{"id":3496,"date":"2016-12-12T09:25:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T14:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/?p=3496"},"modified":"2026-01-19T22:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:47:15","slug":"how-to-shade-an-eyeball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/2016\/12\/12\/how-to-shade-an-eyeball\/","title":{"rendered":"How to shade an eyeball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3519\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-5-rfa\" width=\"513\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA.jpg 594w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/>Every now and then, I get questions about how to shade eyeballs and how to make them look round. It&#8217;s a little difficult to explain without pictures, so here&#8217;s a short and sweet step by step tutorial to answer that question :)\u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tools:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1SCbZ4S\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">HB pencil<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1U8wyWT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Canson Bristol Paper<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1nOMkaP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Kneaded Eraser<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Soft Tissue Paper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3509\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball_white.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball_white\" width=\"595\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball_white.jpg 595w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball_white-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 595px) 100vw, 595px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While you&#8217;re drawing the eye, keep the white part of the eyeball as clean as possible. We&#8217;re going to shade the entire eyeball later. This will bring your highlights out more because your highlights will be the lightest value in your drawing.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 1: Light Shading<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3515\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-1-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-1-rfa\" width=\"592\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-1-RFA.jpg 592w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-1-RFA-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" \/><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Grab a blunt HB pencil and use the side of your lead to create large, blunt strokes on a scrap piece of paper. Use the exact same edge to shade an even layer of graphite across the eyeball without drawing over the iris. <a href=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/2016\/07\/19\/how-to-shade-the-ultimate-tutorial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contouring<\/a> would be a suitable shading technique to use.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 2:\u00a0Blend Carefully<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3516\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-2-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-2-rfa\" width=\"592\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-2-RFA.jpg 592w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-2-RFA-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Wrap a small piece of tissue paper around your finger and blend the eyeball in 2 separate sections. Do not touch any areas with dark shading or else you will smudge extra graphite onto the eyeball. Use very little pressure and use a new piece of tissue after every stroke.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 3: Shade Around the Iris<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3517\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-3-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-3-rfa\" width=\"592\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-3-RFA.jpg 592w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-3-RFA-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once your shading is smooth, use your HB pencil to shade around the iris. The goal is to eliminate the harsh edge around the iris. Blend the graphite out if you need to.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 4: Shade the Eyelid Rims<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3518\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-4-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-4-rfa\" width=\"594\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-4-RFA.jpg 594w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-4-RFA-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Soften out your graphite where the skin touches the eyeball. This step is very subtle, but helps pull\u00a0the skin and eyeball closer together. Compared to the previous image, this one looks like the top and bottom lids are actually touching the eyeball &#8211; snug fit.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 5: Add Subtle Shadows<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3519\" src=\"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-5-rfa\" width=\"594\" height=\"385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA.jpg 594w, https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Depending on where your light source is coming from (mine&#8217;s coming from the top), add subtle shadows using a blunt HB pencil. To make the eyeball look round, shade the far ends of the eyeball. Make sure your value transitions are very gradual.<\/p>\n<p>Scroll up and compare the images from step 4 and 5. Notice how even the most subtle shadows can give the eyeball such a round shape. Just something to keep in mind when you shade.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, there\u2019s an area of the eyeball near the tear duct that is slightly bumpy. So make sure to pay extra attention to that. However, you don\u2019t want to bring too much attention to it, so try to keep it subtle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Thanks to MargaritaM for reminding me to add a slideshow to this tutorial! Use the slideshow below to see all the steps and their subtle differences:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- START UNITE GALLERY 1.7.62 -->\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div id='unitegallery_8_1' class='unite-gallery' style='margin:0px auto;'>\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball_white\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     src=\"\" data-image=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball_white.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     data-thumb=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball_white-300x196.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     style=\"display:none\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-1-rfa\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     src=\"\" data-image=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-1-RFA.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     data-thumb=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-1-RFA-300x196.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     style=\"display:none\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-2-rfa\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     src=\"\" data-image=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-2-RFA.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     data-thumb=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-2-RFA-300x194.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     style=\"display:none\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-3-rfa\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     src=\"\" data-image=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-3-RFA.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     data-thumb=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-3-RFA-300x196.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     style=\"display:none\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-4-rfa\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     src=\"\" data-image=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-4-RFA.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     data-thumb=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-4-RFA-300x197.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     style=\"display:none\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"how-to-shade-an-eyeball-step-5-rfa\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     src=\"\" data-image=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     data-thumb=\"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/How-to-Shade-an-Eyeball-Step-5-RFA-300x194.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t     style=\"display:none\">\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<script type='text\/javascript'>\n\t\t\t\twindow.onload = function(e) {\n\t\t\t\t\tif(typeof ugCheckForErrors == \"undefined\"){\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"unitegallery_8_1\").innerHTML = \"<span style='color:red'>Unite Gallery Error - gallery js and css files not included in the footer. Please make sure that wp_footer() function is added to your theme.<\/span>\";}\n\t\t\t\t\telse{ ugCheckForErrors(\"unitegallery_8_1\", \"jquery\");}\n\t\t\t\t};\n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\n\t\t\t<!-- END UNITEGALLERY --><\/p>\n<p>I hope this tutorial was helpful! Which steps helped you the most? I&#8217;d love to know :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every now and then, I get questions about how to shade eyeballs and how to make them look round. It&#8217;s a little difficult to explain without pictures, so here&#8217;s a short and sweet step by step tutorial to answer that question :)\u00a0Enjoy! Tools: HB pencil Canson Bristol Paper Kneaded Eraser Soft Tissue Paper While you&#8217;re [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[73,74,24],"class_list":["post-3496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-how-to-draw","tag-eye","tag-eyeball","tag-eyes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235-300x218.jpg",300,218,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"large":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"ug_big":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false],"gg_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/THUMBNAIL-how-to-shade-an-eyeball-324x235.jpg",324,235,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Darlene Nguyen","author_link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/author\/darlenenguyen\/"},"uagb_comment_info":14,"uagb_excerpt":"Every now and then, I get questions about how to shade eyeballs and how to make them look round. It&#8217;s a little difficult to explain without pictures, so here&#8217;s a short and sweet step by step tutorial to answer that question :)\u00a0Enjoy! Tools: HB pencil Canson Bristol Paper Kneaded Eraser Soft Tissue Paper While you&#8217;re&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3496"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8211,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496\/revisions\/8211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}