How to Draw Fashion Eyes with Different Angles and Expressions

By Lisa Arnold and Marianne Egan from Fashion Drawing For Dummies

You’ll often draw eyes from different angles, depending on the look that you’re going for. Each angle involves a different technique. Sometimes you can add flair simply by drawing eyelids and lashes.

Enlarge 1 Three-quarter-view eyes offer a different perspective. The key to drawing eyes in the three-quarter view is not drawing both eyes the same size. Because the model’s head is turned away from the viewer, the eye that’s farther away looks slightly smaller than the eye that’s closer to the viewer. That’s the effect of perspective. You also don’t generally fully see the eye that’s more distant from the viewer.	Enlarge 2 Draw three-quarter-view eyes. Draw an oval for the face and sketch a face grid, turning the face. On the right side of the oval, indent the oval a bit at the eye socket. Keep the horizontal line in the center and the vertical line off-center. When you move the center line, imagine that the face is turning; therefore, the side away from the viewer will show the eye coming off the side of the face. For the eye socket, start with an indentation inside the circled area of the figure. Draw the eyes. The eye closest to the viewer is a regular full eye. The eye on the side turned away is less wide and comes to the edge of the face. Extend some lashes for a dramatic effect. To draw the three-quarter view eye, start with a rounded almond shape. Cut through the almond shape to draw the upper eyelid, leaving more space for the eyeball than the eyelid. Draw the iris with a few lines for shading and then blacken the pupil while leaving a space white. Finish with some long eyelashes on the top and bottom of the lids.	Enlarge 3 Draw an eye in profile view. To draw an eye in profile, start by drawing a triangle. For the iris, add an oval on the vertical side of the triangle. Sketch in an eyelid that runs parallel to the top line of the triangle. Extend lashes from the outer points of the triangle, at the top and bottom of the oval.
Enlarge 4 Draw coy, downward-looking eyes. Drawing a coy model is easy because you don’t have to draw a detailed eye; all you need is a closed eyelid and lashes. Draw an upward arc for the eyelid and gently shade in the lid with your pencil to give it volume. Add lashes to the outer corner of the eye. The downward-looking eye can double as a wink. Just draw one eye open and the other eye closed.	Enlarge 5 Draw eyes closed in laughter or happiness. The eyeball doesn’t show when you draw a laughing or smiling eye. To fully convey the model’s joy, make sure to draw a smiling mouth, too. Draw a downward arc for the eyelid. Sketch in lashes on the outer corner of the eyelid. Add an eyebrow that follows the same shape as the eye. Make sure the eyebrow follows the direction of the smiling eye.