Drawing An Eye

Materials and Tools

• Pencil/drawing tools
• Paper
• Mirror

Activities

A portrait is a drawing that an artist makes of another person. Everyone is different, and artists draw portraits to learn how to draw people and their unique features accurately!

A self-portrait is a drawing an artist makes of themselves, either by using a mirror or a photo of themself. Drawing a self-portrait is a great way for artists to practice drawing people without needing another person.

Today, you will focus on the eyes. What are the shapes of an eye? How do you draw them?

If you look at this photo, you will see that the shape of the eye is not a circle or a dot, but more like an oval.

However, there’s a lot more to drawing eyes than just an oval. Let’s take a closer look.

To start, draw a curved line. If you need help you can very lightly draw a circle and then erase 2/3 of it, leaving just the top 1/3.

Now, add the lower part of the eye by drawing the same line upside down but a little more flattened.

To draw the center of the eye, look at yourself in the mirror and notice that there is a circle. That circle is called the iris.

We don’t usually see the entire iris because part of it is hidden by the top part of the eye. So draw your circle or iris in the center but make sure the top of it is covered/cut off.

You may have also noticed that there is another circle inside the iris that’s smaller. This circle is called the pupil. Draw this circle in the center of the iris.

A lot of people also have a crease or curved line above their eye. This is called the eyelid. Add the eyelid by drawing a curved line slightly above the eye.

Now, it’s time to add the eyelashes. You can draw them by adding a lot of lines right next to each other, coming from the top of the eye. The lines can be long or short, straight or curvy, and overlap or not overlap.

You can also add the bottom eyelashes by doing the same thing. Here, draw the eyelash lines come downwards from the bottom of the eye. Usually, bottom eyelashes are shorter than top eyelashes.

Finally, it’s time to draw the eyebrow! Everyone has different eyebrows, too. Eyebrows can be thin, thick, or somewhere in-between, and their shape can be arched, straight, or somewhere in-between.

You can draw eyebrows by drawing a bunch of small lines that overlap and form a curve.

Now that you know how to make the basic shape of an eye, you can start drawing other people’s eyes and noticing the differences.

See how many different types of eyes you can draw!

Vocabulary

Portrait

Self-Portrait

Iris

Pupil

Eyelid

Eyelashes

Eyebrow

Credits

​Lesson by Dolores Zorreguieta, written by Gino Palacios

Studio in a School NYC Team
Andrea Burgay, Associate Director
Julie Applebaum, Senior Director
Hasna Muhammad, Ed.D., Chair, Board of Directors, Studio in a School Association
Alison Scott-Williams, President, Studio in a School NYC

Copyright © 2023 Studio in a School NYC LLC

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