Here’s a quick and easy way to draw closed eyes for beginners. I came up with this method by combining a few of my other ones, which turned out very well. You guys have been requesting me to draw a pair of opened eyes for a while now. So I’m going to work on that one next!
Tools I used in this tutorial:
- Derwent H, HB, 2B pencils
- 0.5mm Mechanical Pencil with 4B lead (Pentel Ain)
- Kneaded Eraser
- Canson Sketch Paper (Med Tooth) – Bought this on sale at my local art store (they ran out of Canson bristol paper). Great for sketching but not for blending.
Video Tutorial
I created a video to go along with the version you’re reading. You can check it out below! It contains a bunch of extra tips and tricks, which I think you’ll find useful! If you have the time, please leave a comment to let me know what you’d like to see me do differently in a future video, what you liked/disliked or other constructive feedback would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Please Read! The purpose of the video is not to produce a polished piece, but to show you the steps and techniques in a quick and easy manner. Click here to watch it on YouTube!
Note: Up until step 6, use only an HB pencil with very light pressure so that your guidelines and mistakes don’t show through in your final artwork. Drawing lightly is also better for erasing. In the examples below, I’m using more pressure so you can clearly see what I’m doing.
Step 1: Determine Eye Size
Determine the size you’ll want for one eye and use 2 ticks to mark the boundaries for that eye.
Use a ruler to draw a horizontal line through the ticks and across the right side of the page.
Then measure the first space and multiply it by 3. You should now end up with 3 equal spaces going across your sketchbook horizontally.
Step 2: Draw Circles
Draw a circle for each eye. Make sure each circle fits within the boundaries.
Step 3: Determine the Angle for Each Eye
Determine the angle you want the eyes to slant and draw a line through each circle, making sure the angles are similar. Watch the video for a tip on how you can do this.
Step 4: Draw the Eye Shapes
Draw the inner and outer corners of each eye where the slanted line intersects with the circle. The inner corner of each eye should be deeper and darker than the outer corner or tail of the eye.
When you draw the tail crease, allow your lines to gradually become lighter instead of having a hard edge.
Finally, draw a set of curves to form the eyelids.
Step 5: Draw the Shape for Each Eyebrow
Use my shadow-lining technique to draw a set of eyebrows. I like to draw the eyebrows just above the circles and slightly wider than each eye. In the video, I show you a technique to make the eyebrows match as well as where to draw the arc.
We’ll detail the eyebrows later. Let’s move on to the next step!
Step 6: Shading
Before you shade, make sure the guidelines you drew from step 1-3 are only slightly visible. You can use your kneaded eraser to roll a layer of graphite off those areas.
Let’s start by shading the top eyelids. Use the side of your pencil to shade a shape similar to an almond. The circle around each eye can help you see if your shading on the right eye is similar to the left eye.
If you want to draw details like dark under eye circles, you can use the circles as a guide. Watch the video for an example.
Step 7: Shade the Rest of the Face
Shade the rest of the face. You can use these two tutorials to learn more about shading:
Step 8: Draw the Eyebrows
Here, I switched to my 4B 0.5mm lead. Starting at the lower part of each eyebrow, draw upward strokes. Make sure to lift your pencil up at the end of every stroke to make the hairs look more realistic. For a super detailed tutorial on this, check out this tutorial.
At the upper portion of each eyebrow, draw downward strokes. Add some hairs going down the middle if it still looks bare.
This step is very subtle, but also very important. Use an HB pencil to shade directly underneath each eyebrow. Make sure the transition is gradual. Now the eyebrows look like they belong, instead of just pasted onto the skin.
Step 9: Add Wrinkles to Eyelids
This step is optional… but it’s super fun, so why not do it too?
Unless you’re drawing this on a large scale, avoid using a blending stump because the tip will not be thin enough for this job. Instead, use an H and HB pencil to create a nice gradient along each wrinkle.
Step 10: Draw the Eyelashes
If you want to be really careful, draw the eyelashes lightly with an H or HB pencil to start. Once you’re okay with the placement, curvature and length, etc… go over it with a darker pencil like a 4B. Here, I used a 0.5mm 4B lead.
It’s okay that some eyelashes touch. It’s actually more natural looking when they form triangle shapes or even cross over each other.
This is the first time I’ve done a written tutorial + video tutorial and I want to know what you guys think! Do you like videos in accompaniment to my usual stuff? Does it clear things up for you or would you rather see the video tutorial done another way?
Your feedback is always appreciated and will help me improve upon the tutorials further :)
I’m going to work on creating videos for past tutorials as well. So if you haven’t subscribed to me on YouTube, click here. Youtube won’t notify you when I post new videos unless you hit the bell icon beside the subscribe button as well, so don’t forget to click that too.
Thanks guys!
You are just an amazing tutor and detailed explanation just perfect for a beginner….wow thanks for your tutorials, it helps a lot.
I recently started sketching and your page has made my drawings look so much better! They look very realistic thanks to the step by step tutorial that you showed!
one of the best tutorials I’ve watched
Perfect illustration, it helped me especially the wrinkles, I’ve subscribed already.
Thanks! I’m glad it helped :)
I really liked your technique. Can I get a printed version of the Tutorials?
Hi Martha, all my tutorials can be downloaded near the top of the page. Just share to unlock. Thanks :)
Dear Irene,
I Really like the way you teach. I got very good lessons on drawing different parts of human faces (mainly eyes).
Hope I will I adopt the idea and make use of it when I practice.
Thank you
very easy & helpful Thankyou
I have done this tutorial and posted my results but I truly would like some feed back on my work. I really love these tutorials they are great, I just want to know the areas I need to pay more attention to, if you are still monitoring this site and oh how can I post more of the work I’ve done as well?
Thanks for trying the tutorial and posting your results on my facebook page :) I usually don’t give much feedback unless someone asks for it because some readers can be sensitive to constructive criticism. I can give some feedback on your work if you request for it on facebook or via email if you want to keep it private. If you have a goal that you’re working towards, I offer monthly mentorship. Check it out here: http://www.patreon.com/RapidFireArt.
I’m still monitoring the site and working on new tutorials, so you can always find me here unless I’m on vacation. You can post more of your work under corresponding posts on the RFA facebook page or via the contact page which you can find at the very bottom of the site.