Drawing Fairy Eyes

STEP 1
Drawing Fairy Eyes - Whenever I begin drawing fairy faces, I always start with the eyes. They are the highlight and center of the face, show the most expression, and help get the spacing right for all of the rest of the features. No matter what medium I am working in, whether a painting or sketch, I always begin with a simple pencil drawing of fairies.

So this is just a simple sketch of eyes, mostly for placement and size purposes. Most eyes are basically shaped like an almond or football. They can have many variations after that, including how they tilt. The spacing between the eyes could be slightly closer or farther, depending on the look you want. I am using a basic slanted eyebrow for this drawing, rather than the typical arched kind, which is a very popular look for fairies.

At this point I am just putting in the basics of the eyes to make sure their placement and proportion are correct. They do not yet look very dimensional...that will come a bit later.

The eyes will get a lot more detailed later! And since everything is in pencil, you will see that I'll be doing much erasing and re-drawing as I get ideas.

When you are making fairy eyes, think in terms of what type of fairy it is -- earth, fire, water, air. And what the overall hair and costume will look like. And the fairy's personality. All of these things will help decide the details of the eyes. A few "Tattoos" may be added around the eye area, as if the fairy had applied eye makeup. It can be as simple or elaborate as you'd like. Floral, firey, vines, webbing, or spiders? It can even extend from the eyes all the way down the temples and onto the cheek area. Maybe jewels on the lashes and edges of the eyebrows. Or both.

These are just a few ideas of possible details. But that much detail would not happen till much later, if I use it at all for this particular picture. So we will have to see how the picture evolves...

Next - Step 2, the fairy face.

Mary