Painting realistic eyes in acrylics can seem intimidating at first, but with the right approach, it’s completely manageable, even for beginner artists!
Eyes are often the focal point of a portrait, and capturing them well can add depth, emotion, and life to your work. In this step by step tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to paint human eyes using acrylic paint. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to improve your technique, this tutorial is perfect for you!
If you’d like to watch the video tutorial to see the painting in process, just watch it below or head over to my Youtube channel.
The full length video tutorial in real time with full step by step instructions, as well as reference photos, line drawings, exact paint colours etc. is available on my Patreon.
If you’d rather read the step by step instructions for how to paint this eye then just scroll down!
To paint this eye you will need:
- Acrylic paints (white, yellow, red, blue, brown, black)
- Canvas or other painting surface
- Paintbrushes
- Reference image (if you’d like to use the reference photo that I worked from you can download that from the full tutorial on Patreon)
Step 1:
Sketch the outline of the eye onto your canvas with pencil. Then mix up a range of skin tone shades of paint, you’ll want shades with red, yellow and blue unter tones, as well as highlights, midtones and shadows. Use more white paint for lighter skin tones, and more brown paint for darker skin tones. I go into a lot more detail for the colour mixing process in the full length tutorial.
Watch the video below for my top tips on acrylic paint colour mixing:
Step 2:
Continue to paint the skin around the eye, remembering to keep referring to your reference image so you know where to paint the highlights and shadows. For example you’ll want to paint the darker paint in places like the eyelid crease. Also take note of what undertone the skin has, for example often there is a more blue tone on the skin underneath the eye.
Step 3:
Use a thin or slanted paintbrush to start painting the eyebrow hairs. Mark out the general shape of the eyebrow and follow the natural direction of the hairs, and make sure to paint some in slightly different directions to help to make it look more realistic.
Step 4:
Paint the whites of the eyes using a mix of different shades of warm grey. Paint darker shadows just under the eyelid and in the corner of the eye, and lighter paints towards the centre. Try to only use pure white for the smallest highlights where the light is reflecting onto the eyeball.
Step 5:
Now we can start painting the iris. the paint colours you use for this will depend on the eye colours that you are painting. It helps to pull the paint outwards from the pupil to create a starburst effect. The iris is usually darker around the outer edge, and shadowed underneath the eyelid.
Step 6:
Use black paint to paint the pupil of the eye. Then use a mix of blue and white paint to add the highlight. The blue will give the effect of the sky being reflected in the highlight of the eye. Only use white paint for the brightest part of the highlight. You can see more details of this in the video on Youtube.
Step 7:
Use a small thin paintbrush and black paint to start painting the eyelashes. Paint them with a curve at the bottom, and make sure some are going in different directions to make them appear more natural and realistic. Make sure some of the eyelashes also overlap each other.
Step 8:
Complete your eye painting by adding the final touches. These can include eyelash reflections in the highlight, additional eyebrow hairs in different shades, increasing contrast where needed etc.
Painting eyes with acrylics takes practice, but once you get the hang of the basics, it becomes a lot less intimidating and a lot more fun!
If you found these steps helpful and want to watch the full video in real time so you can paint along with me, the full step-by-step eye painting tutorial is available on my Patreon, along with all of my other full-length art tutorials.
Thanks for reading and happy painting!
