Drawing the ear

The part of the ear we can see is the outer ear. This mostly comprises a fleshy tissue form on the side of the head, known as the pinna or the auricle, whose job is to collect sound. The auricle is what most people mean when they talk about the ‘ear’, and it’s the part we are interested in as artists.

The illustration below shows the placement of the ears on the head. They occupy the middle third of the face. The top of the ear typically lines up with the browline or eyebrow, and the bottom lines up with the base of the nose. In side view, the front edge of the ear sits on the halfway line of the head, directly behind the jaw.

The ear has a backward slant, which roughly matches the slant of the nose in profile. There is also a slant on the ear in other viewpoints, as illustrated below. In the top view, they parallel the slant of the skull, which is wider at the back. In the front and back views, they slant in parallel with the inward-sloping sides of the head.

They mostly sit quite close to the head, though of course some people’s ears buck the trend by sticking out a lot.

When the head tilts up or down, the placement of the ears is important in creating the impression of the tilt. When the head tilts downward, the ears rise high relative to the other features, and vice versa.

Structure

The auricle conducts to the auditory canal via the partly concealed ear hole (or ‘auditory meatus’) on the side of the skull.

Like any body part, ears are highly variable, but all share the same basic construction. The ear is often compared to a shell. It is made of a rumpled plate of cartilage with a fleshy lobe at the bottom. We’ll talk about its component parts first and then look at how to simplify them.

In the middle is a bowl called the concha that attaches the ear to the head.

The helix – meaning ‘spiral’ – is like a pipe or cylinder running along the outside edge. The helix curves over the top of the ear and back inside, almost in a circle, and transitions into the soft earlobe at the bottom.

Inside the helix is a Y-shaped form called the antihelix. The upper branch of this ‘Y’ is normally larger and softer than the lower one. The bottom of the antihelix connects to a bump called the antitragus, at about the same level that the helix merges with the earlobe.

The antitragus faces another bump called the tragus, the two facing each other across a notch in the bowl of the ear and helping to protect the earhole.

Unlike the rest of the ear, the lobe is made of fatty tissue, not cartilage. On some people it hangs entirely free from the rest of the head, in others it attaches fully along its inside edge, with other degrees of attachment between these extremes. 

This is a complicated structure, so we need to simplify it into forms we can grasp more easily. To begin, try thinking of the ear as a modified ellipse attached to the side of the head. It can be roughly divided into three, with the Y of the antihelix in the top, the bowl in the centre, and the lobe in bottom.

Three basic forms

To get to the next level we can think in terms of three main forms. The outer rim of the ear is a bit like a question mark (corresponding to the helix and lobe). For the inner convolutions, we can start off with a swooping letter Y (for the antihelix). Then we add a notch to complete the earhole: the bump on the left is the tragus, the foot of the Y becomes the antitragus.

Helped along by this technique, we can then soften the edges and introduce half-tones to make the ear we're drawing more organic and realistic.

Back view

As for the back view of the ear, we can simplify it as a squat cylinder attached to an S-curve. If we shift it round to a three-quarter view, we acquire a slight corner.

Tips on drawing the ear

Like any human feature, the ear is highly variable. Ears range from tiny and delicate to bulbous and heavy. When they take a regular pummelling they end up as the ‘cauliflower ears’ of boxers. They can lie tight to the head or project outward, the bowl can be deep or shallow, etc. When we use our ‘three basic forms’ to construct an ear, we can of course vary the elements, to create any sort of ear we need:

A common mistake when drawing the ear is to draw the helix continuing into the tragus. In fact it curls past the tragus into the bowl of the concha.

The helix is basically a snaking cylindrical form, so we shade it the same way we would shade a cylinder, staying aware that the light and shadow shift as it turns direction. At the top, the helix casts a shadow on the branches of the antihelix, and it sinks itself into shadow as it enters the bowl of the concha.

Owing to its bowl-shape and the ridges that surround it, the concha is usually the darkest area of the ear.

How to paint the ear

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint realistic ears, from three angles: front, three-quarter and side. 

1. Canvas

Start with a new canvas. Since there are three ears and we want them to stand out individually, let’s begin with a neutral colour as a base and paint the flesh tones on extra layers on top.

2. Sketch

Sketch the ear on a new layer. Remember it is slanted. Broadly define the height and width, then mark out the three main forms: the question mark, letter Y and notch.

