Best Eye Drawings With Copic Markers

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Once you have been drawing faces with pencil it can be fun to use other materials to do it. Drawing with Copic markers can make it difficult to get the same effect of smooth skin and features that you'd get by working with other materials. However, learning how to correctly draw with them will allow you to create a new look to your drawings. Read on to learn how to do this.

Steps

1
Make sure you have a selection of similar markers that you will be able to use. Only having one or two markers will make it difficult to get a smooth look. The more markers you use the better the end result will be.
- Copic sells packs of three markers that are good blending combinations so you can create a gradient look.
- They also have a pack of 5 that consists of skin tone colored markers.
2
Select 3 or more markers to use for the skin. The lightest color in your group of markers is what color the skin will end up looking like, so choose that marker wisely. Once you have your markers together, test them out before using them on your drawing. This will prevent you from accidentally using a marker that doesn't match the rest like you thought it would.
- Take note of the best ways to blend the colors together, which is dragging the colors across each other (see photo for reference)
- If you are using thin paper make sure to put something under it so you prevent stains on the surface you're using.
3

Make the outline of the face using a pencil. Don't go too in detail with the curves of the face. This should be done after the features are added so the face shape complements the features of the face better. Add in the cross-T that will help you with the placement of features. The horizontal line should be placed about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the face depending on how big you'd like the forehead to be. The vertical line will sit in the middle of the face where the center of the nose will be.
4
Start to add in the features of the face. When doing this be very light with your pencil and don't add detail to the skin. Things such as the bridge of the nose and crease of the eye will be added with the markers. This is due to how the markers react to pencil marks (the pencil will cause discoloration you won't be able to get rid of)
- The eyes will be placed on the horizontal line of the cross-T with roughly half the eye above the line and half below. When deciding the distance between the eyes a general guideline is to put a "third eye" between them. This means that the space between the eyes should be about the width of one of the eyes itself.
- The nose should be done on the vertical line of the cross-T. The length of the nose depends on your desired look, but generally should reach halfway between the horizontal T-line and the chin.
- The lips should be placed low enough to allow room between the nose, but high enough that the chin isn't too small. Look at the space between the top of the lip and the chin. The lips should take up about half of that space, meaning you should be able to fit a "second set" of lips between the bottom lip and chin.
- Now that you have the major features you can adjust the face shape. While doing this, make the cheekbones and jawline more defined.
- Add the eyebrows with your desired shape. They can be as far from the eyes as you want, as this can create different expressions. A good way to know where the arch of the brow should be is by drawing a straight line from the edge of the nostril to the outer edge of the iris.
- Erase your cross-T and any unnecessary pencil marks when done.
5
Before you use the markers, erase the nose so it's barely visible to avoid discoloration.
- Using the darkest of your selected markers, outline the nose and face. Don't make the outline too thick or it will be difficult to create realistic shading.
- Picking a light source will help you get realistic shading. If the light is coming straight on, shading will be even on both sides of the face. If it comes from the right, the darkest areas of the face will be on the left. Coming from the left the dark areas will be on the right. Using the same dark marker begin to lightly shade the darkest parts of the face, being sure to drag the marker towards the center of the face for better blending (see photo for reference). The darkest areas will be the bridge of the nose by the eye, the nostril area, the cheek hollows, under the lips, under/ above the eye and on the outer side of the eye. Also start to add details such as lines under the eyes and the cupids bow between the lip and nose.
6
Start to add on more layers of colors. Use your markers in order of dark to light. The lightest areas of the face will be the middle of the nose bridge, cheekbones, chin, and the forehead. Leave these areas for last so they are the lightest.
- Make sure your strokes of the marker are going in the right direction and that you stay as consistent as possible with these directions. The more you go over the area with the marker the darker it will get, but the less you'll see the strokes.
7
Once you're happy with the way the skin looks, begin adding details to the eye. Using a black marker, add the pupil, and also outline the eye so it stands out. Do this by making the line thick towards the outside of the eye and having it taper off. You can also use a thin marker to add eyelashes. Consider using the 0.3 Copic multiliner.
- To add color to the eye, fill in the white space with the color you want the eye to be. Then take a dark shade of that color and outline the iris. The easiest way to create shading of the iris if your light source is from the right is the put the darker colors on the left, and vise versa. Then taking a skinny marker, create zigzags in a circle around the pupil to add the detail of the iris.
- Shade the whites of the eye by coloring them in a very light grey, making the greys darker as you move out from the iris. Try not to reach a black-ish color by the time you reach the edge of the eye whites.
8

Fill in the eyebrows fully on the outside, tapering the color off as you reach the inner side. Then create skinny hair-like lines where the color is light. If you want you can go back and create more hair texture in the rest of the eyebrow using a skinny marker.
9
To color the lips, start with neutral shades if you have them. This will allow you to build up.
- Then take a dark color and outline the lips. Begin to shade, creating lines that lips naturally have.
- Using your desired color, fill in the lips. Like the face you should taper the color off to the center of the lips. The middle of each lip should be the lightest part.
10
Start to outline the hair using the darkest shade of your chosen colors. If using a dark hair color you can start the hairline a bit lower than the top of the forehead. Go with the grain of the hair so it looks like strands. Keep in mind where light would hit the hair and also where it would be darkest. Where the hair would be light, just do a few strands with the dark marker.
- Overlapping your strokes will give a greater illusion of hair texture. Add layers of color like you did with the skin, leaving the light areas for your lightest marker. Add more hairs where you feel necessary.
11

Color the neck like you did the face. Depending on if you want to add shoulders you can put in details such as the collarbone.
12

Add white areas on the lips and in the eyes to make it look shiny. You can use the Copic opaque white bottle to do so.

Add New Question

Question

What Copic Sketch Markers did you use in the tutorial?

E00; E70; E11; E13; and E74. That's going light to dark. Copic markers have a set of five markers in E that have similar skin tones; you could try those.
Question

Can this work for other alcohol markers, as well?

Yes, if you use them correctly. Copics are just like other markers -- they are just said to be good with blending. It's probably good to start with other markers, too, because copics are expensive.
Question

Can I use "unnatural" colors as well (like blue, red, green, etc.)?

Sure! Experiment all you want with the colors. It's your art, use your imagination and get creative!