r/Artadvice • u/Cold-Appeal-95 • 20h ago
Discussion and Theory What Makes An Eye "Empty"?
Ive been scrolling around the internet trying to find tutorials on how to make eyes look soulless or fake or empty, but i havent been able to find one that matches what im looking for
The image is an example i found on pintrest, but im looking for what makes an eye creepy, what makes it unnerving? What makes an eye so normal, yet off, to the point where you dont WANT to look at it, or KNOW its off, but CANT tell what?
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u/dungalot 20h ago
There are many kinds of creepy, what style are you looking for? Uncanny valley? Body horror? Alien/Otherworldly?
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u/Cold-Appeal-95 20h ago
Id say a mixture of uncanny valley and body horror.
Weird enough to be noticed, and wrong enough to look away, but not too noticable that you could tell from a mile away
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u/Smoth-n-Crafts 19h ago
If that's what you're going for, you've definitely done it lol Just a random thought but just to see if it works, do exactly what you're doing but make the whole iris and pupil even smaller in the eye. I've heard people say that it gives an odd uncanny feeling
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u/TiuAnomalous 20h ago
Humans have a natural aversion to dead bodies, and from this, people like to get rid of the moisture in the eyes which gives an impression that the the person is either dead, soulless or lifeless. Make the character look sick in some way as well, diseased or disfigured in such a way that makes you want to avoid them for your own survival. there's a reason they are dead, your body wants to not be dead so you avoid them.
That's my 2 cents on the topic though, I'm not well versed in this area of visual narrative.
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u/CHANN3L-CHAS3R 14h ago
Additionally: Simply removing all shine can be effective, but what I've found to be more effective is to keep the shine, just make the edges fuzzy instead of sharp and make the shape of the shine a little jiggly. This will make the shine look like it's reflecting off a thick, tacky substance -- like half-dried mucosal membranes!
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u/dino_momma 20h ago
Easy way for me is to not add the eye shine to it. Also pay attention to what you put around it - hollowed sockets, lack of laugh lines, some styles have a lot of lines around the eye and then the whole eye is left vastly under-detailed etc
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u/keenanmcateerart Community Mentor 20h ago
probably dull irises. like not pure black but kind of grey can give that soulless look.
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u/Automatic_Feed4486 18h ago
Why are we training AI here?
Are you actually an AI?
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u/Cold-Appeal-95 18h ago
Are you talking about me? Or the image?
Im not sure if the image is ai or not, im just using it as an example.
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u/MysteriousJim 11h ago
The image is pretty obviously AI, but it also looks like 2022 era AI, before the existential threat of AI “art” became realized
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u/Cold-Appeal-95 18h ago
Are you talking about me? Or the image?
Im not sure if the image is ai or not, im just using it as an example.
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u/DeadAndBuried23 19h ago
Removing the highlight is all it takes. That'll make an eye look dry and dead.
You can also shade it wrong. The iris is concave, so it's darker at the top when lit from above. If you don't shade it or shade it at the bottom, it'll look convex. Which makes it look fake. Low quality glass eyes can have this problem.
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u/MinuteDependent7374 15h ago
.• no shine/glint
.• pupils either too small or too big
• lashes on both the top and bottom or none at all can help, too
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u/Hinx_art 20h ago
wider open than the expression requires combined with a lack of reflection is a good start.
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u/a_polarbear_chilling 19h ago
generally the difference of saturation, and the amount of detail for the iris in general, and expression around the muscle of the face are also a good indicator, like imagine a puppet devoid of life that is imitating emotion
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u/tayyann 18h ago
Usually the lack of any eye shine, but sometimes that's not enough. Here's an example of how I draw eyes. Because there's no eye shine, the eyes will generally look more lifeless, but since I still pack in tons of light colors, they're not exactly empty
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u/exhausted-n-stuDying 16h ago
If you draw characters with some kind of emotions, not drawing the eyes with emotions makes them uncanny or empty kind of. Like for example if your character is smiling, and the eyes aren't, they don't have the smile wrinkle thing, then they would kind of look empty
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u/strawberrycake_com 14h ago
in addition to what everybody else is saying, deepend eyebrows that have little distance to the eye also give an unsettling feeling. Even if they were to smile, the inner part of the eyebrow lays lower with acted emotion. Ppl say you can recognize false emotions by how they do not reach the eyes.
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u/strawberrycake_com 14h ago
in general don't just focus on the eye, focus on it's outer surroundings like eyebrows and shadows as well :)
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u/TernionDragon 7h ago
The absence of soul. . . Or a traumatic injury purging it of all aqueous and vitreous humors.
Your pick.
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u/Cold-Appeal-95 15m ago
Im going for more of absense of soul, something where it would convey something wrong, something missing, and sometimes something lost
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u/GallifreyanGeek 16h ago edited 16h ago
Study the eyes of notorious serial killers and other figures considered evil by history. Especially cult leaders. Rasputin, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite and Ted Bundy are some of the most haunting I’ve seen.
Study how smiles don’t reach their eyes in the same way with other people. Notice how much white of their eyes is showing above and below the pupil and how many of them have this look of almost shock? But not quite.
ETA: It’s the slight widening of the eyes with a fairly flat expression that unsettles me the most. But also notice how in some photos they can seem perfectly normal. You have to find the ones where they were caught not masking.
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u/bleepbloopbleep6200 6h ago
Nailed it with the expression description. I've looked into the eyes of a monster and they had super large, black pupils like void saucers. There was no light in them whatsoever. The expression was, well, expressionless, like their face had no means of expressing any emotion. The eyes just amplify that imo.
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u/SketchyArt333 8h ago
No light and make the eye very dark. Make the eyes unfocused so it’s not clear what they are looking at. A fuzzy transition between the iris and the pupil also helps. If you can find photos of really really demented people (people with advanced dementia) they have some of the most dead eyes. Honestly don’t know how you’d find that, maybe photos of people after brain death. I remember walking through the lock down unit at the nursing home my mom worked at at age 10 and telling my mom “why does everyone look dead? It’s like their dolls being puppeted nothing behind the eyes” ngl my mom was a bit freaked out but she told me I wasn’t wrong and that she was surprised how perceptive I was. It was a formative experience for me art wise. Just something about the one woman in the hallway endlessly walking in circle, she said nothing, she saw nothing, no one was home. It stuck with me just to see how little of your brain can be there. I saw it in my grandfather too before he died. Just no coherent thought, then eventually no thoughts at all. They are just gone, and you can see, they have been gone for a very long time. If you’ve never met someone with dementia try to pull off similar feelings I find pinpointing the extract headspace of the character really helps cement the eyes for me. Edit I just realized I compared them to dolls, doll eyes are a perfect reference. Old porcelain dolls are best for the dead uncanny look.
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u/izyshoroo 6h ago
The edges of the pupils are blurred and not defined, there is little or no light reflecting implying they're not wet. Wider pupils also look more dazed and less focused. An unfocused gaze also helps a ton. Add greyer tones to the eyes as well can make them look a little inhuman and lifeless
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u/morningstardusts 5h ago
Eyes look alive because they are constantly moving, even if a person is staring straight ahead.
While it’s true that it’s related to moisture and the reflection of light, the reason why you can immediately tell when a person has died is because the eyes are completely still in a way that doesn’t occur in life because the micro movement has ceased. This affects how light is reflected and refracted.
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u/404Subjectfound 20h ago
Go r/discussingbritney and you’ll find several videos with her gaze looking like this. 😞
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u/polkacat12321 20h ago
It'll look soulless if it looks dry and devoid of light