Keep checking your sketch against the source to make sure you’re getting the relationships right.

3. Colour blocking

On a new layer below the sketch, block in the main regions with basic colours. Try to use a range of colours, rather than just lighter and darker versions of your base flesh colour – here I’ve added a couple of browns and reds. Decide upon your light source and mark out the major lights and darks.

In my example, the light is coming from above, so the top of the helix is lighter, and I’ve added highlights to the tragus and antitragus. Note the shadow cast by the helix upon the antihelix, and by the lobe upon the flesh beneath.

You can drop your sketch layer around this stage: either deleting it or leaving it in and painting over it.

4. Shading

Now build up the details. Stay aware of the minor planes as you refine the forms by adding subtle shifts in tone and reflected light. 

Eat into the highlights so they don’t look too crude and shiny. These depend of course upon your light source.

5. Final details

To finish off, and without overdoing them, touch up your highlights and darks. Make sure you are happy with the amount of contrast across the whole picture and adjust your values.

Add some texture on a new layer at low opacity: dabble with a speckled brush, or scribble freely with a very small normal brush. Smudge it a bit to avoid any too-obvious dots – then duplicate the layer, darken it and shift it sideways a bit to increase the sense of texture. Try to observe and paint some of the larger specks and bumps that give the skin its texture.

The ear can be hairy so consider a few hairs around the earhole region.

My finished ear studies. Click to enlarge.

Here are a few studies I did myself:

Drawing the nose

The nose is a protruding structure of cartilage and fat built upon the bones of the face. Noses come in many shapes and sizes, and when they are prominent they get noticed very quickly. But people get less excited about the nose than the eyes, because it is much less important to communicating emotion and facial expressions. The nose tip is more mobile than the rest, contributing to expressions such as sneering, but even then it’s not really the nose we pay most attention to. This makes the nose less intimidating to draw. On the other hand, it is more complex than we might think, and we still need to understand its parts if we are to draw it convincingly.

Structure

To make the nose easier to understand and draw, we can conceive it at the most basic level as a block with four major planes – front, sides and bottom – forming a long wedge on the front of the face.

Simplifying the structure makes it easier to grasp its relationship with the rest of the head, and how light and perspective affect the form. Solve these big questions first, and you’ll find it much easier to get the details right.

The wedge is narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. It is joined to the forehead by another small wedge-shaped form, like a keystone, representing the glabella on the skull. (This is the focus of the cross we drew on the divided ball and plane.)

The upper part of the nose has simpler planes than the lower and feels harder to the touch, because it is supported by the nasal bone. The nasal bone influences the general shape of the nose – when it’s prominent for example it creates an aquiline or Roman nose. A fracture of these bones gives the broken, wonky nose familiar in boxers or rugby players.

The lower half of the nose is made of a stiff tissue called cartilage – the only bone support is the slight spur of the nasal spine at the bottom of the nasal cavity. The cartilage is flexible enough to respond to the facial muscles, making the lower nose a bit more mobile and expressive.

Bridge

You will sometimes hear the entire front plane of the nose referred to as the ‘bridge’, but really it’s the upper, bony part of the nose. It is defined by the nasal bone and the top corner of the maxilla, which sweeps down into the cheeks by the rim of the orbit.

You can sometimes spot the end of the bridge by a slight bump or change of direction on the nose (right), which marks the transition from bone to cartilage.

The lower nose

The lower half of the nose is more complex. Structurally, it is made of several extra forms built onto the basic block: the ball of the nose, the septum and the wings. To draw this, we need to develop the ‘wedge’ conception a bit further.

The block is not really a straight column but more of an oval, with a bulge in the middle. This is more obvious in males.

The ball is like a bowl added to the front of the block – it’s the part most extended from the face, and often catches a highlight.

The septum is a ridge of cartilage that forms a dividing wall between the nostrils, and connects the nose to the upper lip. (It is a popular place for nose piercings.)

The nostrils are openings that allow us to breathe and smell, which extend partly into the underside of the septum. Think of the wings as two spheres on either side of the ball of the nose, and shade the area accordingly, with the septum added underneath:

You can adjust the width and spacing of these parts to draw different shapes of nose:

Always remember that tools like these are only rules of thumb, and you can be flexible about them. Other artists use different techniques to help them grasp the form. Use whatever method works for you.

