~ Flame's Gallery ~
~ Eyes, Eyes, Where for art thou? ~
This is the skeleton of eyes. You start with the top lid, and draw the lower lid below it. The lower lid must be draw within the borders of the upper lid, aligning with the curving right side. Since this eye is a left eye, the lid curves to the left.
This is a highlighted example of the triangle spoken about earlier. Make sure that the lower lid does not go outside these lines, otherwise your eye will look abnormally distorted. ^_^;
Here you add the outline of the iris. The iris is the part of the eye that holds the color, and even though this whole oval will not hold all color, I call it the iris because I have no better name for it. o_O Anyways, draw an oval type shape that touches the top lid and the bottom lid, no matter how little. If you would like to make your person look surprised or overly happy (like Arilla and myself), you don't let the oval touch the bottom. That will be covered later in Expressions.
Unmentioned in the previous step was to thicken the lids.Eyelids are usually the thickest in the middle and then get smaller as they near the end of the eye. So make sure you draw your accordingly. Darken them in with your pencil (you SHOULD be using a pencil) and now we can get to the next step. Here is where you add your highlight and pupil type dealie. Highlights can be very different, and there can be more than one in an eye. This on is a simple eye, so there is only one. Also notice how it doesn't connect all the way. This is a common feature used in anime to make things look more spiffy. I didn't make it up, dont' ask me why they do it. x_x Anyways, the pupil can be anything from a small circle to a strange line line this one. This particular eye has a fang shape jutting out from it, and black will surround the whole highlight. I like it that way. ^_^;
Almost done! Now you can ink the pupil type thing, and add all the spiffy extras! (I like the word spiffy o_o I stole it from Arilla.) Eyelashes can vary, but the ones I've drawn here are feathery type lashes that I've taken a liking too. Just use quick curved strokes from the point of your eye and add as many as you like. Bottom lashes can be added, though they're not always necessary. Add the eye wrinkle, which is just a line over the top lid. This gives a bit of realism to the picture. Look in a mirror, you have the wrinkle too. ^_^ The eyebrow is not just an arch, but rather it's long and thick at the beginning, and then arches to a thin point at the end. Now ink the eye (your really should have been using pencil...) and voila! You're done! Remember, if it doesn't look how you want the first time, repeat the tutorial or click on one of the links in our gallery for some other art tutorials!
Different Eyes ~ Here are a bunch of eyes I've drawn to give you more ideas. They all follow the basic guidelines the tutorial has given. The file is quite large, but it allows easier viewing of the eyes. ^_^

General Information ~ Some general information presented through pictoral guidance and text so you get what I'm saying. ^_^ Also a large file for easier viewing.



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