How to paint animal eyes

Learn how to paint animal eyes that are so realistic, it feels like your painting is looking back at you! I share my 5 top tips for painting realistic animal eyes, then I show you the steps I followed when I painted a lifelike Spaniel dog's eye in watercolour.

Here's a preview of what my top 5 tips are:

1) Work larger than life - When you look really closely at any eyes, you can usually see a variety of shapes and shades. It's very hard to paint all of those details at life size or smaller. By working at a larger scale, you stand a much better chance of achieving a realistic result.

2) Pay attention to angles - Before you begin, closely observe all of those small shapes that make up the eyes. Because eyes are spherical, it's important to make sure they look 3D and rounded.

3) Make an accurate line drawing - Start with an accurate and detailed outline drawing. If you take the time to make an accurate outline drawing before you begin painting, it'll really help you to place the reflections and shapes in the right positions and it WILL save you time in the painting stage.

4) Paint the eyes early - It can motivate you to keep painting when you see the subject of your portrait looking back at you! Before you use dark paint on the eyes though, you need to make sure any paler surrounding areas have been painted. Otherwise, if you were to place a watery wash of a paler colour next to the completed eyes, the dark particles of pigment could bleed into the lighter areas, which you don't want.

5) Come back to darken the eyes - As a portrait progresses, I often revisit areas where I can see they need to be darker, and I do this with the eyes too. This is because tone or value - that is, how dark an area appears - is relative to the area around it. So don't go too dark too soon. That way you can come back to darken the eyes later. Leave yourself room for manoeuvre by not painting the eyes quite as dark as you think they'll need to end up.


This class is part of a series of mini classes, including a video on how to approach the portrait as a whole and how to paint dog fur with a realistic, silky appearance, as well as how to paint fine white whiskers. There's also a mini class showing how to paint the Spaniel's big, shiny nose. After watching this videos, I hope you'll feel inspired to apply these techniques to your own pet portraits.

If you're looking for extra guidance and resources, you can find a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint this pretty Spaniel included with Nature Studio membership. Near the end of this video, you can see how members got on with the class. The full tutorial for members includes a traceable outline drawing, downloadable reference photo and list of paints used. It's one if hundreds of tutorials included with Nature Studio membership and you can find out more about membership at: https://www.naturestudio.com/

You can also find lots of free resources on the Nature Studio website:

Learn a reliable watercolour method for FREE: https://www.naturestudio.com/free-class/
Check out the best supplies to use: https://www.naturestudio.com/equipment/
Watch this other cute dog painting class: https://www.naturestudio.com/watercol...
Learn how to paint a watercolour cat: https://www.naturestudio.com/watercol...

Nature Studio is an online art school and community for artists all over the world who find inspiration from nature subjects. We're for everyone, from beginners to experienced artists. By joining the community, you could transform your watercolor painting skills, connect with over 6,000 fellow creatives around the world, and receive feedback on your artwork. We'd love to welcome you.

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