Drawing Eyes ...

[Ross Macintosh]

Having just had some eye surgery, I'm kind-a preoccupied with eyes. Never having drawn them before I thought I'd give it a try in Xara. My effort is below. I found it about as hard as I expected and I'm not altogether happy with the result. Still it was fun and I encourage others to try. Perhaps someone knows some tricks to make it easier ...

For this one I used the bevel tool to shade the white of the eye. The iris you see is a bitmap fill generated in xara using a brush. Lashes were done with stroked lines. I drew the eyebrow hair freehand. All the skin shadows are built up from numerous feathered shapes with high levels of transparency. The white of the eye has a thin veil of blood vessels made with a fratal cloud fill - they probably don't show up in the jpg.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Ross Macintosh]

Having just had some eye surgery, I'm kind-a preoccupied with eyes. Never having drawn them before I thought I'd give it a try in Xara. My effort is below. I found it about as hard as I expected and I'm not altogether happy with the result. Still it was fun and I encourage others to try. Perhaps someone knows some tricks to make it easier ...

For this one I used the bevel tool to shade the white of the eye. The iris you see is a bitmap fill generated in xara using a brush. Lashes were done with stroked lines. I drew the eyebrow hair freehand. All the skin shadows are built up from numerous feathered shapes with high levels of transparency. The white of the eye has a thin veil of blood vessels made with a fratal cloud fill - they probably don't show up in the jpg.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Soquili]

Hi Ross,

I found drawing eyes to be difficult. When working on my self portrait, the eyes took about 90% of the total time. Using feathering and transparencies on the shadow shapes was the key to achieving anything that look satisfactory. Gary's Nov 97 tutorial Through the Keyhole is an excellant example for achieving a realistic iris.

Soquili [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[gwpriester]

Ross

This was one of my first Xara illustrations and was the teaser for the Nov tutorial that Soquili mentions.

Eyes are incredibly subtle and complex objects, as you are discovering.

BTW The sinister looking fellow weilding the meat cleaver in the reflection was a piece of black and white CorelDRAW clip art of a butcher. Taken out of context it becomes quite macabre.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Rarely So Humble...

[Ross Macintosh]

Soquili - I like your eye. The glossyness looks very good. I see that like me those pesky eyelashes caused you grief. Mine have two different approaches - I think I like the messy upper ones better. What do you think?

Gary - I always liked that design! I saw a funny thing on TV the other day involving a practical joke using a cleaver! They had a hidden camera to record innocent peoples reactions. Imagine this: An old lady walks down the sidewalk and a cleaver falls out of her bag without her noticing. Helpful pedestrians of course pick up the cleaver and try to return it to her. The old lady surprises the good samaritan with screams as if the person with the cleaver is attacking her - that gets the attention of all people around and mortifies the person holding the cleaver. Most quickly drop it and slither off sheepishly! Their reactions were very funny. It would be fun to try this eh? That funny Gary guy could be the talk of Placitas! "What a riot he is" the folks at the WalMart will be saying.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Soquili]

Hi Ross,

Yes, I have to agree the messy look is very good. Much more realistic than the approach I took [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Soquili [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Ross Macintosh]

Soquili - Well if you use mascara, the brushed lashes look is very realistic. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

I found the lashes hard because the view I had put the upper lashes in a foreshortened view. Maybe I'll go back and try something diferent with the lower lashes. I really like your eyebrow. Mine is drawn hair by hair and I kind of like it too.

One noticable difference between yours and mine is the size of the iris relative to the eye. I just looked in a mirror (it didn't break) and my drawing seems to correspond with my eye at least. Maybe you have alien genes?? Please advise if your iris is really that big. If so I'll be sure to keep my distance from Red Boiling Springs - too much alien activity! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

The highlights you applied to the skin are a nice touch too. I'll have to try that.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Soquili]

Hi Ross,

Don't know about Alien Genes, must be my tendency to squint that made the iris appear so large in my drawing. However, now that I think about it I have been told by some tribal elders that I am one of the "Star People"; what ever that means!?!?

Soquili [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]