RETOUCHING AND PAINTING EYES
by D'Lynn Waldron. PhD. copyright 2002 AUTHOR.....CONTENTS
The eyes are the soul of a portrait and lighting brings the eyes to life.

RETOUCHING AN EYE All of these images were created in Adobe Photoshop

The eyes are the soul of a portrait and light brings the eyes to life.

When retouching a photograph, sometimes all that is needed is to eliminate the red eye which comes from the flash reflecting off the retina of the eye.

Further improvement may be achieved by adding a dot of light reflecting off the cornea from the direction of the light. If the light is a straight on flash, put the dot of light just off the center of the pupil.

Soul can be given to an eye by lightening the side of the iris opposite the dot where the direct light strikes the outside of cornea and then passes through it to the back curve of the cornea and the colored iris behind it.

Some people have an large clear cornea that makes the eye “a deep clear pool” when the light shines in it.

To add realism put the shadow of the upper eyelid on the iris. And often there is a shine of dampness on part of the inner edge of lower lid.

The last thing is to blur the eye, including the dot of light (which is often not pure white) to match the focus on the rest of the face.

PAINTING AN EYE FOR EXAMPLES OF PAINTED EYES SEE THE PORTRAITS AT http://www.dlynnwaldron.com/ageprogression.html

If you are painting an eye either in a photograph, or artwork as above, start with a circle in the dominant color of the iris, add a narrow, darker circle around the outer edge and an off-black circle for the pupil.

A large pupil has more appeal than a small one, because the pupil enlarges when we look at something we like.

There is a network of fine lines in the iris, which are part of the mechanism that changes the size of the pupil.

In addition to a network of fine lines, the iris may have flecks of different colors and some have a ring of a different color encircling the pupil or just inside the outer edge of the iris.

Some eyes have a dark circle around the outer edge of the iris, some do not. That dark circle adds to the attractiveness of the eye.

The white of the eye is not white, but is some shade of a creamy color plus blood vessels.

The eye is a ball that must be shadowed in relation to the light.

If the highlight is not just a dot on the cornea, there may also be a shine on the side of the white outside the iris. In addition, there is often a shine of dampness on the inner edge of the bottom lid.

The lighting on the lid should be in accord with that of the eye, plus any additional shadowing from the other features.

The eyelashes are very tricky to draw coming from the lid at realistic angles around the curve of the lid on the eyeball. If you do not have a model, look at photographs taken from the angle you are drawing.

You have to decide how much make-up you want to use if it is a woman. A light eyeliner on the upper lid and mascara would be typical.

Those are the basics, but of course if the eye is at an angle, then the shape of the cornea and iris, and the placement of the pupil, must be adjusted accordingly. Just remember that the pupil is well behind the front of the cornea and so when looking away from you the pupil will be proportionately nearer to the side of iris nearest you. If you don’t do that the eye will not have any depth.

Once you know the structure of the eye and how to draw it you will be amazed by how many famous and even great painters did not do eyes well, and you will understand how others have achieved the marvelous soul that shines from the eyes in their paintings.

LOOK AT A MODEL OR PHOT0 TO SEE THE ANGLE OF EYELASHES