✨ ARCANE EYE STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL ✨
I'll explain everything down here too in case you want something more specific:
1- Trace an image to better understand the bone structure and study the values you're going to use in black and white. For an even better understanding try to do some pencil sketches before trying to follow all the tutorial!
2- Start your drawing by suggesting the bone structure you just studied. I personally like to indicate how the eyebrow interacts with the outer corner of the eye and the bridge of the nose. Don't rush this step even if it seems useless because it's the most important, especially in the style of arcane where the planes of the face are emphasized a lot!
3- Try to copy from the reference the main features, the shape of the eye and the eyebrow. Try to be as accurate as you can (I know you can do it!!🤌)
4- Now draw the iris and DONT MAKE IT A CIRCLE!!
5- Also draw the eyelids, pay attention with how they interact with other harder surfaces because they're soft and wrap around the eye.
5.5- Refine everything with line art or just adjust the sketch to your liking.
6- Add base colors underneath your lines (if you work digitally) and a cell shadow (darken the color you used for the skin and make it A BIT mor red and saturated) under the eyebrow and on the eyelids. I suggest to do all the skin in one layer because we're gonna blend later!
7- Let's add some bouncing light in that shadow! Pick a lighter (just a bit! these are NOT your highlights!!) pinkish color and put it under the eyebrow (soft edge) and in the inner plane on the bridge of the nose (hard edge).
8- Add also a darker brown color as an eyeshadow on the upper and lower eyelid. Then you can darken it in some areas (mainly on the outer corner) giving the effect of smudged mascara. Notice how a lot of the edges here are really hard, don't just blend everything.
9- Do a gradient of oblique lines on the outer corner of the eyebrow. Here too they are all hard edges so just do brush strokes without blending!
10- Now draw those highlights on the skin! Use a pinkish color near the shadows and a more desaturated and lighter one for the true highlights. Here's your chance to really define those hard edges and blend the soft ones.
10.5- I noticed the line art near the lacrimal gland is a dark orange/red so do that!
11- Color the sclera with a light gray and shadow it as if it was a sphere (under the upper eyelid and near the outer corner).
12- Darken the top of the iris with a dark blue and lighten the bottom with 4 simmetrical brush strokes (the same color on the right and the left) then a lighter one right in the middle. Again, DON'T BLEND IT! Leave it as hard edges!
13- Add the iconic sparkles in the eye and YAYY WE'RE DONE!!
I hope you managed to follow through and enjoyed the whole process! Please let me see if you try it! 🫶
✨ btwwww I have open commissions + adoptables on Toyhouse! Link in bio! ✨