Try to observe the smaller planes, whose tonal shifts will help clarify the shape of the nose:

Just a word on schemas like I’m introducing here. It is normal and useful for artists to have a mental model of how things are structured. However this has dangers. Firstly you may end up reproducing the same nose blindly, always including for example a bump on the nose even though one isn’t visible on everybody. Secondly if you become comfortable with a particular cliché you can lose sight of what real noses look like. There is no substitute for observing real noses in all their diversity.

Cartilage

The lower nose is made of several pieces of cartilage and fat, but the artist need only think in terms of five. Two form the tip, two form the nostrils and a fifth separates the nostrils. Knowing a little about them helps you understand where all these forms and planes come from.

The lateral cartilage flows from the bridge and wedges between the two halves of the greater alar cartilage or ball of the nose. Take another look at the illustration of the bump on the nose: further down there is another change of direction where the lateral cartilage meets the cartilage of the tip. Though the greater alar cartridge is in two parts, the divide is only occasionally visible as in this photo of Johnny Cash:

The nostrils are made of alar fat, not cartilage, which is why they are more soft and fleshy.

Between the nose and the lips is a distinctive vertical groove called the philtrum. We’ll look at this more when we study the mouth.

Tips on drawing the nose

We think of people having long or short noses, but proportionally, i.e. from browline to noseline, most noses are much the same length. A decisive difference lies in the angle of the nose – a nose that turns up will look shorter than one that doesn’t.

To draw a nose well we need to observe the plane changes across its whole form. There is often a slightly darker tone at the ‘keystone’ where the glabella turns down at a slightly different angle to the forehead, then the tone lightens as the bridge of the nose turns up again.

We refer to the ‘ball’ of the nose for simplicity, but this form isn’t really a sphere. It has top, front and bottom planes, as well as a short side plane that is distinct from the wings. The real variety in human noses is found in the cartilaginous parts, not the bones. The nose can be more or less long or short, narrow or wide, pointed or bulbous, drooping or snub, etc.

Types of nose

These types don’t only affect the profile – from the front, you will see more of the nostrils on an up-turned nose than you will on a nose where the tip droops.

The wings too vary enormously. Remember to allow some thickness to the wing, and note that the nostrils face downwards, not sideways. The front of the face curves outward, so they attach further back than the septum. The nostrils curve in towards the septum without quite reaching it, creating a hole resembling not a proper oval, more a comma on its side. This hole has a sharper edge at the top, and a softer edge at the bottom where the recess fades out. Because the nostrils are on the bottom plane, and furthermore are recesses in that plane, they will be the darkest place on the nose.

Step by step: how to paint the nose

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint a realistic nose. We may repeat ourselves from the eye tutorial a little, but I’d like this to be able to stand alone. We’re going to do noses from three angles: front, side and three-quarter. 

1. Canvas

Start with a new canvas. For the eye tutorial, we picked a background colour that resembled the flesh colour of the subject. This time, since there are three noses and we want them to stand out individually, let’s begin with a neutral colour as a base and paint the flesh tones on extra layers on top.

2. Sketch the nose

Sketch the nose on a new layer. Analyse the most basic forms first. Define the height, then mark the front and side planes, the ball and wings, and note the wedge of the glabella. Indicate some of the smaller plane changes, such as the ball of the nose, and maybe some anatomical pointers such as cartilage forms if the nose you’re drawing suggests them. Indicate the forms of the wings and nostrils.

This example is a nose study only, but when you paint a portrait you should check the placement on the face and that the nose is in a correct relationship with all the other features.

In this example I’ve sketched in the eyes and brows for context, but we won’t be painting those in detail.

3. Colour blocking

On a new layer below the sketch, block in the main regions with basic colours. Decide upon your light source and mark out the major lights and darks.

In my example, the light is coming from the top left, so the left plane of the nose is lighter. There is a highlight on the left edge of the front plane, and shadow areas under the brow, on the right and particularly on the bottom plane. I’ve indicated a cast shadow.

You can drop your sketch layer around this stage: either deleting it or leaving it in and painting over it.

4. Work on the colours

The use of additional colours is really important to creating a lively, realistic painting. Use a more saturated colour for the shadows. Bear in mind the tip of the nose is usually redder. I have added touches of blue to the eyes, and purple to the nose tip, along with other touches of yellow and red.

Strictly this is not a distinct stage of the painting – it is best to look to include various colours from the outset as an organic part of the process.

