Now we get to the fun part! The eyes are one of the major components that make manga-styled drawings well... manga-styled drawings. It's also usually the first thing a person focuses on when he or she looks at a face, so it's important to perfect our eye-drawing skills to make a good first impression.
Eye shapes can vary from oval to perfectly round depending on your style. If you're aiming for realistic eyes, you want to stick to oval shapes. If you want generic large shoujo eyes, the shape should be more circular. You could also have something in the middle. This will be covered in more detail in the next tutorial.
The size of the iris can vary depending on the expression of the face (eg. small to emphasize that the person is surprised, large to create a "puppy face" look, etc). Both eyes must be parallel as well as have the same width and height when they're relaxed.
Let's start with the most basic manga eye. First, draw an upper curved line for the upper eyelid. Then, draw another curved line below for the lower eyelid. Add a vertical oval in between and voila, you have an eye. A very plain eye, but an eye nonetheless.
Now let's add some details. If you take a look at the eyes of an Asian person, some have a fold immediately over their upper eyelid. Almost all manga characters have this extra fold because it gives the eye a softer look. Also, if you're going for a shoujo style, eyelashes are a must for female and for male eyes. The longer they are, the more feminine and beautiful the face looks. Of course, they start looking silly past a certain length. They can curl upwards (for females or cute androgynous males) or point downwards (for all types).
The iris can also be drawn in many different ways, depending on the particular style the artist wants to employ to create a specific atmosphere or just the general style of the artist himself. Some artists only stick to one type of eye and change the shape only. Others change their ways of drawing eyes completely from character to character. It's really up to you. The table below shows a small sample of the countless ways of shading in the eyeball, just to give you an idea.
Neutral
Simple eye with only one light bubble.
Clear eye with large pupils, gives the impression that the eyes can see through you.
Clear eyes with small pupils, gives eye a colder, emptier look.
Dull eyes with no light: gives eyes a lifeless look.
Dull eyes using gradient: also gives eyes a lifeless look.
Shaded eyes with bar of light: gives eyes a robotic look.
Shiny eyes: by adding a lot of light bubbles, the eye looks brighter and happier.
You can use a combination of different features: gradient, large pupils, and light bubbles.
Remember that these guidelines are by no means laws that you must absolutely follow. It really depends on how you want to portray your people and what you feel is right. To familiarize yourself with manga-styled eyes, you should look through series with styles you really like and pay close attention to how the artist draws the eyes. Notice how the shape, size, and lighting change from character to character? Sometimes, even a subtle change can make a large difference.
