Graphite Pencil Drawing Tutorial: Female Eye
Posted by Faith Te on October 31st, 2007Here is the first tutorial from Art Studio — a female eye. My method in graphite pencil drawing aims to render subjects as realistically as I can. The following is a step-by-step demonstration of how I draw eyes. While I very much hope that it helps you in drawing realistic eyes, do experiment and develop your own way of drawing. I myself sometimes do not follow some of the steps exactly as I like to experiment and try to find better ways of achieving a specific texture or effect. Before I begin, many thanks to Toni-Marie Hudson for the use of her picture. Toni-Marie does animal paintings in mixed media. Visit her web site to view her extremely realistic paintings.
Step 1: The outline on Canson Grain. Since the outline was very light and will likely be smudged off when I start rendering or shading, I have carefully and lightly retraced the lines with a soft pencil. In this case, a Faber-Castell 0.5 mm 2B mechanical pencil.
Step 2: Using a soft brush dipped in small amounts of graphite powder, I cover the outline with two or three layers of tone. Any brush can be used as long as it produces a very smooth effect and fills in the tooth of the paper. I try to avoid getting tone on the highlight of the iris. If I do get any graphite there, I tap the area with a clean kneaded eraser.
Step 3: Using a smaller version of the brush I used in the previous step, I begin forming the shapes of the eye by defining the darker areas.
Step 4: With a kneaded eraser, I cleaned up the highlights.
Step 5: I used a Dong-A 0.5 mm 2B mechanical pencil to draw the darkest areas like the pupil, shadow on the upper part of the iris and the crease of the upper eyelid.
Step 6: Concentrating on the iris for now, I use a hard pencil (5H Staedtler) and fairly hard pressure to draw spokes originating from the pupil. This will keep the paper from absorbing a lot of graphite in the next stage.
Step 7: Having used a 5H on the previous stage, I can now draw darker shades on the iris using a dark pencil (2B mechanical pencil). The reason why I use 2B is because it spreads more easily. The 5H is also to keep the tones very smooth when darker tones are added.
Step 8: I further worked on the iris erasing and adding graphite as much as needed to create varied tones. Moving on to the white of the eye, it was also covered with a layer of 5H to create a smooth effect. Then I used a 2B mechanical pencil on the shadow areas to form the eyeball.
Step 9: Here I began working on the skin. Using a 0.5 mm HB mechanical pencil and a light circular motion, I added tones to the upper eyelid and the surrounding skin — starting first on an area which will receive more graphite (in this case, the skin around the crease) and moving towards lighter areas. I used a shop towel and a brush to smoothen out rough spots.
Step 10: Continued with the lower part of the skin.
Step 11: Still continuing with the HB mechanical pencil. I’ve now added shadows to the skin. The 5H Staedtler pencil was also used on the thickness of the lower eyelid. 2B mechanical pencil was used for its darker areas.
Step 12: To create the wrinkles on the skin, I lightly drew lines with the HB mechanical pencil and then used a kneaded eraser to create fine highlights beside each line. A paper stump and a brush were used to soften and blend the lines. The same method used on the white of the eye was also used on the tear duct. The HB was used for the eyebrow — starting with the root of each hair and lessening pressure towards the tip.
Step 13: I always try to keep from drawing the eyelashes until the skin underneath is finished. Since the upper eyelashes will be darker than the lower eyelashes or the eyebrow, I used a Dong-A 2B mechanical pencil which is much darker than a Faber-Castell of the same grade. Again, following the direction of growth and starting from the root, lessening pressure as I come to the tip. Reflections of the eyelashes were also drawn on the highlight of the iris.
Step 14: The lower eyelashes were drawn with the Faber-Castell 2B mechanical pencil.
Step 15: The final eye. Finishing touches were made and some of the highlights on the lower eyelid were dulled a little. I hope you find these steps and images informative and helpful.
Happy drawing,
Faith 
- Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
- Other tutorials: Pencil Drawing Tutorials Category
Tags: drawing tutorials, eye tutorial, faith te, female eye, graphite, pencil drawing
June 6th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Brilliant, thanks a million <3
June 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am
thanxs that was cool drawing it!!
June 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Phil and Angel, thank you for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you like it!
June 13th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
gday
looks exactly like a photo
awesome mate
tooroo
June 13th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
You are very talented and the tutorials are extremely helpful. You are a credit to art.