5. Shading

Now build up the details and forms. Stay aware of the minor planes as you add subtle shifts in tone and reflected light.

Refine the forms by adding subtle, mid-range tones. On the nostrils, the top edge of the opening tends to be relatively sharper than the bottom edge, but this is a soft, shadowy area so maybe avoid defining it too precisely.

Work away at the highlight on the ball of the nose so it doesn’t look too crude and shiny. Create a nice soft transition between the slightly darker tone of the downturned glabella and the bridge of the nose. Use a bit of darker tone to emphasise the change of plane between the side plane of the nose and the wing. Add some proper highlights. These depend of course upon your light source. You will usually see a highlight on the nose tip, down the bridge of the nose, and on the wings.

6. Final details

Work over your painting another time, checking you are happy with the relationship of lights and darks. For example, you may feel the darks need to be a bit darker, the lights a bit lighter. Check too the relationship between hard and soft. Sharpening a few edges like the nostrils will help your nose stand out; in areas of soft, curving flesh the transitions too should be soft.

As in the eye tutorial, it’s good to finish off by putting some thought into texture. Dabble the image with a speckled brush, and then use several layers, perhaps set to Overlay, to build it up as you want.

My finished nose studies. Click to enlarge.

What to do

That’s pretty much everything I have to say about drawing and painting noses, except for variation by age, sex and ethnicity – topics which I will probably consider separately.

What to do next is obvious: draw lots of noses. It’s great to have schemas and methods like we’ve discussed here, but nothing beats finding pictures of noses, or looking at your own in the mirror, and drawing what you see.

If there are things you struggle with – the precise relationship between nostrils and septum is a likely candidate – then make a point of studying and drawing them until they are no longer problems.

Here are some studies that I did.

Drawing the eye

Our eyes are arguably our most captivating features: they’re what we concentrate on when we talk to each other, and they give away what we are looking at and even what we’re thinking. From the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus to Picasso’s weeping women, the eye has long been a powerful symbol. Because of this, it is often drawn too big – beginners do this by mistake, and more experienced artists do it on purpose.

The best way to get started drawing the eye is not to approach it with awe as a mysterious window on the soul, but to construct it as a collection of forms, in the same way as you would draw a car or a house.

Structure

Humans are visual creatures, and the eye is an essential and fragile organ. Evolution has protected it by nestling it within the protective bone structure of the eye socket. It is protected above by a strong ridge at the base of the frontal bone. Underneath are the prominent cheekbones, and on the side there are the nasal bones. When drawing the eye, we begin by constructing this context accurately.

As with any other subject, we can simplify the structure to make it easier to grasp. In the illustration below, the brow ridge and forehead become a box with a slight backward tilt. The front of the box is the forehead and the bottom is the plane sloping toward the eye under the eyebrows. Beneath the eye we can imagine another box sloping to the cheekbone.

Note the space between the corner of the eye and the nose. In old people, the underlying bony forms begin to show more as the skin thins and loses its elasticity: the rim of the orbit and spherical form of the eyeball become more noticeable.

Note the eye does not fit straight into the side of the nose: there is a transitional plane between the eye socket and the nose. This plane goes down to the bottom or inside corner of the eye socket.

Eyeball

We tend to think of the eye as a coloured circle on an oval white background. In fact the eyeball itself is basically a sphere, swivelling within the cavity of the eye socket. We normally only see a portion of it, but though it sits under the eyelids we need to be conscious of it as a round object.

The eyeball has three parts. At the centre is a dark hole called the pupil, and around this is a coloured disc called the iris. Covering the front of the eyeball is a transparent layer, rather like a contact lens, called the cornea. The rest is the white of the eye (or sclera).

The eyeball is a round form, obeying the same rules of light as other objects, so although we don’t normally see the whole eyeball we do have to shade the part we can see. Because it is moist, the eye reflects light that strikes it, often leaving a bright highlight. The location of the highlight depends upon the direction of the light, so place it carefully. An eye that doesn’t have this glint can look dead, so don't underestimate its importance.

Eyes normally come in pairs, so you need to coordinate them. Andrew Loomis says to think of the two eyeballs as working together on a stick, as illustrated above. As you turn the stick, you also turn the eyes.

When you’re drawing someone at an angle rather than straight on, the nearer eye of the two will be slightly larger because of perspective.

The sclera

Beginners often assume the white of the eye has to be painted literally white. This is a mistake. Take a look at a real eye in context, either in the mirror or in photos, and you will notice a range of colours. Not only must the round eyeball be shaded (where visible), you must carefully observe its true colour.

