How to draw eye bags: the lines under the lower lid

Eye bags are the soft fold under the lower lid. In a drawing they come down to one or two curved lines below the eye, and small changes to those lines can change the age and the mood of a face. Put the line too close and it reads as a second lid. Put it too low or too dark and the face can look tired. This guide measures where ten drawn heads put it.

The heads come from the free head rotation reference. On the front plates (both eyes) and the 45 degree plates (the eye nearer to you) we traced every line under the eye with a script, drew each trace back on its plate, and sorted them by eye: the first line under the lid, a second curve below that, and a line running down from the inner corner. The script followed each line until it was barely darker than the paper beside it. Drops are measured from the lower lid straight down to the line, column by column; a faint lid can be read a little higher or lower, so small differences are uncertain. The lines are light on the plates, so zoom in to see them. The numbers describe these drawings, not people's faces; use them as a starting point to check against your own reference.

The first line: a quarter of an eye below the lid

All ten heads draw a line under the lower lid, on all twenty eyes from the front, and it's separate from the lid's own edge: several heads draw the lid as two close lines that meet at the corners, and the line we mean sits below both.

Drop: averaged along the line, weighting the darker parts more, it sits about a fifth to a third of an eye width below the lid, about a quarter on a typical eye.
Where it dips: the lowest point sits an eighth to half of the way in from the outer corner, at or before halfway on all twenty eyes, so the line sags under the outer half of the eye.
Where it starts and ends: on every eye it starts a little outside the outer corner, where the lids meet: about a seventh of an eye width out on a typical eye, about a fifth at most on all but one, which starts half an eye width out. On 18 of the 20 eyes it runs three quarters of the way across or more; only the heavy-brow eyes stop about a quarter of the way across, and none runs into the corner.

The minimal head from the front. One light line under each eye, in two strokes, about a quarter of an eye width below the lid along its length.

Two strokes, not one

Fourteen of the twenty eyes draw the first line as two strokes with a break between them: a short outer piece at the outer corner, then a longer piece toward the nose. The gaunt, heavy-jaw, minimal, deep-folds, soft-planes and high-cheekbones heads do it on both eyes, the square-jaw and full-lips heads on one. Only the hard-plane and heavy-brow heads use one stroke on both sides. The break falls in the outer two-thirds of the eye. On four of these eyes the outer piece is so faint that the script missed it, and we read it by eye.

Keep it lighter than the lid

We compared the line with the lid directly above it, column by column. By its middle tone the line is lighter than the lid on all twenty eyes from the front and all ten at 45 degrees, usually by a clear margin.

The second curve: over half an eye down

From the front, two heads clearly add a second curve that closes under the first: deep-folds and heavy-brow, on both eyes. Its lowest point is a little over half an eye width below the lid, about two to three times as far down as the first line. This curve reads as the lower edge of the bag, and the eye looks heavier with it. The gaunt head has a long arc at about that depth beside its left eye; we read it as the edge of the cheek, but it's a close call. The catalog calls the deep-folds head older and the soft-planes head younger, and from the front the soft-planes head draws only the first line.

The deep-folds head from the front. The first line, in two strokes, runs about a fifth of an eye width below each lid; the second curve is about three fifths of an eye width down at its lowest.

The line from the inner corner

Seven heads from the front (twelve eyes) also draw a line that leaves the eye near the inner corner and runs down and out toward the cheek: the hard-plane, gaunt, heavy-jaw, soft-planes and high-cheekbones heads on both sides, the minimal and heavy-brow heads on one. It's a separate stroke from the bag line, which ends before the inner corner.

At 45 degrees

On the near eye at 45 degrees all ten heads keep the first line. Along its length it sits about as far below the lid as from the front. Four heads draw a second curve much further down: deep-folds and heavy-brow again, plus gaunt-planes and soft-planes. So a head that shows one line from the front can show two at a turn. Four heads (hard-plane, minimal, square-jaw and full-lips) draw the diagonal from the inner corner on this eye.

The heavy-brow head at 45 degrees. A short stroke just under the near lid; below it a longer curve, about three times as far down at its lowest, that climbs toward the nose as a darker stroke.

We looked at the profiles too. Every head draws something under the eye, but the lines sit too close to the lid, cheek and nose strokes to measure without guessing, so there are no profile numbers here, and the far eye at 45 degrees wasn't measured either.

Order of work

Draw the eye and both lids first. The bag line is measured from the lower lid.
Place the first line about a quarter of an eye width below the lid, with its lowest point under the outer half of the eye.
Start it just outside the outer corner and stop it short of the inner corner.
Try it in two strokes. Most of these eyes draw a short outer piece at the corner, then a longer one toward the nose.
Add a second curve only for a heavier or older eye, a little over half an eye width below the lid.
Keep the first line lighter than the lower lid.

Common mistakes

A line hugging the lid. Averaged along its length, the first line is never closer than about a fifth of an eye width to the lid on these plates.
One dark, unbroken curve. On these plates the line is lighter than the lid, and on 14 of 20 eyes it's in two strokes.
Running it into the inner corner. None of the twenty eyes does; on seven heads a separate diagonal stroke leaves from there instead.
A second curve on every face. From the front only the deep-folds and heavy-brow heads clearly draw one.

Related guides

The bag sits on the floor of the eye socket, so how to draw eye sockets is the shape underneath it, and how to draw eyes at different angles turns the eye and its lids. How to draw an older face adds the other folds, and how to draw nasolabial folds measures the fold from the nose to the mouth the same way as this guide.

A short exercise

Draw the minimal head and the deep-folds head from the front, side by side and the same size. Under each lower lid of the first, draw one light line about a quarter of an eye width down, in two strokes. On the second, add a curve a little over half an eye width down. Then turn the deep-folds head to 45 degrees and check that both lines keep about the same distance from the lid, then compare all three drawings with the plates.

The minimal head is Study Pack 04 in Volume 1, and the deep-folds head is Study Pack 05 in Volume 2, sixteen angles in pencil and tone.

This guide is one step in how to draw the head at any angle, which puts all the head guides in order.