How To Draw A Realistic Female Eyes Step By Step

Sally Polly January 09, 2022 | 09:43

Realistic drawing is not an easy task, but it will be possible to learn after much hard works and practice. Take a look at this step-by-step guide on how to draw a realistic female eye, and tips to improve your drawing.

How To Draw A Realistic Male Eyes Step By Step

To draw realistically, you must first learn to see realistically. Be aware of what is really there. "What you see when you look" is visual reality. Being real, everything has three dimensions: height, width, and depth. Visual reality is anything that exists that you see. Examples are trees, rocks, clouds, air effects, and light. Your mind becomes so accustomed to daily surroundings that you overlook what is actually there. When you draw these subjects, you suddenly realize you are not sure of what is there or how to draw the subject accurately. Motivation, time, and observation skills will help to overcome this "visual pacifism." Once overcome, you will be on the road to visual accuracy.

Drawing realistic female eyes is not an easy task, but everything starts from the simpliest steps in this guide.

What is Realistic Drawing?

Photo: Drawing & Illustration - WonderHowTo

Realism is an art style that focuses on making pieces look as realistic and true-to-life as possible.

Think of realistic portraits, landscapes, and still life paintings. These are all forms of realism which aim to capture the subject in a realistic style, and possibly to portray the subject in a way that captures the realities of life.

While the subjects may sometimes appear somewhat stylized, realism seeks to present subjects as they look in real life.

For some great examples of realism check out artists like Gustave Courbet, Winslow Homer, Édouard Manet, and Rembrandt.

All stylized art is at least somewhat based on reality. Fantasy landscapes and buildings have a lot in common with real landscapes and buildings, while stylized humanoid characters are usually based on the human figure.

Most fantasy creatures share some similarities with real life creatures.

And no matter what kind of made-up characters or settings you create, you’re going to need to know how some basic stuff. How perspective works, how to render light and textures like wood and water, how clothing folds over somebody’s arm.

These can all be studied from life and realism practice helps a lot with nailing believable work.

The good news is that if you really love art, learning the basics can be fun! It’s fun to get better and watch your progress over time. Yes, learning is hard work and practicing the same stuff can get boring.

But hard work is right at the edge of “comfort” and “discomfort”. Push yourself a little past that point and that’s where you learn. All the best stuff happens when you get just outside your comfort zone and really try to improve.

And you might be surprised how quickly you improve once you make realism part of your regular practice.

Tips for Drawing Realistic Eyes

When it comes to drawing facial features, the eyes can be challenging because, well, realistically capturing “the windows to the soul” is no easy task. And while you probably learned a simple formula when you were a child — draw a football with two circles inside for the iris and pupil — no eye actually looks like that.

Which is why the most important thing to remember is to draw what you see, not what you know. Every person’s eye is different and no visual formula can replace the real thing. That said, there are a few tips you can follow no matter whose eye you’re drawing.

1. An Eye Is Asymmetrical

Rather than tapering smoothly to a point on either end, an eye has subtle differences in the shapes of the top and bottom eyelids.

Take note of the photo above. The top eyelid is flatter along much of its length than the bottom, except where it curves downward to meet the tear duct on the left. The bottom lid is curved along most of its length, with the most pronounced part being where it sweeps up to meet the top eyelid on the right.

2. The Human Eye Is Three-Dimensional

Photo: DeviantArt

Your eyeball is a sphere, but most of it is concealed by your eyelid. When drawing, the eyelid should look as though it’s wrapping around that spherical shape. This is most obvious in a profile view.

3. The Iris Is Almost Never Completely Visible

Unless the person you’re drawing is very surprised, most of the time the iris will be partially covered by the top eyelid. In some cases, both the top and bottom eyelids will cover the iris, like if your subject is sleepy or squinting.

4. The Top Eyelid Casts a Shadow

Because the top lid projects out a little further than the eyeball itself — and because it has the thicker set of eyelashes — the lid casts a shadow along the top of the eyeball in most lighting situations. This can be easily depicted by making the line of the top eyelid thicker than the bottom.

5. The Top Eyelid Receives More Light

The best way to draw a realistic eye is to use value to suggest volume.

Assuming an overhead light source, the underside of the brow overhangs the eye and is therefore in shadow. The upper eyelid faces upward, so it receives light and also casts a shadow on the uppermost portion of the eyeball. The eyeball itself is curved, so the bottom receives less light. And because the bottom eyelid faces down and receives little light, it also casts a shadow on the portion of the face directly beneath it.

It’s important to remember that every eye is different. Thinking about how value suggests three-dimensionality can help you go a long way in drawing realistic eyes.

Mistakes involving eyes

Once you get the overall proportions of the face right, let's look at some common mistakes made when drawing eyes. It is natural to overemphasizes the eyes, since they are usually the first feature we focus on when we look at a face.

All edges around the eyes too hard, eyelashes too dark, too many eye lashes...

To avoid these problems, remember that “less is more”:

Keep the edges of the eyelids soft, saving crisp touches for accents.

Use restraint when indicating eyelashes. Keep some of them in perspective as they come toward you.

Lighten up the eyelashes so you don't age a child or make the person looking like they are wearing mascara.

Making the highlights in the eyes too white or too big

Adding highlights to the eyes is an exciting part of painting, as it brings the face to life. However, restrain yourself or you can easily diminish the quality of your work. Note that sometimes only one eye has a highlight while the other has none.

Draw the whites of the eyes too white

The term 'eye white' is a misnomer since the local tone of the eye is darker than pure white. It is never stark white, it is more of a bluish or cream white. It is affected much by the lighting.

How To Draw Realistic Female Eyes Tutorials

Step 1

Photo: Envanto Tuts+

Take the HB pencil and sketch a rough oval very lightly. The line should be barely visible.

Step 2

Photo: Envanto Tuts+

Cross the oval with two curves that will make the eyelids.

Step 3

Photo: Envanto Tuts+

The eyelids have a certain thickness, so add rims to them.

Step 4

Photo: Envanto Tuts+

Draw the round iris, the pupil in the middle, a shape of the reflection, and the corners of the eye.

Step 5

Photo: Envanto Tuts+

The eyebrow is a frame for the eye, so don't forget about it! Draw it with straight lines to achieve a natural shape.

Step 6

Photo: Envanto Tuts+

Before we shade the eye, we must understand the 3D form of it. You can work it out by drawing directing lines.