawing style.

If you want to be attractive and draw characters, you want to seek attractive eyes first, don't you?

This article looks at the differences between real human eyes and the eyes of an animated character, and briefly summarises how to incorporate them into your drawing style.

At first glance, they look very different, but they are actually simplified by following the characteristics of real eyes!

Once you understand this, you may be able to graduate from symbolic eyes and observe real eyes to find a drawing style that suits your own style.

2. compare and contrast

Realistic eyes have a detailed and complex structure, whereas anime-style eyes are simplified and have a more defined and expressive shape. In this section, we will look at how the process of simplification from realistic to animated style changes!

3. drawing method and procedure

The next consideration is the order of drawing. Of the eyes, the upper lashes are particularly important. Drawing the upper eyelashes thick and clear will draw the eye to the character's face!

4. capturing the eyelids

By dividing the outline of the eyes into three parts - the upper eyelid's inner corner, the outer corner of the eye and the lower eyelid - it is possible to create a more specific shape.

In particular, if you leave the inner corner of the eye as it is and lower the position of the outer corner of the eye, you can draw a 'flirty eye'!

Depending on the impression you want to give the character, you can adjust the position and draw their expression in rich detail.

5. Eye highlights

Let's go further and look at how to draw highlights for the eyes. Highlights represent the reflection of light in the eyes and are an important element in giving a character a sense of life.

In recent trends, highlights are often expressed in a more realistic tone.

If these highlights are expressed in a larger scale, they can be more cartoonish or give a nostalgic feel to the work.

6. Eye contours

Finally, let's consider the contour of the eyes.

At first glance, the pupil outline of a realistic eye is clear, but if you look closely, it is slightly blurred.

By capturing and drawing this subtle difference, it is possible to draw simplified, cartoon-like eyes while maintaining a realistic expression.

Recently, drawing with a blurred outline of the eyes has become popular, so you may want to try it once!

Try combining these elements to find your own unique way of drawing eyes.

And most importantly, hone your observation skills through how to draw eyes. By carefully observing actual eyes and understanding their features and expressions, you will be able to create more realistic expressions and draw different ages and characterisations.

If you are aware that drawing = observing on a regular basis, your progress will be quicker!

◆Finally, here are some recommended practices!

Observe real human eyes and the eyes of various artworks and look for differences and similarities between them.

You can deepen your understanding by comparing the shape of the eyes, the density and length of the eyelashes, the way the light reflects off them, etc.

Once you have made your observations, try actually drawing and comparing the real eyes with the eyes of your favourite artwork.

By actually drawing the eyes, you will realise that "that's why this line is there" and "this is what the shadow is about", which is easy to understand and leads to improvement!

Improvement is the accumulation of practice and awareness, so draw a lot, observe and notice!

Try putting this article into practice and discovering your own unique way of drawing!

Finally! I also made a LvUP sheet for practice!

It's a sheet that allows you to trace and copy together.

If you find it a bit hard to observe and compare drawings, please use it!

I'm planning to publish an article explaining how to look at eyes from the side next time, so please look forward to it!