How to Create Stunning Eyes

Posted on 03. Dec, 2009 by DAS Team in Face, Tutorials

Drawing eyes can only be mastered by practice (like anything else in art), but one must understand the scaling, relation and proportion it has with the rest of the face to make it just perfect. Digital Artist Wen-Xi Chen has been gracious enough to share with us how to draw beautiful eyes in 18 steps. She kindly provided us with the following tutorial so we thought we will give some tips to help you out even more for each step.

1. When you draw the eyes, you should have some idea about the location it is in the face. There is nothing worse then a dislocated eye. A good way to help you figure the location out is by drawing three lines as Wen-Xi Chen did from the side of the nose. That way the first line would signify the beginning of the eye, the middle line will signify the center of the eye and the last line would signify the end of the eye. You can then mirror these three lines to the other side of the nose to draw the left eye.

2. Drawing two red circles above the eye will help make sure that both eyes are actually the same size. Just draw two circles and use it for both eyes and make sure that both eyes are the same size.

3. Now we are done with the location and size, its now time to draw the eye itself and the eyebrow. This step is only the outline, we are not concerned with anything else.

4. Wen-Xi Chen added the light parts such as the white sclera in the eye and between the eye and the eyebrow.

5. Oppositly, you will add now the dark shades to emphasis the areas that are moving inwards in the eye.

6. Apply brown for Iris.

7. Half of the top of the eye would be dark brown and the center pupil would be fully black. Chen made the top of the eye darker brown is to give it depth and realism to it.

8. With a very thin brush, add golden highlights in the direction pointing outwards from the pupil. Use teh smudge tool, it can be handy at this point.

9. Don’t forget to add the pink skin at the left corner of the eye. Chen then added a white circular cube above the side of the pupil which helps give the eye a shine. This is a MUST if you want your eye to look realistic.

10. Add more shadows, especially to the sclera are of the eye.

11. Add a redish brown tone on top and below the eye to give it a real skin feel.

12 & 13. In these steps, Chen shows you guys that adjustment of brush can be very helpful. If you go to the ‘Brush Creator’, you can choose a brush that would help you give a  perfect effect of an eyelash. Never be afraid to experiment with brushes guys, it can make your life far more easier.

14 & 15. Application of the new brush to add eyelahes. Use a big dark brush to add shadows above the eye. That way your eye will pop out and become more realistic.

16. Choose a very small brush size with a dark color to draw each eyebrow in. Make sure that in Step 15 that you have applied a base color for the eyebrow. After you have applied the base color for the eyebrow you will then draw each eyebrow in it.

17. You are now done. You can choose a small white brush to add some shine to the skin which is at the corner of the eye. You can fine tune anything else left.

18. You can become more creative and add some cool colored effects but make sure that you do that on a new layer.

Viola! You’re done

If you want to check out more of Wen-Xi Chen art or tutorials, you can visit her:

Deviant Art: http://acidlullaby.deviantart.com/

Official Website: http://www.acidlullaby.net

E-mail: acid_lullaby@hotmail.com

Tags: eyes, iris, look, pupil