The sclera has a web of blood vessels on its surface. These can sometimes become swollen or dilated, making the eye look bloodshot, either because of a medical issue or because the person has been crying.

The iris, cornea, and pupil

The cornea, which helps to shield the eye and acts as its outermost lens, sits on the eyeball like a bowl, its transparency letting the iris and pupil show through clearly.

The iris controls the amount of light entering the eye by adjusting the size of the pupil. In an adult it fills about one-third the width of the eye opening and is usually partially hidden, except in certain expressions such as shock or surprise when the eye opening widens. How it looks will vary depending on the angle you see it from. Straight on, it is a round disc, but in all other views it will become an oval.

When we describe the colour of someone’s eyes, we are describing the pigmentation of the iris. The colour varies and is heavily influenced by ethnicity: the predominant colour is usually a shade of blue, brown or green. The iris is patterned with fine, irregular lines that radiate from the edge of the pupil.

There is often a dark ring around the edge of the iris known as the limbal ring, which separates the iris from the white of the eye. This ring is stronger in the young, and a strongly contrasting limbal ring is supposedly more attractive.

The pupil is a hole in the iris that allows light to strike the retina and is easily drawn, as a small black disc. The hole dilates (i.e. expands, enlarges) to let in more light, and contracts to let in less light, but its size is not only influenced by the lighting conditions. Pupil dilation also betrays mental and emotional states, such as sexual arousal or concentration on a difficult task. Note: we will often draw the pupil as if it is on the front surface of the eye, but strictly the pupil sits in the iris behind the bulge of the cornea.

Eyelids

The eye is protected by both an upper and a lower eyelid. These wrap around the eyeball, so instead of drawing them flat, draw them as three-dimensional, curving forms. The upper lid is the active one, moving up and down over the exposed area of the eye. The lower lid hardly moves.

The orange lines in the illustration above right call attention to the contours of the various forms of the eye. Note the eyelid has a thickness, which means we must draw the bottom plane of the top lid and the upper plane of the bottom lid. These will be lit according to the light source. Artists often like to place their light source above the subject, so usually the bottom plane of the top lid will be in shadow, the top plane of the lower lid in light.

When the eye is open the top lid folds inwards and we generally see a dark line of shadow, but it closes smooth.

Shape of the eyes

The opening between the eyelids is not straightforward, because it is asymmetrical and changes shape as the eye moves. It is not an oval, like beginners usually draw. The peak of the upper lid is toward the nose, while the peak of the bottom lid is toward the ear. This is more obvious in some people than others, and there’s no need to exaggerate it – just be aware of it.

The inner and outer corners of the eye are not identical. At the inner corner, the lids meet at a triangle of pink membrane called the lacrimal caruncle. It’s less of a mouthful if we refer to this area as the tear duct, which also occupies the triangle. From that point the upper lid rises at a sharpish angle to curve over the eyeball and sweep down towards the cheek at the outer corner, where it overhangs the lower lid. The lower lid curves more gently from the inner corner until turning more sharply upwards towards the outer corner.

In side view, the opening resembles a triangle between the lids, and the tear duct is hidden behind the eyeball. 

Another complication is that, thanks to the convex form of the cornea, the eyeball is not literally a sphere. This means that as the eyes move, they bulge the eyelids out into slightly different forms, as illustrated below.

Eyelashes

Both upper and lower eyelids are protected by a fringe of lashes, sensitive to touch. They grow from the eyelids, not from the eyeball! The eyelashes are uneven in length, direction and spacing, which makes them tricky.

They are thicker at the base and become thinner and lighter towards the tips, with a marked curl upward (upper eyelid) or downward (lower eyelid). The ones on the bottom eyelid are quite a lot shorter, and there are fewer of them. Lashes closer to the nose tend to be longer, lashes closer to the ears tend to be shorter. They sweep forwards, not sideways. Women’s lashes tend to be more long and elegant than men’s.

Unless you are keen to draw every individual lash, the most practical approach is to simplify them. The lashes tend to merge with the shadow under the upper eyelid to form a dark line. Then, rather than lots of individual hairs, do them as blurry, simple shapes, a bit heavier at the base. Don’t draw them with identical length, direction and spacing, as this looks fake.

