How to draw an eye from the side: the wedge, the lids and the iris

From the side, draw the eye as a short wedge, not an almond: the lids meet at the outer corner and open toward the front, where the iris shows as a narrow ellipse. Three things are easy to get wrong: the eye comes out too long, it sits right under the bridge of the nose, or the iris keeps its full front-view width. This guide measures the eye in profile on ten drawn heads; where a point can't be read on a head, the count says so.

The heads come from the free head rotation reference. On each pencil plate at 90 degrees we read four points by hand from enlarged crops: the outer corner, where the lids meet; the front of the eye, the frontmost line drawn between the lids; and the two places where the upper and lower lids reach that front line. Where the iris is drawn, we also read its back edge. On seven heads the front line is the front edge of the iris; on the gaunt-planes, full-lips and high-cheekbones heads the iris is not drawn as a clear ellipse, so the front is the line where the lids end. The dip at the top of the bridge comes from the same tracing used in how to draw a forehead. Every point was drawn back on its plate and checked by eye. Four heads are drawn tipped a little chin-up, by about 5 to 6 degrees (hard-plane, heavy-jaw, minimal) and 2 (square-jaw), a rough read from each plate's eye-level line; we turned them level before measuring, which moves the distances here only slightly. These are ten drawings in one style, bald and looking straight ahead, so the numbers describe these drawings, not every eye.

To make the numbers work at any size, we give them as a share of the same eye seen from the front: its width from the inner corner to where the lids meet, on the front view of the same head. We did not measure whether the side and front plates share one scale. The gaunt-planes eye is drawn narrow, and its upper lid line runs on well behind the corner, so the corner is hard to place precisely; it counts only for where the front of the eye sits.

The side view is about two fifths as long as the front view

Measured straight across, from the outer corner to the front, the eye in profile is about a third to just under half of its front-view width on the nine heads we could measure. With the corner hard to place exactly, read it as "about two fifths", not a precise figure.

That is the main fix for most profile eyes. From the front, the eye is a long almond across the face; turned 90 degrees, that length disappears and you see the depth of the lids and eyeball: a short wedge.

It sits behind the bridge

On a level head, drop a line straight down from the dip at the top of the bridge. The front of the eye lands behind that line on every head: about a third to a half of the front eye width on six heads, a little under half on a typical head of the ten. The gaunt-planes, square-jaw and heavy-jaw eyes sit furthest back, about half a front eye width, and the deep-folds eye sits closest, a quarter of a front eye width back. The front of the eye is also lower than the dip, by a tenth to nearly half a front eye width, about a third on most heads.

On the chin-up plates, before levelling, the hard-plane, heavy-jaw and minimal eyes read a little closer to the dip. If your eye touches the bridge outline, move it back. The space in front of it is the side of the nose and the inner corner, which you can't see from here.

The lids open to the front

The upper lid rises from the corner and the lower lid drops, so the opening at the front is about two thirds to the full length of the eye seen from the side, about four fifths on a typical head of the eight. The two lid lines meet at the corner at about 35 to 55 degrees, middle value 44; the corner pick moves these angles by up to about 6 degrees.

Draw the two lids unequal. The upper lid climbs about half the side length from the corner (from a little over two fifths to three fifths), and the lower lid drops less, about a third (from a little over a fifth to a little over two fifths). On all eight heads the upper lid climbs further than the lower lid drops, though on the hard-plane and heavy-brow heads the difference is too small to be sure of. So the corner usually sits nearer the bottom of the opening than the top.

The upper lid's line also runs on a little past the front of the eye, like a short flick: a seventh to a half of the side length on seven heads, typically a third. On the full-lips and high-cheekbones heads it is lost in the nose shading. By eye, the lower lid stops at about the front.

The iris turns into a narrow ellipse

On the seven heads where the iris is drawn clearly, it is an upright ellipse at the very front of the eye, its front edge the front of the eye itself. It is about a quarter to a third of the same iris's front-view width, a rough read from the measurements in how to draw the iris. So the iris loses about two thirds of its width. Don't draw a circle, and don't push the iris back into the middle of the eye.

How to draw an eye from the side, step by step

1. Measure the eye on a front view of the same head, from the inner corner to where the lids meet, at the size you are drawing, and use that width as your unit.
2. Mark the dip at the top of the bridge, then drop a line straight down from it.
3. Place the front of the eye a little under half a front eye width behind that line, and about a third of one lower than the dip.
4. Mark the outer corner about two fifths of a front eye width behind the front.
5. Draw the upper lid climbing from the corner to the front, about half the side length, and let it run on past the front in a short flick.
6. Draw the lower lid dropping less, about a third of the side length, and stop it at about the front.
7. Put the iris in as a narrow upright ellipse against the front, a quarter to a third as wide as it is from the front.
8. Draw the brow and the folds around the eye, then check it against the plate.

Common mistakes

• A long almond. From the side the eye is about two fifths as long as it is from the front.
• An eye under the bridge. Each one sits behind the dip at the top of the bridge.
• A round iris. It is a narrow ellipse, a quarter to a third of its front width.
• Lids that mirror each other. The upper lid climbs more than the lower one drops.
• An iris in the middle of the eye. It sits at the front, where the lids open.

Related guides

How to draw eyes at different angles turns the eye through every view, how to draw eyelids covers the folds from the front, and how to draw the head in profile builds the rest of the side view. How to draw a nose from the side measures the nose in front of the eye.

A short exercise

Draw the heavy-jaw head and the soft-planes head in profile, the same size. Measure each eye's width on the front view first and use it for everything else. Give the heavy-jaw eye its narrow opening, about 34 degrees, set just over half an eye width behind the dip, and the soft-planes eye its wider one, about 49, set a little under half back, then compare each drawing with its plate.

The heavy-jaw head is Study Pack 03, in Volume 1, and the soft-planes head is Study Pack 06, in Volume 2.

This guide is one step in how to draw the head at any angle, which puts all the head guides in order.