Most people think closing an eye is just drawing a straight line. It’s not. In fact, if you just slap a flat horizontal dash across a face, your character won't look like they're sleeping; they’ll look like a mannequin or, worse, someone who just had a very unfortunate run-in with a taxidermist.
The human face is a complex landscape of muscle and fat. When you learn how to draw closed eyes, you’re actually learning how to draw the volume of the eyeball underneath the skin. Think of it like a ball wrapped in a thin, wet cloth. The cloth—the eyelid—stretches and folds over that sphere. If you ignore the sphere, the drawing falls apart. Honestly, even some professional illustrators trip up here because they focus on the "line" of the eyelashes rather than the "mass" of the lid.
The Anatomy of the Squish
When the eye closes, the upper eyelid does about 90% of the work. The lower lid barely moves upward, maybe a millimeter or two, unless the person is squinting hard or laughing. This is a common mistake. Beginners often draw the seam right in the middle of the eye socket. Realistically, the seam—where the lashes meet—is much lower, usually resting just above the bottom rim of the orbital bone.
Look at your own face in a mirror. Close your eyes. You’ll notice the skin of the upper lid is actually quite thin and tends to show the curve of the cornea underneath. There’s a slight bump where the iris is. If you’re drawing a character looking down while their eyes are closed, that bump moves. It’s subtle, but it adds a level of realism that most "how-to" tutorials totally skip over.
Don't Forget the Canthus
The inner corner of the eye, known as the medial canthus, is that little pinkish fleshy bit. Even when the eye is shut tight, that structure doesn’t disappear. It stays put. Many artists make the mistake of drawing a "V" shape that closes completely. Instead, treat the inner corner as a fixed anchor point. The upper lid wraps over it.
Why Eyelashes Aren't Just Sticks
Stop drawing eyelashes like a picket fence. Just stop. When the eye is closed, the lashes actually point downward and slightly outward. They don't stick straight out like a sunburst. Because the eye has volume, the lashes follow the curve of the lid. This means the lashes in the center of the eye will appear shorter due to foreshortening, while the lashes at the outer corners will look longer and more swept.
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And here’s a tip that sounds gross but helps: eyelashes come out of the "wet line" or the margin of the lid, not the surface of the skin. There is a thickness to the eyelid. If you don't draw that tiny shelf of skin, the eye looks 2D.
Different States of Closure
Not all closed eyes are created equal. Are they sleeping? Are they sneezing? Are they cringing in pain? Each of these requires a completely different approach to the surrounding musculature.
The Relaxed Sleep In a deep sleep, the muscles are loose. The "seam" is a gentle, downward-curving arc. There is very little tension in the brow. If you’re drawing a baby or a peaceful character, keep the lines soft. Often, you don't even need a continuous line for the bottom; a few suggested strokes near the outer corner do the trick.
The Tense Squeeze If someone is wincing, the orbicularis oculi muscle (the ring of muscle around the eye) is doing overtime. This creates "crow’s feet" wrinkles at the corners. The skin bunches up. The lower lid pushes up significantly here, creating a U-shape rather than a downward arc. The eyebrows will also drop lower, often overlapping the top of the eyelid.
The "Fake" Sleep Interestingly, when someone pretends to have their eyes closed, there is often a slight tremor in the lids. In a drawing, you can convey this by adding a bit more tension to the lash line or making the eyebrows slightly more elevated than they would be in natural REM sleep.
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Light and Shadow on the Lid
This is where you make or break the drawing. Because the eyelid is a curved surface, it catches light like a cylinder or a sphere.
- The Highlight: There is almost always a soft highlight on the most protruding part of the lid—the part directly over the pupil.
- The Crease: Even when closed, many people have a visible "tarsal fold" or crease above the lashes. Don't draw this as a dark black line. Use a mid-tone shadow.
- The Shadow: The area under the eyebrow (the brow bone) will cast a shadow over the top of the closed lid. If you miss this, the eye will look like it’s bulging out of the head.
Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
I see this a lot: people draw the eyelashes pointing up when the eye is closed. Unless your character is being hit by a localized windstorm from below, that’s physically impossible. Gravity and the anatomy of the lid pull them down.
Another one? Making the line too straight. A straight line across the eye looks like a cut or a scar. The human face is all about curves. Even the flattest-looking eye has a slight radius. Use a "C" curve, even if it's a shallow one.
The Role of the Eyebrow
You can't learn how to draw closed eyes without talking about eyebrows. They are the emotional anchors of the eye. If the eyes are closed but the eyebrows are arched high, the character looks surprised or skeptical. If the eyebrows are pushed together and down, they look frustrated or in pain. If you want a neutral, "checked out" look, the eyebrows should be in their natural resting position, usually about one eye-height above the lid.
Putting It Into Practice
Don't just take my word for it. Grab a sketchbook and try these three specific exercises tonight.
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First, draw three circles. These are your eyeballs. Now, "dress" them with lids. On the first, draw a relaxed, sleeping eye. On the second, a hard wince. On the third, a person looking down with their eyes nearly shut. Notice how the shape of the "seam" changes in every single one.
Second, practice drawing the thickness of the lid. Instead of one line for the closure, draw two very close together. That tiny space between them represents the "shelf" where the eyelashes actually grow. It’s a game-changer for realism.
Finally, look at the work of masters like John Singer Sargent or even modern concept artists like Loish. Look at how they handle the skin around the eye. Often, they use more shadow than line. They define the eye by the shadows in the socket rather than a hard outline of the lid itself.
The goal isn't to draw an "eye symbol." The goal is to draw a fleshy, living part of a human face. Once you stop thinking of it as a "closed eye" and start thinking of it as "skin stretched over a sphere," your drawings will instantly look 10x more professional.
Next Steps for Your Practice:
Start by sketching the orbital bone (the skull socket) before you even touch the eyelids. This ensures your eyes aren't floating awkwardly on the cheekbones. Once the socket is placed, map out the "bump" of the eyeball. Only then should you drape the eyelids over that shape. Focus on using varying line weights—thick in the corners where shadows gather, and thin or even broken in the center where the light hits the curve of the lid.