Thank You
June 14th, 2008 at 2:04 am
perfect
June 15th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Shoni — Hello and thank you for your comment!
Spirit — Thank you very much for your kind words. I’m glad to know that the tutorials were of help
Majeed — Thank you!
—
Just a note: A link to the “Pencil Drawing Tutorials” category has been added at the end of every tutorial here on Art Studio. We hope this will be more convenient when going from one tutorial to another. Thank you!
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:51 am
very very talented
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 am
your very talented
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Marco and Archmage — Thank you
June 27th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
thank you
It’s so Gr8 you have magic hand
thanx agin my techear…
joumana
nick name ajwida
June 28th, 2008 at 7:39 am
ajwida — You’re welcome
. Thanks for leaving a comment!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
HOLY …. eye
It would take me a decade to practise and still wouldn’t look like yours…
But I’ll give it a try;)
You’ve really mastered drawing.
I’m proud of you
Great job
July 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Furr — Thank you very much for the compliments
. I am sure with
time and constant practice, you will soon reach what you are trying to
achieve. Just keep drawing and enjoy the journey!
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
HI,
I JUST WANT TO SAY: WONDERFUL JOB
I LOVE IT & HOP TO SHOW YOU MY TRY SOON
THANK ALOT FAITH
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Lele — Thank you! I’m glad you like it and I would love very much to see what you’ve done. Happy drawing!
August 16th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Thank’s! I didnt use all your fancy equiptment. Only a pen pencil and eraser but it still turned out great! Ive always wanted to know how to make my eyes look life like now i know!
xxoo
August 17th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Stevie — You’re welcome. I’m glad this tutorial was helpful to you. Just how many different tools one needs will also greatly depend on what paper you use and the textures and effects you want to include in your drawings. It’s great to know you were able to achieve lifelike results with just a few tools. Keep it up! Thank you for leaving a message
— very much appreciated!!
August 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
i have one picture and you can say me somrthing about it. i can show you.
i like your art.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Very nice!!!!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:34 am
hi there, im facundo from argentina and I was really amazed with your work. i have 18 and I also love drawing, and I want to keep getting better throught practice. thanks a lot for the tutorial!
August 20th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Wow you are really an amazing artist!THAT WAS AMAZING to the extreme level. If I did not see the ones before it I would believe it was real!!!! YOU ARE SO, SO, SO, SO, GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
……
=D
i draw manga, but you like smudge a real person on to a peice of paper
YOU ARE GOOD!!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
woooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!!
I really want to express my appreciation and admiration for your work!!!!
it’s amazing and great work!!!Bravoooo:)))))
I can see how much ur’e talented person
btw I have many paintings & pencil drawings (portrait), I love to draw face’s…..
Any way,wish you all the best Mr.talented;)
keep walking you made it and that is good:)
regards Shogh Ian
August 28th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Sorry for the late reply, everyone.
Qoi — Thank you
. Feel free to show me your work. You may e-mail it to me here: faith@artisticrealism.com
Chris — Thank you!!!
Facundo — Hi! Thanks for your message! I hope the tutorial was helpful to you. Do keep practicing and happy drawing
!
tcgssbcs — Thank you for the compliments
. Glad you like the tutorial!
Shogh Ian — Thank you very much!! I’d love to see your work — feel free to e-mail them to me. Oh, and I’m a “Ms.”
.
August 29th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Amazing work!!!!!!!!1
September 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
hi…
Really fantastic…
-surendar
September 5th, 2008 at 1:52 am
awesome! =)
September 6th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Dharma, Surendar, Greg — Thank you!!
September 9th, 2008 at 4:57 am
These are really great tutorials and have helped me a lot. I would love to see more like lips or hair.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Wow, that’s amazing.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Deanna — Thank you very much for your comment. I’m glad you like the tutorials! We do hope to make more portrait tutorials but right now, we haven’t been able to find the time yet. If you like, please let me know and we can e-mail you when we have new tutorials available.
Sara-Jean — Thank you!!
September 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
your talants are unbelievable please do more, yours, blownaway
September 21st, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Roy – Thank you very much! I will try to do more drawing tutorials when time permits.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
For sometime i’v been looking 4 tutorials like this,now i’v got my man. Keep up with ur gr8 work Faith.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Very nice drawing, but the eyebrow hairs are facing left to right and the inside corner of the eye is on the right so it’s the left eye and the right eye brow! silly mistake but amazing drawing!! so life like
September 27th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Matsobane — Thanks very much
!
