Easy Eye Drawing Tutorial for Beginners
Let's Take this Eye Drawing Tutorial Step-by-Step
If you’re just getting into drawing and want to try something expressive but simple, this eye drawing tutorial for beginners is the perfect place to start. It’s also the very first drawing guide on my blog, so I’m especially glad you’re here!
Eyes are a favorite subject for many artists (myself included). They’re simple but complex, and with just a subtle change, they can shift the mood or emotion in an instant. Eyes are also beautiful, interesting, and so much fun to draw and paint. While they may seem complicated to create, I hope this tutorial shows you that it's actually easier than you might think.
To help you draw your first eye, I’ve broken things down into easy, step-by-step instructions and will focus only on one perspective: the frontal view of the right eye. Yes, there are many other angles—but don’t worry, those tutorials will pop up in future posts. A full video tutorial will be added to the end of this post soon, if not already.
Drawing eyes is easy once you get the basics down and make time to practice. As you're following along, remember to have fun and take your time. Don’t push yourself to be perfect—perfection isn’t the goal, and aiming for it right away can lead to frustration. Just enjoy the process.
Follow this eye drawing tutorial and get familiar with the steps through practice and repetition. As you do, keep in mind that there isn’t just one way to draw eyes—you might find yourself experimenting with different methods and developing your own style. I usually start with the eyelids first, but here I’m beginning with the underlying structure—the eyeball—because I think it helps you visualize the form better.
Learn how to draw lips once you’ve master this eye drawing tutorial! So, are you ready to learn how to draw eyes? Grab your paper and pencil, and let’s get started!
The Eyeball
Start by drawing a circle. Find the center and draw two more circles for the iris and pupil.
The Eyelids
Next, let's add the eyelids. First, find the eye corners by drawing guidelines from the center to the outer circle.
Draw the first guideline slanted slightly downward. This marks the inner corner of your eye.
Draw the second guideline on the opposite side and keep it level to the iris.
Where your light source is will determine where your highlights end up. Let's keep things simple... for this eye drawing tutorial, the light source will be at the top left, so draw a small circle off to the top left of the iris.
The Lower Eyelid
To create the inner corner of the eye, draw a small round triangle as you see below. Then add the lower eyelid by drawing a line from the bottom of the eye corner to the bottom of the iris, then curve up towards the outer corner.
To make the eye more realistic the lower eyelid needs to have a bit of thickness. Simply add a similar line below the lower eyelid.
The Upper Eyelid
Next, draw a curved line from the inner corner of the eye to just below the top of the iris, then down to the outer corner. If you draw this arch above the iris you're eye will looks as if surprised or scared.
Follow your arched line to draw the upper eyelid. The next section of this eye drawing tutorial will focus on shading.
Shading the Iris
Next, erase the guidelines and the outer circle then darken the upper eyelid along the edge to give it a little shadow. Also shade in the inner corner of the eye and leave a small light area as a highlight.
Since the light is coming from above, the eyelid will cast a shadow on the upper iris. Shade the upper part of the iris and remember to leave the highlight.
Lightly shade in the rest of the iris as though rays are coming from the pupil to emulate the striations you see in your own eyes.
4. Let’s push the depth of the iris a bit further. Shade it in again by blending a second layer into the darker upper area and working all the way around. To make it look more realistic, add a bit of reflective light to the iris. Since the light source is coming from the upper left through the eye lens, the reflective light will appear on the opposite side of the iris, making that area lighter than the rest.
Shading the Eyeball
Shade the white of the eyes in lightly. Since the eyeball is round also add a bit of shading to the the corners to reflect that shape and give it dimension.
Then just as we did with the iris, shade the white of the eyes just below the upper lid where a shadow would be cast.
Shading the Eyelids
Upper Eyelid
Starting with the upper eyelid, darken the fold and shade above it.
Leave a section on the eyelid for the highlight and shade both sides of the upper eyelid.
Shade along the side of the nose near the inner eye.
Lower Eyelid and Lashes
Shade in the lower eyelid starting along the outer edge and leave a small area near the center light.
Add a few eyelashes along the outer edge of the lower eyelid. To make them look natural, keep them somewhat sparce and short. Vary the length a bit and allow some of the lashes to touch each other.
The upper eyelashes can be longer and a bit more dramatic. Try to sweep them up with a slight curve. Again, vary the length a bit and allow some to touch each other. The upper lashes look best when drawn a bit thicker than the lower lashes.
The Eyebrows and Additional Shading
The eyebrow should be wider than the eye and to determine where to place it, use diagonal lines from the corners of the eyes to find the width.
Imagine the eyebrow shape as an upside-down check mark with the tapered end on the outside. Lightly draw and shade it in. We'll tackle how to draw the eyebrow shortly. Then shade between the eye and eyebrow near the nose. Blend it into the shading along the nose.
Then add more shading above the upper right side of the eye, and between the eye and outer eyebrow.
To draw in the eyebrow, divide it into two sections like I did below. The direction your eyebrow hairs follow is similar to an ocean wave where the water comes up and as you move down it starts to curve over on top and then down.
In section 1, the har will curve up and to the right, and further lean to the right as it reaches the tapered end. The hair will also be shorter.
The hairs in section 2 are similar to the top of the wave which starts to come down. The hair will also be short.
When you complete your eye drawing go back an add any additional details if needed such as highlights, or more shading. How did your eye pencil drawing turn out?
Drawing Tips
I hope you found this pencl eye drawing tutorial helpful and that you'll continue to practice your drawing skills and improve each time to you do. Here are a few helpful tips to improve your drawing skills:
Practice drawing with reference photos. No two eyes are alike and while the steps we took here will help you with your eye drawings, using refereces will help you identify these little differences and find patterns that come with little nuances such as perspective, lighting, and even the position of the eyeball below the skin. I put together a Pinterest board where you can find eye references to practice from.
Pay attention to the light source which will change the way you shade your eyes.
Practice drawing lines, circles, arches, and hatch marks. They don't have to be perfect but practicing will help you get closer to it. It's about repetition and hand movement which creates muscle memory. Just a few minutes a day is all you really need.
Practice applying different pressure to your pencil by shading a rectangle using light pressure. Then gradually apply more pressure as you work your way across the paper. This is a good way to gain better control of your marks and shading technique.
Invest in a sketchbook so you can journal your progess in one place, and never throw them out. It'll be fun to go back and see how far you've come.
How to Draw Eyes: Eye Drawing Tutorial Video
More art tutorials are on the way and you'll be able to find them here as soon as they're available.
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