Eyebrows

The brow ridge is a bony prominence that helps protect the eye, and the eyebrows grow on this ridge. They are heavier on the inside and get lighter and thinner towards the ear. Men’s eyebrows tend to be thicker, lower and straighter; women’s tend to be thinner and more arched.

Note the direction of the hairs. They sweep back and outwards. Some hairs start from below and sweep up, others start from above and sweep down.

It is common for women to style their eyebrows to some extent by plucking and applying makeup – men’s eyebrows are usually much more natural. Some women remove their natural hairs and draw on entirely new eyebrows using makeup. When done to an extreme this can look unashamedly artificial.

Step by step: how to paint the eyes

To round off this post, here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint a realistic eye. It is written from the perspective of a digital artist painting in Photoshop, but the process should be useful to artists working in other media. It is a realist treatment but not a hyper-realist one.

There are lots of similar tutorials out there, so if you find a different process that works for you, that’s fine too.

1. Canvas

Start with a new canvas and pick a background colour that resembles the flesh colour of your subject. This will act as a base for everything you paint on top.

2. Sketch the eye

On a new layer, sketch the eye and eyebrow. You can draw from imagination, or you may be using a reference – either a photo or a live sitter.

3. Colour blocking

On a new layer below the sketch, block in the main regions with basic colours. My subject is dark-skinned, and my eye is brown. It’s better to put the eyeball on a separate layer. Decide upon your light source and start to indicate the main forms.

Don’t make the sclera pure white. Depending on the light, it can look orange, brown, yellow, red, blue. A pale, greyish beige is good to start off. Pass over it lightly with the skin colour, because it gets reflected in the wet eye. If the eye is at an angle then the perspective will make the iris and pupil oval, but the eye in my painting is more or less straight on, so an easy method is to paint a single round brushstroke on a temporary layer, trim the top off it, then flatten the layer into the eyeball. Make the pupil round and black (though as a rule you should use pure white and black very sparingly). Add a pinkish colour for the tear duct.

To share some good advice from the beginning: rather than slapping on colour willy-nilly, try to make your brushstrokes follow the forms. Another good method is to add new painting to a temporary layer, so you can get it right, experiment with blending modes, etc before flattening it into the main layer. Personally I like to keep the number of layers to a practical minimum, to avoid confusion.

4. Shading

Build up the basic details and forms by adding some highlights and shadow areas, without overdoing the contrasts. Develop the iris by adding a lighter colour to the inside to bring out the limbal ring. The eyeball should be shaded like a sphere. The top of the eyeball, including the iris, will be a bit darker because of the shadow of the eyelid. Generally there is a pouchy area under the eyebrow (1), which overhangs the eyelid a bit. When the eyelid is open, it folds back a little and forms a dark crease (2) along the top. The rim of the orbit (3) sometimes stands out by the nose and inner corner of the eye.

Think of the planes, and remember the eyelids are not flat against the eye but have a thickness. I am using a light more or less central and from above: the planes facing the light, like the upper eyelid and top plane of the lower eyelid, will be lighter, and areas facing away from it will be darker. To help you visualise it, imagine contour lines running over the forms. 

Leave the sketch layer for now. We'll remove it when we no longer need it.

5. Work on the eyeball

Keep working on the iris: darken the limbal ring and introduce additional colours. It’s up to you whether it’s worth painting in the radial pattern or treating the colours more broadly. Leave its edge a bit blurry, as hard edges tend to look unnatural. Emphasise the lash line, i.e. the line along the top of the eyeball where the eyelash and eyelid shadow combine to create a dark edge.

Work up the lights and darks of the eye white, respecting the same light source as the rest of the picture, and maybe add some additional colours such as hints of blue or red, but don’t overwork it or you’ll risk making the eyeball look textured instead of shiny and smooth. Make the eyeball darker in the corners. Note that the eye becomes pinker at the edges, an effect created by the red blood vessels on the eye white. This pinkness will get stronger as you get into the corner. 

On a new layer add a highlight appropriate to the light source. The highlight can take various forms. It can be quite a complex, bright mini-image – the ‘classic’ is the four panes of a window – or you can render it more simply. Rather than just a hard, round white blob, maybe enliven it by breaking it up, dividing it into two or eating into it with areas of lower opacity. The lightest part of the iris will be opposite the highlight, as there is a slight concavity there to the eye. For added liveliness you may want to add a second, smaller highlight somewhere else... certainly if you have a second light source.

