DRAWING LESSON: HOW TO DRAW EYES

In a previous DRAWING LESSON I taught you how to construct a basic face. Today I want to add a little to that lesson and give you some thoughts on drawing eyes. Eyes can add a lot of life to a face, in fact they're probably the most important feature. The difference between a drawing that is dynamic and full of life and one that is cold and lifeless is often in the eyes. I constantly struggle with this myself. Below are some examples of how I draw eyes.

The top right shows a standard rendering. I usually draw my eyes more simply, like the one on the top left. The bottom left shows an even simpler method, a circle with a dot in the middle. Finally, the bottom right is the simplest of all, just a dot. If you think you need more than a dot to bring a drawing to life, just look at the drawing by Hank Ketcham below.

I encourage you to study the work of some of the great cartoonists to learn how they use the simplest lines to bring characters to life.

Practice drawing some eyes of your own, don't worry about how to draw them too much, just play. Play with where you put the eyebrows in relation to the eyes and see the range of emotions you can portray. Below is a page from my sketchbook doing just that. Go ahead and use these ideas if you like but I encourage to try some of your own. You might be surprised what you can come up with. This is how you begin to develop a visual language of your own. Try it.

And finally, a few faces to help you see how it all fits together. Have fun. If you like this lesson check out some of the other drawing lessons, like HOW TO DRAW A GRUMPY GOAT