Drawing a dog's eye in colored pencil

1. Dog eye intro: Welcome, welcome. This class is about drawing a dog's eye. If you follow the directions that are listed, there will be a list of materials as well as what type of colors you will need. And you can also down load at the reference image to be able to follow along. I hope you enjoy. 2. Make the outline: Alright, so let's go ahead and get started here. Now this eye is of a hound dogs eye, and it is rather large and round and it's going to look a little bit different than most dogs eyes. But I figured this one would be a really good example to share because it has a variety of warm colors as well as a lot of detail because it is so big and round. And so we'll start out with the black here. And you really want to draw that little piece. I like to draw the outline first most of the time and then go from there. You could draw the pupil first if you want to, but it helps to draw the outline because you kinda get a better idea as to where everything is located. Once you have the outline done and it doesn't have to be the full outline. For instance, this one is going to be this bottom right-hand corner. And then the top left-hand side. We're gonna be using the black to outline it rather than straight up and straight down. And you'll start to see that here in just a minute. So you want to use light pressure first and then start to apply heavier pressure. Now because this is straight black and not blended with other colors, you can use heavier pressure, at least a little bit closer to like, let's say the first couple of layers. And that will really get a deep, solid black color in there. And then you can use, this is a reddish brown color pencil. And you could draw small circles inside the eye, just a very, very light pressure. You don't want to apply it too much because we're going to be blending other colors in there. And when you use a lighter pressure, it makes it easier to blend your layers together over time. And then you can use the black again and just draw very thin line underneath. I kinda indicating where the eye stops. And there's usually a gap that's in-between the eyeball and then the lid of the eye underneath. And that is kind of where I am trying to show and indicate, at least for the first couple of layers. Because like I said, it really does help to have that outline done first so that you know where everything is located, especially when you're trying to draw the lip of the eye as well. Because each I really does have a little bit of a lip and it'll look different in each eyes, especially in dogs and cats. And if you can focus on drawing the outline of the eyeball itself and then around the eye. Next, that's gonna be really important. 3. Adding color: Now that we have good, solid outline and we'll go back and finish up pieces of that too, because it is not a whole solid black yet. But now that we have a good foundation started, we can continue on and use this orangey, I call it like a burnt orange color. And I will also put in the instructions what colors I'm using as well, so you can follow along. And the orange and the reds are really important for making this I look realistic. So just be aware of that and make sure that you have at least a good variation of orange and red colored pencils just start out with. So we'll continue here with the red brown color and applying a little bit more of fat around the pupil of the eye as well. Now, in each eye there is a little bit of this very interesting kind of feature, almost like texture and the eye. So your first couple of layers aren't going to be as important. Once you get up to your last few layers, you want to apply that texture that you see where it has those lines almost especially coming from the pupil itself. So I'll show you in more detail once we get that far. Then there is a little bit of this gap. Most eyes tend to have this where there's a little bit of the white of the corner of the eye. So for this one, there is just a tad bit of that white and it actually has a little bit of color, so we'll apply that later. But you do want to draw that shape using the black first and just a very, very light pressure. We're still trying to get that foundation down first and then go from there. Because like I said, once you have that shape down, then it's much, much easier to move forward in terms of drawing the proportions. Now, this color can be a little bit deceiving. This is actually a dark sepia color pencil, not a black color. And the dark sepia is this dark gray brown color and I use it for almost all my portraits. I have quite a collection of used dark sepia pencils. And all you're really doing here is just applying a little bit more of a darker detail, still trying to draw on the same direction as the texture that you see in the eye, which is in that rounded shape up and down in a way. And what that does is it makes it look more realistic when you draw in the same direction. What you see in the reference image, at least as much as possible. There are times that you'll have to apply different directions, such as drawing and small circles. But for the most part, you do want to try to draw in the same direction as much as possible. And for this I, since it is round, you want to try to replicate that round feature as much as possible. So you can see that especially with the little little flakes and the little details that are in the eye, they have this curved effect to it. So try to replicate that as much as possible. It doesn't have to be exact as long as you are drawing in that same direction. And I think that's probably the most important thing, is to make sure that you are drawing in that same direction no matter what feature it is. Now this is the same red brown. It's just a different version, different type of colored pencil brand. So whatever brand that you have, just use the same red brown. And I split this one up just a little bit. This is the dark sepia colored