6. Work on the skin

Now let’s turn our attention to the surrounding skin. If you look at a real person you will see there are all sorts of colours there, not just a generic flesh tone. Looking at my own eyes, I can see greens and blues and reds in the surrounding skin, amongst the light (Caucasian) general tone. So try to subtly work in other colours – reds, purples, oranges, blues, greens, whatever seems to work. A subtle touch of red can bring out a bit of liveliness. For your shadows try using a slightly different, saturated colour, perhaps a bit more reddish, rather than just a darker version of the base colour. Similar advice applies for the lighter areas.

Keep re-assessing the lights and darks. Imagine you are sculpting the forms, bringing out their three-dimensionality. You will see a gentle highlight on the skin in the corner of the eye.

Your subject may be wearing eye makeup, though I haven’t included any here. Add makeup on a new layer. Rather than applying the colour flat, try to use the makeup to bring out the forms underneath, perhaps using a blending mode.

Once you’ve done all this you shouldn’t need the sketch layer any more. You can simply delete it or, if you like a more ‘painterly’ look, you can leave it there at reduced opacity, or flatten it into the skin and paint over it without worrying if it shows through. Trying to make everything perfect and smooth can make a painting look fake, as if the subject were a porcelain doll rather than a lively human being. (It’s a matter of taste, but personally I like to let my brushwork show and don’t advise overusing the Smudge tool.) You may find that removing the sketch reveals oversights in your painting: for example, perhaps the creases aren’t as defined as they should be once those guidelines are taken out. Rework a little, if so.

7. Paint the eyebrow

I will assume your subject has natural eyebrows. We have already blocked in the eyebrow but it is a series of hairs, not a solid shape. Smudge this a little to make it look natural, and use the colours of the surrounding skin to break it up.

It’s nice to use a speckled brush for the eyebrow. Otherwise you can just add single strokes. Rather than try to paint every individual hair, we start with a broad indication then work a bit of detail into it. Add some individual hairs at either end, where the eyebrow thins out and disappears.

8. Eyelashes

Create a new layer and paint the eyelashes. It is up to you how long, elegant and dramatic you make them, and whether you indicate them broadly with a rough, dark line, or paint the individual hairs. The lashes curve upwards and downwards, and taper towards the end – they shouldn’t look thick and dark at the tips. The ones on the bottom eyelid are shorter and fewer. If they don’t seem dense enough, try duplicating the layer and shifting it sideways to thicken things up, then after some erasing and smudging, flatten it into the original. Remember that lashes are a bit untidy – they aren’t equally spaced or equally long, and don’t all face the same way.

If the subject is wearing eye makeup, the lashes will look particularly thick and dark. Some beauty-conscious people even curl theirs with lash curlers, in which case they will be particularly curvy. Fake lashes will also look particularly dark and curvy, to a more or less extreme degree.

9. Add details

Emphasise the glossiness of the eye with a bright highlight on the tear duct and maybe some touches of white along the bottom edge of the eyeball to suggest wetness. The odd highlight between the lashes of the lower lid can help bring out a bit of moistness and texture.

If you look at human skin closely, it is not smooth like porcelain but has a rough texture created by pores. I don’t suggest you overdo this, but on a new layer at low opacity, dabble on some skin texture with a speckled brush, or scribble freely with a very small normal brush. Smudge it a bit to avoid any too-obvious dots – then duplicate the layer, darken it and shift it sideways a bit to increase the sense of texture. Try to observe and paint some of the larger specks and bumps that give the skin its texture.

Finally, look carefully over your lights and darks to make sure you are happy with the amount of contrast across the whole picture. For example, you may feel the darks need to be a bit darker, the lights a bit lighter. Maybe the crease above the upper eyelid needs to be emphasised more, or maybe some of the edges are too sharp and need softening or smudging.

My finished eye painting.

What to do

That’s pretty much everything I have to say about drawing and painting eyes, though they may come up again if we look at ethnic variations some day. I’m aware we haven’t discussed facial expression. This is a fundamental part of your painting that can dramatically affect the forms taken by the features, and relates to the emotional impact of the image. However, I think facial expression is a topic in itself, and you need to study it not through isolated features but in the context of the whole face.

What you do next should be obvious: draw lots of eyes. Hundreds of them, single and in pairs. Look at your own in the mirror, find photos online, and irritate your friends by staring at theirs!

Below are a few studies I did.