{"id":682,"date":"2016-07-21T17:48:19","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T17:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health-works-now.com\/?p=682"},"modified":"2025-01-30T12:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:44:09","slug":"how-to-paint-realistic-eyes-the-ultimate-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/health-works-now.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/21\/how-to-paint-realistic-eyes-the-ultimate-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Paint Realistic Eyes: The Ultimate Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
From our hidden thoughts to our deepest emotions, eyes can tell us an awful lot about someone. If we wish to paint a truly expressive portrait, it’s vital to learn how to paint realistic eyes.<\/p>\n
Let’s jump right in!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Using a relatively large brush, begin to sketch the outline of your eye. If you aren’t 100% familiar with eyes, I HIGHLY recommend you use a reference photo.. it’s the best way to learn!<\/p>\n
You can use any brush you want, but make sure you don’t go into too many details. You are just building a basic ‘\u200broadmap’ for your painting.<\/p>\n
Tip: When sketching, going into too much detail will slow you down and make your life more difficult. Avoid the temptation by selecting slightly larger brushes.<\/p>\n
(RELATED<\/strong>: Why You Should Start Your Painting With a Midtone Background)\u200b<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It’s actually fairly difficult to sketch on a tablet. Don’t get frustrated! The beauty of digital painting is that you can delete and re-draw your lines as many times as you need to.<\/p>\n Remember<\/strong>: This is not meant to be polished linework! It is simply a roadmap for your painting. I’ll show you how to paint realistic eyes in time, for now keep it sketchy and loose.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n Before we begin rendering in detail, it is important you understand one of the most common techniques in digital painting. I like it call it the Brush and Cut<\/strong> method.<\/p>\n The basic principle is this:<\/p>\n Lets have a look at an example:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The first step is to merge your sketch with your background. I personally like to use Ctrl\/Command+Alt+Shift+E to merge everything to a new layer on top. This way you still have your sketch as a separate layer, in case you need to go back to it in the future.<\/p>\n Then, create a new layer by pressing Ctrl\/Command+Shift+N.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n On the new layer, begin to add some shading around the outside of the eyeball. Do this by painting just outside of the lines of the eye.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Erase everything that spills outside of the outlines of the eye.<\/p>\n As you can see, the Brush and Cut<\/strong> method allows us to very easily create areas of values that have a soft, gradient edge on one side, and a hard-cut edge on the other.<\/p>\n This has allowed us to paint the basic shading around the outside of the eye, giving it a 3D look.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Note how rough everything is still looking at this stage. That’s totally ok, don’t get frustrated!<\/p>\n Remember<\/strong>: The beauty of this method is that \u200beach new element you create is on a new layer. You can keep playing around with it, brushing and cutting the shape without fear of wrecking anything you’ve already painted.<\/p>\n And if everything is looking too light or dark, you can play around with the layer’s Opacity in the ‘Layers’ panel.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n You don’t have to Brush and Cut<\/strong> with a soft brush and hard eraser. You could just as well brush in areas of values with a harder brush, then fade out the edges with a softer brush.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n You don’t have to paint everything by hand. Often you will get better results by using the other tools at your disposal, such as the Elliptical Marquee Tool (keyboard shortcut: M).<\/p>\n I first erased the iris from my sketch. I then made a selection with the Elliptical Marquee Tool on a new layer, and filled it with light gray. As it was on a new layer I could use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl\/Command+T) to reposition it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n One very useful tool for blending is the Smudge tool. I prepared a tool preset for you which contains my favourite Smudge settings. You can find it in the downloadable brush files.<\/p>\n > Click Here to Download Tutorial Brushes<\/a><\/p>\n You can use the Smudge tool to blend lines in your painting, and smoothen out hard edges.<\/p>\n (Related<\/strong> – 4 Essential Techniques for Blending in Photoshop<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n2. Develop your sketch, and don’t be afraid to erase and re-draw lines<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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STEP 2: Rendering The Eye<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The ‘Brush and Cut’ Method<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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1. Merge the sketch and background, then create a new layer<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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2. Add shading to the eyeball with a soft, round brush<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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3. ‘Cut’ away the values outside of the eyeball with a hard-edged eraser <\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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4. Use variations of this method to continue rendering<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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5. Use the Marquee Tool to Paint a Perfectly Circular Iris<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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6. Tip: Blending With the Smudge Tool<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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