How to Draw Anime Eyes Like A Pro

SoIn this tutorial, you will learn how to draw anime eyes, as well as how to draw different anime eye styles, how to color, and how to draw anime eye expressions.

You can also follow this step-by-step video tutorial :  *The video is in Spanish

 

 

Index

1. 1. Basic Eye Study
   2. Real Eyes vs Anime Eyes: Proportions
   3. Style and Shape Variations
   4. Grayscale, Shading and Highlights
   5. Coloring Anime Eyes
   6. Anime Eye Expressions
   7. Final Illustration of the Character

 

 

1. Basic Eye Study

it is essential to learn the basic shape of real eyes before you start drawing anime eyes. This will make the stylization process much easier.

 

 

 

2. Realistic Eyes vs Anime Eyes: Proportions

Have a look at the image below to see the difference between real eye proportions and anime-style proportions:

 

As you can see, the eyes in the anime style (right) tend to be much bigger and have a more exaggerated shape than the eyes in the realistic style (left). Because the eyes dominate most of the face, you can experiment with various types of eye shapes and styles, coloring and adding a lot of details.

 

3. Style and Shape Variations

When it comes to drawing anime eyes, the styles are limitless. So it’s important that you think about what kind of eyes you want to give your character before anything else.

 

Thinking in shapes is the best way to approach drawing anime eyes.

 

Here are few examples of how shapes affect the overall look of anime eyes;
Circular or Oval : A more innocent, cuter look
Rhombus or Triangular : Sharper, cat-like look
Rectangular : A more stern, serious look

 

Experiment with shapes until you discover the one that best fits your character!

 

4. Grayscale, Shading and Highlights

Before we get to coloring, let’s use the grayscale to practice highlights and shading of anime eyes.

Steps 1 and 2 : Roughly outline and sketch the shape of the pupil and the highlights of the eye. Use your sketch line as a guide to help you figure out where to place the highlighted and shaded tones.

Step 3 : Apply a neutral gray color as a base.

*Quick tip: make the pupil area a little darker than the rest of the eye.
Step 4 : Add darker gray to create depth on the upper part of the eye. That’s where the eyelid casts shadows on the eyes. Also add a lighter gray at the bottom and inside the pupil to create contrast with the shaded area.
Steps 5 and 6 : Define and enhance the gray tones, shaded, and highlighted areas. Add textures for extra details!
Step 7 : Brush up and render. Add shadows around the crease and under the eye if you’d like.

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, you can add a lot of details when drawing anime eyes, so you can customize the amount of highlights and shading you want for your anime eyes.
You can also watch the details of this process in the video linked at the beginning of this tutorial article.

 

5. Coloring Anime Eyes

There are many different ways to color anime eyes. But I’ll show you a way that will make the coloring process much easier and quicker, by using the grayscales from the previous step.

In Clip Studio Paint, the software I’m using, the blending modes are located on the right side of the window, on the “Layer” tab. Although the default mode is set to “Normal”, there are multiple blending modes to choose from. Blending modes are your best friend when using the grayscale coloring method.

 

 

 

 

 

Keep in mind that you can use any blending mode you like during the coloring process.

Let’s get onto coloring!

Step 1: Have your greyscale anime eyes ready.
Step 2: Choose any color you like. (I chose purple for this example, and used Overlay)
Step 3: Pick different shades or tones of the color you picked to add more depth to the base color.
Step 4: Add some ‘accent colors.’ It can be any color that you feel mixes well with the base color you chose. (I chose yellow with Vivid Light and blue and pink with Pin Light)
Step 5 and 6 : Emphasize the highlighted and shaded area of the eye by using lighter and darker colors. Blend out and render the highlights, shadows, and colors a bit more to your liking.
Step 7: Add final details and textures, and you’re done!

 

 

 

 

The key to mastering grayscale coloring is knowing where you want to place the grey gradients, the darker areas, and the highlights. Try out different colors and see which ones are best for your drawing of anime eyes!

 

6. Anime Eye Expressions

Eyes are one of the most important features to express emotions and personalities. Take a close look below to see how to draw expressive anime eyes.

 

 

 

Let’s break down what emotion some of these eyes are conveying here.

2. With eyebrows and a closed eye shape arched, you can see that the character is happy.
3. Pupils are narrowed, and the brows are furrowed, covering parts of the eyelids. That shows anger.
5. By reducing highlights and increasing the shade in the eyes, you can show that the character is feeling hopeless (literally, having the light in their eyes taken away).
9. This character is in absolute shock or fear – The vertical lines around the eyes and eyebrows create the illusion of having the face turn “blue.” And the constricted iris leaves the majority of the eyes blank, creating intensity in how this character is feeling.

 

Do you notice a pattern?  Changing the eyebrow shape and iris size, and having tears, sweat, and shadows around the eyes come into play when drawing expressions. To draw expressive anime eyes, it’s important to get creative with iris size and eyebrow shapes and add your own extra flair to convey the emotion that the character is feeling.

 

7. Final Illustration of the Character

Here is a drawing of an anime girl with, of course, anime eyes.

 

 

You can see how the eyes play a huge role in breathing life into your character. When drawing anime eyes, the most important thing is to make sure that the eye shape, eye color, and eye expression create harmony with the rest of the character’s looks. And that’s how you can draw anime eyes and characters that stand out.

 

 

Interested in character art & design or what it takes to become a character designer?
Check out the link below!