How to Draw an Eye from the Side

This tutorial will show you how to draw an eye from the side and explain the fundamental principles of this angle.

As we’ve mentioned many times before, drawing the human figure and its individual parts from different angles and positions is a fundamental skill for any artist.

Previously, we showed you how to draw eyes, explained the structure and construction of this part of the face, and demonstrated how to create convincing volume in a drawing.

Now, we’ll focus on how to draw an eye from the side. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to create a sense of volume in this perspective and highlight the most important aspects you should pay attention to in order to make your side-view eye drawing look realistic and convincing.

By the way, we have a separate guide on the basic anatomy of the eyes. You can read this before you start a new tutorial. This will help you to understand much better what exactly you are drawing.

How to draw an eye from the side step by step

Step 1: Draw the front edge of the eye

The eye is a sphere, a perfectly round form from all sides. Keeping this in mind, sketch the front surface of the eye. Use long, smooth lines, as shown in the sphere drawing lesson.

Step 2: Sketch the placement of the eyelids

Now lightly sketch the contours of the upper and lower eyelids. Pay attention to their placement and how far they extend forward relative to the eyeball. This will help create volume and position the eyelids correctly.

Step 3: Draw the cornea and front of the eyelids

The cornea on the eyeball is not a flat texture; it is convex, which creates additional volume. Indicate this volume with smooth lines extending beyond the contour of the eyeball. Then mark the front planes of the upper and lower eyelids.

Step 4: Draw the edges of the eyelids in detail

Now, using the previously drawn guidelines, refine the outlines of the upper and lower eyelids with smoother, cleaner lines, keeping in mind that they wrap around the eyeball. The principles of artistic vision are especially important here: think of the eyeball and eyelids as volumetric forms, and look through the shapes.

Step 5: Detail the eyelids and add folds

Refine the eyelid outlines with smoother, cleaner lines, keeping in mind that they extend beyond the contour of the eyeball. When drawing these forms, remember the spherical shape on which they lie.

Step 6: Draw the eye pupil and Iris

Now draw the outline of the iris, separating it from the sclera. Then draw the pupil, placing it on the surface of the eyeball rather than on the cornea. The outlines of the pupil and iris should lie in the same plane and follow the form of the eyeball correctly.

Step 7: Clean the eye drawing

Carefully erase all construction lines from the eye drawing and make sure the forms are correct and proportional. Check how convincing the drawing looks and whether any elements noticeably stand out from the overall image.

Step 8: Add tone to the pupil and iris

First, fill the pupil with a dark tone using light horizontal hatching, making it slightly lighter at the bottom. Then fill the iris with a slightly lighter tone, hatching in the same direction as the pupil and also making it lighter toward the bottom.

Step 9: Draw hatching on the eye drawing

Indicate the shadow shapes according to the direction of the light, then carefully begin adding hatching to build the shadows. Apply the shading along the form to emphasize volume. The eye is a sphere, and the eyelids surrounding it are close to cylindrical forms.

Step 10: Check and finalize the drawing

Now check the entire drawing again, taking tone and shading into account. Unify all forms so nothing stands out, ensure the tonal relationships are correct, the proportions are accurate, and the overall eye drawing looks naturalistic.

The eye is a very complex form and also the part of the human face that attracts attention first. The ability to draw eyes correctly is one of the most important skills in portrait drawing.

For this reason, we tried to break down the process of drawing eyes from different angles as clearly as possible.

Drawing this part of the face from the side involves many additional nuances that should be considered carefully.

First, remember that the eye is a sphere, a volumetric form. The eyelids create additional volume that surrounds the eyeball and forms its recognizable shape.

When drawing eyes from the side or any other angle, keep this in mind each time.

Another important factor is that the cornea is also an additional volume that lies over the eyeball and creates a characteristic form, while the pupil does not lie like a texture on the surface of the cornea but inside, on the eyeball.

Keeping this in mind, try drawing eyes from the side as often as possible while slightly changing the angle. Draw both eyes with pupils and without them to better understand the overall structure and details.

Eyelashes are another additional element that we intentionally did not include in the main lesson, but you can draw them yourself.

It is also very important to practice drawing eyes in context. After learning to draw an eye from the side separately, draw it on a human face in side view.

Try changing facial features, the degree of eye openness, and the direction of the gaze. This deeper practice will significantly improve your ability to draw the eye and construct the human portrait as a whole.

But drawing eyes is a very versatile process, so it is important to master all angles. In addition to the side view, be sure to learn how to draw eyes from the front, and develop this skill for confident portrait drawing in a frontal view.

Also learn how to draw eyes in three-quarter view, which is the most dynamic angle and the one most commonly seen in portraits.