Alex — Thanks for your observation
October 4th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
just amaaaaaaaaazing!!!!!!
October 5th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Hi this is so cool. I could learn a lot from your tutorials. Thanks a lot…………. But i think the skin tone is so intense… How can we approach a lighter skin tone?????
October 8th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Nixx — Thank you!!
Ajith — Thanks very much for your comment. As for your question, try
using less or lighter layers of graphite. I just tend to go a tad too dark with the skin tones because I feel it looks more realistic that way. Feel free to lighten up the tones in your drawing
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 am
super:’(:’(:’(:’( !!!!!!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hi !
Great work. It’s beautiful……..
October 25th, 2008 at 7:22 am
beautiful!
October 26th, 2008 at 12:56 am
OHH mYY GOODNESS thiss has to be the BESTTTTTTTT drawing iv everrrr seeeeeeeeeen!!!!!!!!!!!!!
urgg i can never draw something like that =(
October 27th, 2008 at 3:24 am
wow looks like a photo its that good
October 28th, 2008 at 9:52 am
i have been sat here f0r h0urs 0n this page, this is amazing , i am 0n step three but its amazing , thanks f0r creating this
October 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Anonymous, Roshni, Twix — Hello and thank you very much for your comments
Kookiez — Don’t be discouraged. You will be able to create beautiful drawings if you practice long enough. I didn’t produce drawings anywhere near these three years ago. Keep drawing! Your comment is much appreciated
Catherine — Thank you
Beth — Thank you for taking the time to leave a message. Hope you find the tutorial easy to follow. If you have any questions, please let me know
October 29th, 2008 at 11:35 am
It’s amazing. Thanks a lot for this tutorial. Just hope you give another one. Omy, if I can drawing like you
November 7th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Triyono — Glad you like it
. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write and post another tutorial soon. Thanks so much for your comment!
November 19th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Wow, I have been drawing for a while but this is great.thanks for the.If you could.Would you email me some other tips and tricks. Thanks
November 30th, 2008 at 4:42 am
You are an insparation to those of us that aren’t so good at this, Like everyone else, thank you for the art lessons, I too, will practice long hours for perfection, do you have a web site of your art? You are a great teacher, thank you.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Paco — Thank you so much! You are very kind
. My web site is: http://www.artisticrealism.com/ . I post my artwork there and I also share it with my artist brother, David.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
This is pretty good.. Of course, no where near as good as mine, but well done, keep practising. You never know, one day you may just get as good as me…
December 11th, 2008 at 3:13 am
WOW!!! that was amazing! you are very talented. thank you for sharing.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:14 am
thank you
December 19th, 2008 at 10:26 am
thank you so much! it turned out great!!! i draw eyes 24/7 but now i know how to make them look extremely real.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:19 am
Wow- this is seriously amazing- I’ve been working on some projects and this is going to be helping me a TON! thanks!!
December 24th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Tony — You’re welcome! I’m glad you find it useful.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 am
i just wanted to let you know that i love your web site and that iv been following your step by step guide to draw the eyes and nose. this wed site is much better than any art class iv ever had and you have helped my telant grow . many thanks
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Oh my god that is so amazing!!!!
I’m going to use your instructions to impress my friends
January 4th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Laura and Tayler — Thanks very much for your encouraging comments
!!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
wow its the most amazing drawing ive ever seen … i g2g say it’s a long way to get close to ur drawing… anyways thanks a lot for ur tutorial..i usually draw an eye but it doesnt look as real as this.. thanks once again this will help a lot.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Thanks for posting this
January 8th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Sean and Chubs — You’re welcome
January 12th, 2009 at 1:37 am
I have read through and tried out practically every tutorial on pencil drawing there is on the web, and the ones you guys do are, by far, my favorite. Mainly because both of you have an immense amount of talent, and the tutorials are easy to read and even I am able to try them out on paper. Thank you guys for the wonderful tutorials!!!
– Gavin
January 12th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Gavin — Thanks for your very encouraging words
. Much appreciated!
