Drawing For Tattoo Design: Tattooing Eyes With Jesse Smith Drawing For Tattoos
Tattooing Eyes! With Jesse Smith
| Drawing For Tattoos |
Tattooing Eyes can be a real challenge. In today's short episode, our friend Jesse Smith offers a few ideas on designing eyes to create interest and even tell the story of a character. Enjoy
This episode was made possible thanks to:
Video By Jake Meeks —
Writing by Daniel Pushcarich -
Topics: Tattoo Drawing, Tattooing eyes, Tattoo Design, Composition for tattoos, Drawing for Tattoos
What’s in an Eye? An Excerpt from “Calm in the Chaos”
Let's talk about eyes for a moment in this brief essay. This portion of a drawing or tattoo, sometimes, makes or breaks the piece especially in more illustrative styles. He was great enough to allow us to utilize a little bit of his "Calm in the Chaos" seminar for our show, and he gave us an opportunity to delve deeper into the topic.
Many artists and tattooers, whether they are new or experienced, have trouble with different parts of drawing. We develop harmful ideas about the process early on and it can be difficult to unlearn those bad habits later. We hope that this article inspires you to think outside the box when it comes to drawings, and to break away from some of the older methods and frameworks.
Window to the World
When you look at anything as simple as an eye, you can start to break it down into its component parts. The pupil (colored part), the iris (whites), the cornea (whites) and then the outer layers, including the lids and even the eye brow are individual shapes that create one of the most expressive parts of the face.
When you take a closer look, you'll notice other things. You may see the reflection of the rest of the objects in the space, perhaps even other refracted hues that you might use, light source can also be derived for the piece from the highlight. All of these various bits of information might be used to enhance the overall forms that the eye can comprise rather than simply traditional circles within a football shape.
Drawing With Understanding and Intention
“There’s a lot of different ways that light could hit the eye…when you start understanding that…you draw them with more intention”
-Jesse Smith
So, what do you see when you look into an eye? Perhaps it's a bird in a cage or a plate of food; maybe the photographer is lurking within the image. The reflection on an eye isn't simply the highlight; it also contains a slew of additional forms.
When you take these additional seconds to really look at a picture or a reference photo, you may provide the viewer considerably more information. Increasing your awareness of how light impacts and reveals not just the form of the character, creature, or object but also its reflections will only enhance your artwork and tattoos.
Abstracting what You See
“It’s Important to look at… any kind of feature…and break it down into the abstract shapes.”
-Jake Meeks
Eyes are the perfect example of an unhelpful framework that clouds your perspective. really, they're just a set of more abstract shapes that, as we learned earlier, can be broken down when you apply a bit of extra attention.
This also applies to any subject or feature you're attempting to draw. You may (and should) break things down into their most basic components. This can be a very helpful exercise in that it allows you to see what the thing is at its most fundamental shape. This has the potential to shatter the false preconceptions we have about what an object COULD be.
Shapes and Values
“A lot of times you can’t distinguish from the pupil, the iris, and the shadow from the eyelid…they all block into one shape”
-Jake Meeks
Another thing to take into account when looking at features like this is the values. It would be easy to assume that the whites of an eye are, well...white. But depending on which way someone is looking, you might not even be able to see the whites.
When it comes to values, shapes take on an even more crucial function. The individual parts of an object might start to blend or muddy together, leaving you with a larger blocked shape to represent the area where an item or feature is located.
For example, consider a gloomy, dark room and try to picture all of the things inside it. You may be able to spot the more general forms, such as a chair, a ball, or a portrait frame on the wall, but the specifics are lost due to the lack of light.
Narration via Illustration
“Feel free to take liberties, and show what that character is seeing instead of using generic eyeballs.”
- Jake Meeks
When you're designing a tattoo in a more illustrative vein, as we've been describing, give yourself the liberty to explore and construct a well-defined narrative. Adding in extra forms and components can really help create a deeper story and illustrate the setting of that character.
Defining your own illustrative style involves taking some creative liberties. For example, you could obscure the iris and pupil entirely with reflected objects. Or, you could decide to recede the eye back further and only cast a shadow from the eyebrow with minimal details. You have complete control over what message your artwork communicates.
Check Out Jesse’s Full Seminar
Lastly, we highly suggest you check out Jesse’s “Calm in the Chaos” seminar. It’s filled with even more tips and tricks like this. Along with those he gives an excellent look at his approach to color theory, and his journey through the world of tattooing.
You can find Jesse Smith’s “Calm in the Chaos” here, housed at Reinventing the Tattoo.
Want more tattoo education and resources?
Check out our Drawing for Tattoos catalog HERE!
Transcript for this video can be found (here). All transcripts can be found (Here)
(Update when transcript page is made)
The Fireside Tattoo Network is home to the Fireside podcast, Fireside Technique video series and our Fireside Weekly blog.
The Fireside Tattoo podcast is hosted by veteran tattooer Jake Meeks, check out our episodes where we discuss, argue and wax philosophical, from tips for all levels of artists to trends in the tattoo world. Many guest artists have sat down for interviews and in-depth conversations and many more are planned…check back often!
Our Fireside Tattoo Overview video series offers informative, short, and detailed videos geared towards helping artists understand the science and nuances of tattoos and make more informed decisions to improve their work. We often take some of our more technical topics from our Fireside podcast and film an in-depth, narrated, time-lapse video showing exactly how Jake or our featured artists handle certain issues.
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Drawing for Tattoo Design
Your tattoo designs starting to feel stagnant? Feel like you’re not progressing? Drawing is the single most important piece of the tattoo process. No level of technical tattoo skill can overcome bad composition and draftsmanship.
Fireside Tattoo Network simplifies the tattoo design process with the Fireside Method. By focusing on the principles of Shape, Value, Edge and Color, we help you identify and solve your biggest challenges early in the design process.
The Fireside Method:
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