- Drawing Eyes -


When we look at any character's face, the first thing we look at are the eyes. You can instantly tell if you'll like a character by the style of their eyes.  


A Basic Eye -

When it comes to drawing eyes in manga, the variations are countless. The trick is to find your own style.

Regardless of what your style looks like, the basic structure of an eye will be the same - the eyelids, iris, cornea, and eyebrow. Perhaps we could include lighting effects into that group as well. 



Balancing the Eyes - 

 Helpful Hint One:
The inner corners of the eyes usually sit above the edges of the nostrils.

Helpful Hint Two:
Always imagine the space in between the eyes. This will help you avoid drawing the eyes too close together, or too far apart.

Helpful Hint Three:
When drawing a face at an extreme angle, always draw the more forward eye first. Do this especially if the other eye is being partly hidden by the nose.

Helpful Hint Four:
Drawing small vertical crosses within the eye will help you balance out the iris.

 


Closing the Eye -

 Its the top eyelid that does all the closing. The bottom eyelid doesn't really move unless it is being pushed up by the cheek. A good example is a smile.

But this is manga! So you have the ability to raise the lower eyelid a bit if you want without opening the mouth.

Lighting the Eyes - 

It is important to light the eye in a balanced way. An unbalanced lighting effect can throw off the direction the eye is pointing too. So just picture in your mind how the light is hitting the eye. 

Always try and balance the eyes perfectly.
They are the most important part of the face. 

In manga the nose will not block light relections. 
And in a picture like the one above, the lighting effect becomes smaller on the further eye. 

 


Lighting Examples -

Here are just a few examples of the ways you can light a manga-type eye. Always feel free to try something different. 



Eye Examples - 

Even slightly changing the layout of an eye can alter a character's appearance. So I encourage you to experiment with different styles. Here are a few different ways to draw eyes. 

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