Dragon eyes are super cool, and with the proper amount of detail they can be the difference between a good and a bad piece. This post will be about one method of drawing dragon eyes that I have found effective, that are sort of like clock hands in the pupil. This way of making pretty dragon eyes can be applied to a great many mythological beasts, and can be colored to be interpreted so many different ways.
What you will need
How to Draw a Dragon Eye Base Lines
Start with a very simple circle. Add an oval shape around the circle shape, cutting off just a little of the top part of the circle. This will make the dragon eye look more like it’s looking straight at you. Add a guideline straight down the middle.
Sketching the How to Draw a Dragon Eye
Start making little shapes here or there, like the tear duct in the corner and the basic outline of the pupil. Don’t finalize any part of your drawing at this stage, just get some ideas on the page and get warmed up.
Drawing the Actual Pupil
The pupil, in its basic shapes, is a mix of both rectangles and squares. Start by drawing diamond shapes of different sizes with rectangular gaps in the middle of the eye. Once you have done that, draw in the shading of the pupil with your pencil. Make it dark in the middle and one side slightly lighter along the other edge of the pupil.
How to Draw a Dragon Eye with Shading
Next, you can start shading other parts of the eye. Think about where your light source is and how the eye would look if the light shone that direction. Add a light shade over the top part of the eye, and leave only a little tiny bit above the lower half of the eye.
Adding Eyelids
Draw a couple of curving shapes that lightly cover over the top of the eye, then draw a couple more along the bottom. Nothing special, just guidelines for the actual eyelids. This is just for placement purposes.
Adding Surrounding Scales to the How to Draw a Dragon Eye
Eyelids and lashes are hard to draw on a dragon, so in this case I chose to line the eye with pretty scales. These scales should be fairly large and round. I also added eyelashes as just a couple patches of scales striping out from the eye.
Shading the Scales
Scales are mostly flat, but they can have a slight curve around creases in the dragon’s flesh. You can define this by adding darker shading between the scales and leave lighter patches on the tops of the scales.
Defining the Eye with Ink
Go over the pupil’s outline and some of the inside with the ink pen or micron pen. This will make your art pop more and draw people’s attention to the focal point. I also recommend outlining the bottom of the scales where the light would not be hitting with your pen as well.
Optional Coloring
You can add all sorts of fun streaks and colors into the eye if you would like. I chose to leave my eye blank, as it would make it look more like the sort of art styles in my art book.
Finish
And your eye is done. Happy Crafting!