Tutorial Tuesday: Drawing the Eye

A photo posted by Ian D Walker Art (@idwalkerart) on Mar 22, 2016 at 10:07am PDT

Drawing the eye is something really simple for you to do. But only after studying and learning the fundamentals. This means examining the shape of the eye, the planes, the way the light hits the eyeball, and lids etc...

What I like to do is draw the lifelike version of a thing. After doing that, then I go ahead and study more to learn the simplicity of what I'm drawing. I feel that once you do that, you can be more efficient as an artist. This is especially true when drawing at conventions in an artist alley. You don't have the time to learn to draw the eye and try to get it right. You have to be able to look at something, get the overall shape, and then just move in and go for it.

So in this weeks tutorial, I have a very simple process for drawing the eye. You can apply this process to any eye shape that you come across or study. Again, be very careful to still do observation of the planes of the eye, and the over all shape of the eye. This is very important to catch the likeness. Once you get it, then you will be able to draw and recall from memory the best way to apply the drawing.

Follow the diagram I have created above to draw the eye that I made above, and then continue from there. Nothing is a better substitute than drawing from life or photos to get and understand the real anatomy of the eye. DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS! That will screw you over in the end. Take your time, learn, then simplify. Thats all for this week. Until next week.

Leave your questions or comments below!

Ian W.

Motivational Monday Blog #1: Do you... in your artwork.

I am one of the biggest fans of constructive criticism. I believe it is something that will make us all better artists. However, we still need to be careful of where this comes from and take it with a grain of salt. When there are people that throw out unfounded, unproven or untested criticisms based on their limited knowledge of art simply because they believe "they have an 'eye' for art or what looks right' but have never created it or have had the experience going through the process, that is the criticism you need to ignore.

Run back to your studio and continue to make more of what you love to do. I have run into so many people that forget so often that art in and of itself is subjective. Not everyone is going to like it, and not everyone is going to appreciate it or understand it. One of the biggest mistakes I made as an artist was to NOT tell people what I loved to do. And that was create art. I think doing that stifled my creativity in a way, and it hasn't been until recently that I have embraced what I love to do and tell people that I draw without regard as to their thoughts or opinions on the matter.

As artists, what you need to remember is this. Create what you love to create. When you take constructive criticism, be sure to listen to your fellow peers, not armchair opinionated ignorant people who think they know what they are talking about. Even when it comes to taking advice from other artists, take it with a grain of salt, and whatever you think you can use, take it and apply that to your craft. If you walk away from advice and can take only one sentence of that information to make yourself a better artist, then understand that you got advice from a good source.

With that said my fellow artists, I hope this will motivate you and keep you going on your path to create for yourself and others that enjoy what you do. Talk to you all again soon. Have a wonderful day/night!


- Ian W.