How to draw the iris

The iris is the colored circle in the eye. In a line drawing it's one of the simplest shapes on the face, and three choices place it: how big it is, where the lids cut it, and how much it narrows when the head turns. This guide measures all three on ten drawn heads, from the front and turned.

The heads come from the free head rotation reference. A script measured each iris on the pencil plates from the middle of one side edge stroke to the other, over seven rows around its middle; we placed a handful by eye and drew every read back on its plate. We measured both eyes from the front, both at 22.5 degrees, and the near eye at 45 degrees. The plates share one frame and scale at every angle. A single width is good to about a twentieth of the iris. Between views the rows we read can sit a little higher or lower on the iris, so there we count a difference only when it reaches about a tenth of the iris width. The numbers describe these drawings, not people's eyes; check them against your own reference.

Two fifths of the opening

From the front, measure the opening from the inner corner to where the lids meet; the short tail of the upper lid line past that point doesn't count. The iris takes two fifths of that opening or a little more on all twenty eyes, never as much as half.

The iris doesn't sit in the middle of the opening. On all twenty eyes its center is outward of the middle, on nearly all by more than a tenth of an iris width and by about a fifth on a typical eye. The plates don't say where the eyes look; these drawings set it a little toward the outer corner.

The deep-folds head from the front. Each iris is two fifths of the opening or a little more, a little toward the outer corner, its top under the upper lid and its bottom on the lower lid.

Top under the upper lid, bottom on the lower lid

Our eyelids guide measured the top: on 19 of the 20 front eyes the upper lid covers part of the iris, usually about a quarter of its height.

The bottom does something different. Looking at every front eye at six times size, no clear white shows below the iris on any of the twenty: the bottom of the circle runs into the lower lid line. At the middle of the iris the two lines meet or nearly touch, with no white between.

So from the front the white of the eye shows only at the sides. Tuck the top of the circle under the upper lid and rest its bottom on the lower one. We checked the lids from the front only; at 45 degrees the deep-folds and full-lips heads leave a thin line of white under the iris.

At 22.5 degrees the far iris narrows a little

At 22.5 degrees the near iris stays within about a tenth of its front width on nine heads. The gaunt-planes head is the exception at a little over four fifths; its lids close in on both eyes at this angle, so we could only measure the part of the iris between them.

The far iris is about four fifths to just over its full front width, about seven eighths on a typical head. Read on the same rows of the same plate, it's narrower than the near iris by about a twentieth of an iris width or more on seven heads; on the other three the two are within the error. That's the first sign of the turn in the eyes, and it's small: the two irises differ by about a tenth of an iris width at most, not a squashed oval.

At 45 degrees, about seven eighths

At 45 degrees the near iris is clearly narrower than from the front on six heads. On the hard-plane, minimal, deep-folds and high-cheekbones heads the difference is too small to count across views. On nine heads it keeps a little over four fifths to nearly its full front width, about seven eighths on a typical head; the full-lips, heavy-brow and square-jaw heads narrow most, to a little over four fifths. On the gaunt-planes head only about three fifths of the iris's front width shows between lids that close over it.

A flat circle turned 45 degrees would shrink to about seven tenths of its width; an eye that turns to look at you keeps its circle. The plates don't say where the eyes look, and they draw the iris wider than that on nine of ten heads. These plates draw it about seven eighths of the front circle, never a thin oval. Eyes at different angles follows the rest of the eye through the turn.

The full-lips head at 45 degrees. The near iris is about four fifths of its front width, among the most narrowed of the ten.

In tone, most irises stay plain

Read by eye on the ten tonal front plates, seven leave the iris as a bare circle. The hard-plane head hatches it, and the heavy-jaw head is the only one with a pupil, a dark dot inside a second ring. The gaunt-planes plate draws its eyes nearly closed, with no iris showing. On these plates tone goes into the iris last, if at all.

The heavy-jaw head in tone from the front, the one plate of ten with a pupil drawn in each iris.

Order of work

Heavy-jaw head. Panels 1 to 5: one eye from the front, its outer dot where the lids meet, ticks at fifths of the opening; the dashed arc is the iris under the lid. Panel 6 is the other eye, nearer at 45 degrees: red its width there, blue-grey its front width. Panel 7 is the tonal plate, a separate drawing, pupils a little above center. New lines red, earlier marks blue-grey, drawn lines grey.

Draw the eye from the inner corner to where the lids meet, with both lids.
Size the iris at two fifths of that opening or a little more.
Place it a little toward the outer corner, about a fifth of its own width past the middle, as these plates do.
Tuck the top under the upper lid, about a quarter of its height.
Rest the bottom on the lower lid line, so the white shows only at the sides.
Turn the head: at 22.5 degrees make the far iris the same or a little narrower than the near one; at 45 degrees make the near iris about seven eighths of its front width.
Tone last, if at all: most of these plates leave the iris a plain circle, and one adds a pupil.

Common mistakes

A small iris. On these plates even the smallest takes two fifths of the opening.
An iris dead center. Every front eye of the twenty sets it toward the outer corner.
White under the iris from the front. No front eye of the twenty shows a clear band.
A full circle with no lid over it. The upper lid covers part of the iris on 19 of 20 front eyes.
A thin oval at three-quarter. At 45 degrees nine heads keep at least a little over four fifths of the front width.
Narrowing the near iris first. At 22.5 degrees the near iris stays within a tenth of its front width on nine heads; any narrowing shows in the far one.

Related guides

How to draw eyelids places the lid line and the crease over the iris, how to draw eye sockets builds the hollow around the eye, and face width proportions spaces the two eyes across the face.

A short exercise

Draw the deep-folds head and the full-lips head from the front and at 45 degrees, the same size. From the front, give each iris two fifths of the opening or a little more, a touch toward the outer corner, tuck its top under the upper lid and rest its bottom on the lower one. At 45 degrees, keep the deep-folds near iris almost its full front width and narrow the full-lips one to about four fifths. Compare all four eyes with the plates.

The deep-folds head is Study Pack 05 and the full-lips head Study Pack 08, both in Volume 2.

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