How to Draw the Eye Proportions

This is a good photo to look at when learning to draw the eye.

Drawing the eye is probably the most important part of drawing a face, since it is the first thing that a person looks at on a face. Proportions for the eye will vary for the type of eye being drawn. This is a basic starting point to learning to draw a proportionate eye.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Paper

Instructions

1. 

   This little girl's eyes look smaller than an average eye might.

   Start with a basic almond shape. You can make it a bit wider or a less wide as desired.

2. Draw a lid over the top of the eye. It should start at the corner of the eye that is closest to the nose. Echo the line of the eye above the almond shape of the eye. Don't let that line go over the eye, but stop it just before the edge.

3. 

   When the eye is not touching either of the edges of the eye, it looks scared or surprised.

   Draw a circle within the eye for the iris. Make sure the circle is touching the lines of the shape of the eye, otherwise it will look scared.

4. 

   This eye has very long dramatic lashes on both the top and bottom.

   Draw a circle within the circle for the pupil and shade completely in. Draw a highlight shape next to it and leave white. Shade the rest of the iris lightly. Add eyelashes to the top of the eye. If you would like, you can lightly add eyelashes to the bottom of the eye that should be much smaller than the top lashes.

Tips & Warnings

• Having a reference photo of an eye or a mirror to look at your own eye can be helpful when starting out.

References

• Art Graphica: Drawing the Human Eye
• Cartoon Crittes: how to draw an eye