I looove making those eyes! Making them HUGE, and DARK, and GLOWING. They look good on the horse, and they're pretty easy to make.
I use Corel, but you'll probably be able to use the technique on other programs.
I'll show you how I make eyes with a beautiful base from RobbinLara's forum
First, pick your eye color. Dark horses (Blacks, seals, chestnuts...) look good with green or brown/gold eyes. My favorite eye color is green. Lighter horses (grays, palominos, light bays...)look good with both light or dark eyes. Dark browns, blues, and grays work well. Of course, you could be more realistic, and stick with the natural colors. But cool colors make the horse look cooler.
The general thing I do first, is outline the whole eye in a dark color. Usually black. But if for some reason the color scheme of the horse won't work with pure black, (EXAMPLE: A strawberry roan with pure black eye liner would be a bit clashy) I use a dark gray.
I use digital colored pencils on Corel. I'm not sure what other people would use with other programs. Basically, something that'll show through. In this case, I used "GRAINY COVER PENCIL 2"
Then using another "cover pencil", I color in the iris with whatever color I want my horse to have. (For this coat, I use green) Always make the iris a shade or two DARKER than what you want the final eye to look like.
Notice how dark and thick I made the black outline. That'll serve as the lashes and the shadows later.
Next, I take another "cover" pencil, and color in the pupil of the eye. (Pretty simple, just color it in.) For this base, Robbin already had it drawn out where the "white dot" would go. So I left that blank.
Now, find that color you used to fill in the iris. (green for me.) Just go a few shades LIGHTER now. Then either put wide stripes, or spots of the lighter color in the iris. Look how you can see the first shade of green (the darker one) AND the lighter green on it. For this one I did lighter blobs in the eye. Be sure to stay inside the iris.
Now, it's time for the blending. Just to give the eye a softer look, take the smallest or second smallest detail blender you have. (On Corel, I used "DETAIL BLENDER 3") Just do some brief strokes over the iris, and trace over the black outline of the eye once. Try to keep it in control. Don't touch the pupil yet!
Now, I use a COVER pencil, to color in the white dot thing. (The reflection thing). If you're using a base where the reflection dot isn't already put in for you, be careful where you put it. There can be more than one too. A good place is somewhere along the border of where the iris and the pupil meet.
I take my blender again, and this time do some down-strokes under and around the eye. I also softer up the pupil a little. Now it looks a bit smeary, like this:
Notice how misty and dark the eye looks. I made the iris deeper, and it gives the whole eye a sullen look.
When coloring in the rest of your horse's face, you can go over and through the little smeary parts coming off the eyes which arn't really supposed to be in the final eye. Or, you can just erase it off. I've seen people blend the eye a bit more to make it neat, or make the dark outline thicker. Both look good Do whatever works for you, and whatever fits the horse.
ADDING MORE...
Sometimes, you might want add something different. I reccomend adding several different colors, and blending them together. Or, blend in a random stripe of gold or silver in the iris. Doing reflections of moons in the pupil also looks very cool.
I know this is a tiny picture, but if you look VERY close, you can see that the bottom of the eye isn't as thickly outlined. The white reflection dot is very bright because I used a bleach instead of a colored pencil there. It makes the horse look more mysterious. There's also a REALLY thin strip of gold in the iris, I'm not sure if this will show it. This is from a coat I made a while back...
Any questions? Let me know. Hope this helps you guys get sullen black eyes like mine lol
I use Corel, but you'll probably be able to use the technique on other programs.
I'll show you how I make eyes with a beautiful base from RobbinLara's forum
First, pick your eye color. Dark horses (Blacks, seals, chestnuts...) look good with green or brown/gold eyes. My favorite eye color is green. Lighter horses (grays, palominos, light bays...)look good with both light or dark eyes. Dark browns, blues, and grays work well. Of course, you could be more realistic, and stick with the natural colors. But cool colors make the horse look cooler.
The general thing I do first, is outline the whole eye in a dark color. Usually black. But if for some reason the color scheme of the horse won't work with pure black, (EXAMPLE: A strawberry roan with pure black eye liner would be a bit clashy) I use a dark gray.
I use digital colored pencils on Corel. I'm not sure what other people would use with other programs. Basically, something that'll show through. In this case, I used "GRAINY COVER PENCIL 2"
Then using another "cover pencil", I color in the iris with whatever color I want my horse to have. (For this coat, I use green) Always make the iris a shade or two DARKER than what you want the final eye to look like.
Notice how dark and thick I made the black outline. That'll serve as the lashes and the shadows later.
Next, I take another "cover" pencil, and color in the pupil of the eye. (Pretty simple, just color it in.) For this base, Robbin already had it drawn out where the "white dot" would go. So I left that blank.
Now, find that color you used to fill in the iris. (green for me.) Just go a few shades LIGHTER now. Then either put wide stripes, or spots of the lighter color in the iris. Look how you can see the first shade of green (the darker one) AND the lighter green on it. For this one I did lighter blobs in the eye. Be sure to stay inside the iris.
Now, it's time for the blending. Just to give the eye a softer look, take the smallest or second smallest detail blender you have. (On Corel, I used "DETAIL BLENDER 3") Just do some brief strokes over the iris, and trace over the black outline of the eye once. Try to keep it in control. Don't touch the pupil yet!
Now, I use a COVER pencil, to color in the white dot thing. (The reflection thing). If you're using a base where the reflection dot isn't already put in for you, be careful where you put it. There can be more than one too. A good place is somewhere along the border of where the iris and the pupil meet.
I take my blender again, and this time do some down-strokes under and around the eye. I also softer up the pupil a little. Now it looks a bit smeary, like this:
Notice how misty and dark the eye looks. I made the iris deeper, and it gives the whole eye a sullen look.
When coloring in the rest of your horse's face, you can go over and through the little smeary parts coming off the eyes which arn't really supposed to be in the final eye. Or, you can just erase it off. I've seen people blend the eye a bit more to make it neat, or make the dark outline thicker. Both look good Do whatever works for you, and whatever fits the horse.
ADDING MORE...
Sometimes, you might want add something different. I reccomend adding several different colors, and blending them together. Or, blend in a random stripe of gold or silver in the iris. Doing reflections of moons in the pupil also looks very cool.
I know this is a tiny picture, but if you look VERY close, you can see that the bottom of the eye isn't as thickly outlined. The white reflection dot is very bright because I used a bleach instead of a colored pencil there. It makes the horse look more mysterious. There's also a REALLY thin strip of gold in the iris, I'm not sure if this will show it. This is from a coat I made a while back...
Any questions? Let me know. Hope this helps you guys get sullen black eyes like mine lol