pencil again. And once again we're just applying a little bit more detail. Now you can see that I left some room for the highlight. And between the color of the eye near the pupil and the black on the right-hand side there. And that is really important feature to remember, is to leave room for the highlights as much as possible. And then your last step is adjusting those highlights afterwards. And that will really, really make or break your realistic eye or realistic for in general, leaving room for the highlights and then going back later and adjusting them and blending them out a little bit. If you need to. 4. Drawing the details: Now I am using the black color pencil again and drawing the pupil now. And there's actually a lot more of the highlight in this pupil. So be careful and try to just draw what you see in terms of what is there for that pupil. And then start to apply a little bit more heavier pressure and work your way around the highlight. This one definitely has a bigger highlighted area. So don't be afraid to leave that big gap there because you can always come back and make adjustments later. And now you can use the dark sepia and start to apply even more detail. Start to darken up that area. Now you can see that I left some room. And the eye itself for the burnt orange area where the orange and the reddish brown color meet. And at that really, really, it really makes us a portrait look more realistic. And you can still go back and darken those areas or add more detail in terms of the texture that is in I2. And then you can go back over the black areas as well. There's certain spots that look like you still haven't quite finished it. You can see the tooth of the paper showing through. Go ahead and make those adjustments. Like I talked about earlier, there is that lip on the lower eye there. So I am just defining that feature there. And you want to have a sharp pencil for this. You wanted to keep a sharp pencil for all of it really, but especially for these details here, because the sharper your pencil, the better your details are going to get bitten, going to be much, much easier to get your pigmentation down and your details. And then there's white of the eye. I just drew a little bit of the red brown and then you will go, I'll go back over it and blend it out later with a lighter colored pencil. So once you have that pretty well-defined there in the corner of the eye, go back over using a light gray color, very, very pale, cool tone gray color, and apply that underneath the eye. They're really define it, have that sharp pencil as well. And what this does is it makes this burnishing effect when you apply a lighter color over a certain feature that you've already finished. So once you have quite a few layers, then you can apply that lighter color. And it creates this waxy coating. And it makes everything look a little bit more blended in a little more finished. Now just be aware that it will line up area. So if you don't want it lightened, then tried to find a more neutral base color to blend in that area as much as possible. So we'll draw a little bit underneath the i2. And I think this feature is really important to put into this course here. And the reason why is because there is so much that's going on outside of the eye that really defines how this eye is going to look. So I wanted to try to explain it to you as best as possible. So underneath the eye there is still once again, another highlighted gap. There. And is not necessarily the gap that's on the eye, the lip of the eye, but it is still highlighted area. So you still want to make sure that you're leaving room for that highlight. And then applying that dark sepia in the same direction as the firm which is going down. And you want to draw a short strokes, short and light strokes there. And once again, have a sharp pencil for that. Then we can get into using a light blue for the highlighted areas. This is really a key feature for blending, as well as making your highlights look realistic because most highlights aren't just straight, white. They do have a little bit of a tint to it. So you want to look at that highlight and see what kind of color is actually in there. And try to draw what you see. Find that, find that color that you see there and apply that. So I used a light blue, but it wasn't a very pale blue is just a lighter blue and I just use light pressure for that highlight above the pupil. And then you can start to add a little bit more texture. What you see that's in that highlights. Sometimes you could see a reflection of person or something that's in the background, but not always. So for this instance, there's not a whole lot of reflection going on, just a little bit more of a texture. So I used a little bit of very, very light pressure with the black. And then the same applies for that light blue. This is basically it for the drawing of the eye here. And if you want to keep drawing more of the I, then go right ahead or go back over what you see and just apply a little bit more detail. If you see a little bit of the white showing through the tooth of the paper showing through. Then you're not quite done. Just keep applying more layers and applying a little bit more pressure and use a lighter colors to blend. And try to make sure that the light colors that you do use are similar to the colors that you have already applied, such as in the eye. If it's orange brown, reddish color, try to find a very, very pale gray or brown or something like that to blend in that area. And just be very mindful of how it's going to affect that area. And if it's going to lighten it up, then you can always go back over it and darken it with the same colors that you had applied originally. So I hope that this tutorial has helped you learn how to draw an eye. And if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out. I'm more than happy to help you and send me a picture as well. I would love to see your results.