{"id":1973,"date":"2016-03-23T07:16:19","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T11:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:10:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:10:31","slug":"how-to-draw-eyes-from-the-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/2016\/03\/23\/how-to-draw-eyes-from-the-side\/","title":{"rendered":"How to draw eyes from the side – 10 steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"drawingIn my last tutorial I mentioned that I would make a detailed post on drawing eyes from the side. I said that I would post it in a few days… However, I didn’t expect it to take more than two\u00a0weeks! This is what happens when I procrastinate. But hey, I did manage to pump out two tutorials this month :) Not bad eh? If you landed on this page first, you may want to check out my previous tutorial<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on drawing faces from the side.<\/p>\n

Tools I used:<\/strong>
\nDerwent Graphic<\/a> Pencils – HB, 4B, 6B (H pencil is optional)
\n0.5mm Mechanical Pencils – HB and 4B
\nBlending\u00a0Stump<\/a>
\nCanson Sketch Paper (I really need to get myself more bristol paper<\/a>. This sketch paper was quite difficult to work with)
\nPrismacolor Kneaded Eraser<\/a><\/p>\n

Step 1: Draw an eyeball shape<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Use your HB pencil to draw a circle\u00a0with a small\u00a0bump (cornea) on one side.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Draw a triangle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Starting from roughly the center of the eyeball, draw an obtuse triangle. Make sure the cornea fits inside this triangle.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Add iris and pupil outlines<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Draw a curved line to connect the top and bottom parts of the cornea to form the iris. Add a thin oval inside the iris\u00a0to form the\u00a0pupil.<\/p>\n

Step 4: Draw the eyelids<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Erase everything outside of the triangle as well as the triangle’s right side. Give the remaining sides of the triangle a more natural contour. Then draw the upper and lower eyelids.<\/p>\n

Step 5: Add a highlight\/reflection<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Using your HB mechanical<\/strong> pencil, draw an outline of the glare in the eyeball. This can be any shape and size you want. Keep this area as clean as possible.<\/p>\n

Step 6: Shade the pupil<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Shade the pupil using a 6B pencil.<\/p>\n

Step 7: Draw spokes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Use a dirty blending stump to shade the iris, making sure not to smudge the pupil. Grab your\u00a0HB mechanical<\/strong> pencil to draw spokes in the iris. Start from the center of the pupil and work your way out so the starting point of each ray remains consistent.<\/p>\n

You can curve the base of each spoke to add more depth.<\/p>\n

Go over some of your spokes again with a 4B mechanical pencil, draw a wave-like pattern around the pupil, and\/or add small slits randomly in between some of the spokes.<\/p>\n

Step 8:\u00a0<\/strong>Shade<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Use\u00a0a\u00a0blunt HB pencil to shade the\u00a0white area of the eyeball. Depending on where your light source is coming from, you can draw some\u00a0cast shadows from the upper or lower eyelids.\u00a0You can add some subtle veins using a sharp H pencil. Then, soften your shading with a tissue.<\/p>\n

Use a\u00a04B pencil to shade the upper and\/or lower parts of the iris to add more depth.<\/p>\n

Follow up by using a blunt HB pencil to shade\u00a0the skin around the eye in light circular motions. Use a tissue to blend the skin.\u00a0When shading around the cornea, use a mechanical pencil to keep your drawing as sharp as possible.<\/p>\n

You can make the fold of the upper eyelid\u00a0deeper by going over it with a 6B pencil.<\/p>\n

Click here to learn how to shade!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 9: Add the e<\/strong>yelashes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Use your sharpened 6B pencil to draw the eyelashes starting from the root of each hair. Press and flick your strokes to make the roots thick and the ends nice and thin. You may need to sharpen your pencil every 2 or 3 lashes. For lashes that are close to the corner of the eye, use an HB pencil to draw them in lightly.<\/p>\n

Click here for an in depth tutorial on how to draw eyelashes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 10: Fill in the eyebrows<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"drawing<\/p>\n

Draw the eyebrow using a mechanical HB pencil and a lighter flicking motion. Follow along the brow bone and arc the eyebrow around the eye. Avoid pressing too hard at the beginning of your strokes to keep the root of each hair fairly thin. Lighten your strokes as you approach\u00a0the\u00a0eyebrow’s tail.<\/p>\n

For a more detailed tutorial on how to draw eyebrows, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this tutorial on how to draw eyes from the side, please share it with your friends! If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below!<\/p>\n

Want more? Click here to learn how to draw an eye from the front!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last tutorial I mentioned that I would make a detailed post on drawing eyes from the side. I said that I would post it in a few days… However, I didn’t expect it to take more than two\u00a0weeks! This is what happens when I procrastinate. But hey, I did manage to pump out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[73,24],"class_list":["post-1973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-how-to-draw","tag-eye","tag-eyes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235-300x218.jpg",300,218,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"large":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"ug_big":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"gg_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how-to-draw-an-eye-from-the-side-thumbnail-324x235.jpg",324,235,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Darlene Nguyen","author_link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/author\/darlenenguyen\/"},"uagb_comment_info":24,"uagb_excerpt":"In my last tutorial I mentioned that I would make a detailed post on drawing eyes from the side. I said that I would post it in a few days… However, I didn’t expect it to take more than two\u00a0weeks! This is what happens when I procrastinate. But hey, I did manage to pump out…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1973"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8219,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973\/revisions\/8219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}