January 17th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
i love ur art a few days ago i was scetching some eyes on my paper and these tips will help me bring them to life thx
January 19th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Angie — You’re welcome and thanks for commenting!
January 20th, 2009 at 2:56 am
omg i have to draw an eye for my homework this is a perfect example thanks!
January 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Ani — Hope it helps you. Good luck!
January 25th, 2009 at 4:49 am
arghh!! its to good ;-; it looks so realistic
January 25th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Mark — Thanks for your comment
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:05 am
this is a link to an eye i drew using this tutorial
http://craaazyss.deviantart.com/art/Female-eye-111480087
i quite like it and wouldn’t of been able to do it without this tutorial:)
hope you like it
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Wow, simply amazing. This makes me realise that I know nothing about drawing.
February 26th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
before i found this tutorial the eyes i would draw would be so boringly plain, but thanks to you and you’re immense talent I am happy to see that what I draw is almost like what you do. thank you so much
February 26th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Amazing,
totally going to try draw it,
proberly not come out like that thoo
have a Portrait project at school coming up soon
should help
February 27th, 2009 at 3:55 am
This is amazing!! I wish i could draw such lifelike portraits…
March 5th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
very nice an smooth i also love doing eyes they tell a story but still leav mistry id like 2 see more
March 13th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
wow!!!!!! its really amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it really look real!!! i also love to draw more on manga, perhaps i can do some like yours, hehehehe…. in fact I start to draw my self…… and I think it not but output…. anyway thank for the knowledge you shared.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:16 am
My life long dream is to have the ability to draw a picture so well that it looks like a photograph. Here you do that exact thing. I don’t have much experience, rather none at all besides middle school art class, and here you showed how many steps to do. I can not believe people like you can make pictures pop out so well and make an eye look glossy. It just blows my mind. You have such a mind blowing gift and I hope you are proud of yourself. When a 16 year old grovels over you skill you know your good. One day i hope I can be slightly as good as you
Thank you!
March 27th, 2009 at 12:29 am
unbelievable, well done, very well done!!!!
April 20th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
..i like your drawing..it’s so nice..MAGNIFICO!!
April 24th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Hi,
I was astonished to see such a wonderful work…I could not imagine that graphite pencil can be used so artistically..I am new to this…These are simply gr8 ….God has given immense blessings and talent to both of you ….All the best !!! Waiting for more and more brilliant tutorials like this..:)
May 2nd, 2009 at 3:05 am
Wow!! That’s really cool!!!!
How did you learn that??
It’s like a photograph, very detailed!!!
I can only wish that I will be as good as you are.
REALLY COOL!!!
May 5th, 2009 at 4:41 am
This is such a fantastic drawing, and the tutorial was really easy to follow! Not quite the master work shown above, but definately proud of what i did! I just cant seem to get the other eye to match. Grr :@ Drawing the second eye is always harder!
May 12th, 2009 at 4:07 am
wow that was amazing
May 28th, 2009 at 5:25 am
you are ok as an artist, you can improve though…..
i hope you will learn to be better, you have a gift, benefit from it
June 5th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Perfect
June 6th, 2009 at 1:47 am
That is absolutely amazing! it looks like you have just taken a picture !!
June 11th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Amazing talent ! Thank you for sharing !
July 1st, 2009 at 8:38 am
Oh my god you’r a proffecional the way that you draw is excellent ,you have a gift, and untill now I can’t beleive that you were drawing with a pencil!!!
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
hi , gud eye sketching , and amazing
thank u vry much
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:39 pm
First i would like to say that you have produced a fantastic eye and i would also like to ask you how is the ‘EYE’ connected with the theme “structure(s)”. it would be great knowing your ideas as it will help me for my artwork.
July 6th, 2009 at 1:57 am
omg It looks soo real. it is soo awsome. u r a gifted person. im gonna try it . thnx soo much for showing how to do it. i always wanted to draw it but never came out well. but im sure this is gonna help me a lot
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 am
It is really very beautiful painting of eye , its seems natural ,this beautiful guidance I will remember through out my life and I will try the drawing till I get yhe perfection in it……………..
July 29th, 2009 at 4:01 am
your are the best i swear the best eye……………….dear god just beautiful
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Hi There.
Christian greetings.
I would like to know where I can get hold of graphite powder. Here in South Africa people dont know about it.
Thank you.
Johann.