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In this session we're going to be looking at eyes.
Eyes have been described as the window of the soul.
So we're going to try and capture character and expression, life and vitality
and to make a rounded form rather than just an almond shaped eye just stuck on.
First, put your fingers over your eyes and feel what's there.
You'll be able to feel a round ball.
Just like a sheep's eye in the butcher if you've ever seen such a thing.
You might think it's disgusting but we've got exactly the same kind of eye.
This eye has a skin opening
The shape of your skin opening will be determined by your genetic heritage.
And in the centre of it is your coloured iris.
The black pupil in the middle and the coloured iris.
Both eyes will move together
and we've got various suggestions and tips for how to make them focus.
The first exercise is for you to draw your own eyes.
Use a mirror then you can quite closely study what you have.
Baring in mind we have these round shapes
we're going to put a round circle and our eyes are generally one eye-width apart
So draw 3 circles then rub out the centre one.
Then the eyes will be generally about the correct spacing.
Now we're going to look at the shape of the eye
and we're going to be looking for the tear duct and the outer corner.
So if I look at my model I'll see the tear duct is down here
and the upper corner is up here.
The shape of the top lid comes up, then goes almost straight across
then a little bit down at this end.
The shape of the bottom lid will be quite different.
It's straighter along here
quite round in this portion here
Then it's going to tuck up into this corner, generally just inside the upper lid.
At this point cross over and do the other eye
Because you'll probably find that your eyelids are slightly different.
But Fiona's eyes are relatively regular.
This one's quite straight on the top there
and then comes down.
They're quite round this side, and through here.
So that's our general shape of Fiona's eyelids.
Now look at the coloured portion of the eye.
What you're looking for now, if you want to make eyes look exactly at you,
is the shape from the coloured portion of the eye to the edge
and this shape to here.
That will help you get a likeness.
Now we're going to look at the lid.
Fiona's lid is more obvious in this section through here.
And tapers down there.
So now I can rub out my circles.
A bit more of a lid is obvious here.
And less on there.
So that's the basic shape that we're looking at.
We also want to look at the eyebrow
The eyebrow will be, interestingly enough, feathery on top
until it gets to the halfway point.
The halfway point normally being directly above the eyeball.
And then it changes direction and becomes feathery underneath.
It's there to collect dust. Very clever invention.
On women the eyebrow is normally more arched.
Men's eyebrows are normally a little lower.
So that's the shape that we're looking at.
Now we're going to look at the shadows on the eye
because this is what's going to create a sense of roundness.
The eyelashes are going to cast a shadow on the top portion of the eye.
It's only going to be the bottom section that's going to be lit.
Very rarely is it going to be pure white.
Only in young children who haven't been exposed to any pollutants are the eyeballs white.
It gets yellower as we get older.
So it's probably going to be fairly grey
apart from where the light's striking it directly.
There's a cast shadow underneath from the lashes on the top here.
And there's a little bit of shadow there.
This section through here is the area that's receiving the most light.
This side here is a lot more in shadow.
There's only a little section up the top that's catching the light.
What happens with the light is it comes through here
and it passes through the cornea
And there's a reflection of it on this side.
So it's actually lighter on this side through here
So there will be a little highlight over here.
Then there will be a version of that lighter part over here.
On some people there is quite a dark rim around the edge of the eye.
On the paler eyes it's not necessarily so noticeable.
You want to do both eyes at the same time.
Because it's quite hard to make them look as though they're related
to each other unless you do them both at the same time.
A little highlight over here. Leave that bit clear.
Not so much light coming through this eye.
so that reflection through the other side isn't so noticeable.
For the eyelashes you're not going to draw them as separate, individual hairs
because that tends to make it look rather artificial.
You're just going to draw the block of whatever you can see.
So there might be a few lashes that you can see, in profile generally.
On this side there's a few I can see just coming out through here.
But the rest I'm looking at them front on so I'm just going to see it as a dark mass.
I'm going to look at the shading for the eye socket.
It's normally lighter in the area under the brow.
Look at the lower eyelid, we'll shade that.
This is where this shaping is coming around
which will be quite important once you're actually doing paintings.
And on this side similarly.
The tear duct part is a little lighter.
When you're painting these parts you can make them quite pink on the inside
because there's very good circulation around the eyes.
So the main thing we're trying to do with our eyes
is get that sense of roundness across here
and across this way as well so you're getting that spherical sense
rather than it just being a little almond cut out.