Step 1:
Lets begin with the most basic and common of anime eyes, the large female type.
Start off by drawing a line that curves upwards, and is slightly thicker at the highest
point. This eye will be on the right side of the face, so make the left end of the curved
line higher than the right. The top of this particular eye (Lina Inverse's eye, (from
Slayers) actually ^.^) isn't a perfect curve; it is slightly angular. Some styles of eyes
are nearly perfectly curved on the top.
Step 2:
Next, you want to draw in the lower part of the eye. To help you place the lower half,
lightly draw diagonal lines pointing down, starting at the edges of the top part of the
eye. The steepness of the slope of these lines will determine how large and wide the
eye will be. If you look at the other tutorials on this page, you will see that the
steepness of these lines varies. Using these lines as a guide, draw the lower part of
the eye. It should slope down to the right a little, and should be thicker at the right
corner.
Step 3:
Erase the guidelines and draw a long oval within the eye. Some characters have large
circles for irises, but this particular one has thin ovals. You can adjust the shape so
it's wider, if you like. Make part of the oval obscured by the upper part of her eye.
With all styles, the complete iris is rarely visible; part of it almost always is
concealed by the border of the eye.
Step 4:
Next, draw the outline of the light glares. Anime characters' eyes should always have
at least some sort of shading. Anime females in particular tend to have really heavy
shading and lots of shiny areas. Make sure you choose a light source, and stick with it
throughout your picture. For example, since the light is coming from the left in this
picture, I have to make sure all the highlights on the rest of the picture originate from
the left, or the lighting will be inconsistent (unless I'm using multiple light sources,
but I won't get into that). Draw two long ovals: a large one on the left side of the iris
(which overlaps the outline of the iris, as you can see), and a very small one on the
other side of the eye.
Step 5:
Next, draw the pupil underneath the light glares. The highlights are always on top;
never draw the pupil on top of the light glares. Draw the eyelashes, too; with this
particular eye, the eyelashes are a series of spikes coming off of the top-right part of
the eye. Make the spikes follow the curve of the eye, so it looks like they are coming
off of the eye; don't just draw zig-zag lines sticking out of her eye. ^_~ Also, draw
the eyelid on the left part of the eye. Its just a thin, curved line originating from the
top of her eye.
Step 6:
Now, shade the rest of the iris. It is very dark at the top, but is lighter near the
bottom. You should still be able to differentiate between the lighter iris and the pupil
after you shade. Draw her eyebrow, as well. Like in the first step, this line should be
slightly curved, and thicker near the top. The edges should be very thin. Smooth out
the lines and darken them, and you are done! :)
Style # 2
Step 1:
Okay, now we are going to draw another style, one that isn't as common.
This eye is much more slender, elegant, and realistic looking, and is used in
more serious anime and manga. This particular eye belongs to Deedlit from
Record of Lodoss War, which is a considerably more serious show than
Slayers (which is where the previous eye came from). Begin by drawing a
long, slightly curved line. The left side should be lower than the right, and
the line should curve in sharply at the left edge.
Okay, now we are going to draw another style, one that isn't as common.
This eye is much more slender, elegant, and realistic looking, and is used in
more serious anime and manga. This particular eye belongs to Deedlit from
Record of Lodoss War, which is a considerably more serious show than
Slayers (which is where the previous eye came from). Begin by drawing a
long, slightly curved line. The left side should be lower than the right, and
the line should curve in sharply at the left edge.
Step 2:
To help you define the sides and bottom of the eye, lightly draw two
diagonal guidelines that originate from the edges of the eye. Unlike the
previous tutorial, these lines are not very steep; the more horizontal the lines
are, the smaller the eye will be. Don't make them too flat, though, because
you don't want this eye to be too squinty. Using the guidelines, draw the
bottom line of the eye.
Step 3:
Erase the guidelines and draw the outline of the iris. If there were no eyelids,
the iris would be a perfect circle. However, since the iris is bordered by the
eyelids, the top and bottom of the iris will be hidden from view. The iris
should not be so small that you can see the entire thing (unless you wanted to
convey certain emotions like anger or surprise, but that is covered in another
section).
Step 4:
Next, draw the light glares on the iris. The placement is the same as in the
previous tutorial, but like the iris itself, the glares are much smaller and more
circular. Draw the eyelid above the top line of the eye, as well.
Next, draw the light glares on the iris. The placement is the same as in the
previous tutorial, but like the iris itself, the glares are much smaller and more
circular. Draw the eyelid above the top line of the eye, as well.
Step 5:
Draw the eyebrow and shading in the rest of the iris. Remember to draw the
pupil beneath the light glares, and to make it stand out from the rest of the
eye a little no matter how darkly you shade the rest of the iris.
Here is a variety of other styles of
female eyes you can make using the
same methods. Try to see the
differences between each style, as
well as the similarities. Though the
shape and proportions change, the
top border of the eyes is always
thicker, there are always multiple
layers of shading on the irises, etc.
Some of these were sketched fairly
quickly and are a little messy, but I
hope they are still helpful.
