How to Draw Eyes

How to draw eyes:

"The Eyes are the window to the sole" and therefore they need special attention.

They express what the subject is thinking, and being reflective in nature also give us challenges.

Of course... one of the most crucial things you need to get right is that they must be positioned correctly on the head. And must be on the correct plane - that is. Example - if the head is turned away or tilted sideways, the eyes must be also. And I have got this wrong in many accounts of my art work in how to draw eyes through the years. And how frustrating it is too. Not to say the same for sculpture.

So on how to draw eyes; marking out where the eyes need to be on the subjects head is a must.

Now, I bet if I asked you where the eyes are positioned on a head. You would probably say in the near the top half of the head. Don't worry.... we have all perceived this. Because it is how we see people and, not properly observed. And we also reflect this when doing the same in drawing animals.

Well... the eyes on a person are actually in the middle of the head. Shock and Horror!.. Its show we see another person, probably because of the hair partially falling across their face, or a fringe.

Now we face a multitude of perplexities on how to draw eyes here... because with the animals. We have two different sections. We have the:-

• Carnivore - being the hunter. Where the eyes are positioned in the front of the head for hunting.

• Herbivore or Pray-  Their eyes are positioned on the side of their heads. To keep a wide vision surveillance for approaching hunters.

Each different, and both we will tackle in our lesson on how to draw eyes.

The Carnivore

You can see here by these two photos that the cat for example has eyes in the front of its head.

You need to take note how the eyes are positioned when you draw your subject.

Now most animals eyes are usually brow in color. Yet for example, small cats has eye colorations such as ourselves. And also many birds.

I have drawn you an outline which you can use to get the basic shape of the eye first. Keep sketching till you get this right. Because you will need to take special care with how big you draw the size of the eye to the size of your subjects head.

We all know that there are some animals which are mostly nocturnal, inbhow to draw eyes, their eyes are usually bigger in proportion to their heads for night vision. So try and stick to the basic rules. When drawing a subject in accordance to nature. You can always change this when doing cartoons and accentuated art later.

The Herbivore

Grass eaters such as the horse has eyes on the sides of their heads, so that they  have wide vision on the look out for predators when eating. Note on the photo of the front of the horse where the eyes sit at the side. Quite different from the cats eyes above...

It may take a little time to get your positioning of the eyes on a prey animal right. As we perceive all eyes further to the front of the face. Mainly because we are that way, we have become used to it. So it is a bit trickier when you draw the front view of a prey animal. Side view is not so bad, as you are looking at the eye straight on.

I have drawn out a guide for drawing eyes such as the horse, this rule also applies for most grass eating animals. Wondering why you might struggle a bit when drawing eyes of prey animals straight on. We have conditioned ourselves that way. We see these animals, yet when it comes down to drawing them, out minds see different.

 Just keep the rules in mind when you are drawing in

Allot to take in? sure, you will need to study the eye in detail. But I'm not saying that you have to get all the features of the eye all at once. As long as you get the basics of the eye, the shape, and you don't have to get all the detail that I have explained. Although is is good to practice them.

Drawing is the basis of art. A bad painter cannot draw. But one who draws well can always paint.
Arshile Gorky

Eyes are an art-form in themselves. If you want to go further and capture the patterns in eyes to the reflective ness. Practice with many sketches, and be prepared to take time in learning to get it right.

I have not delved extensively into doing such perfect detail  with eyes on my subjects myself. Yet plan to some time.

As when I see other artists capturing the eyes in all its glory. I think its wonderful. So don't worry. As long as you get the shape right and some detail, you will be fine. Unless you are wanting to do close-ups of a subject. And I do mean close-up. You don't need to go and get a diploma in eye drawing. Its your choice. You don't have to specialize in it.

Take a look at the sketch of the eye up at the top of the page on how to draw eyes, this is fine. And if you want to go further later on, great. Just don't get scared off by drawing eyes. Just keep studying different faces of animals and their moods. because this will also show you how the eyes will reflect the mood of your subject at the time.