Sunday Mailbag- Angled Eyes?

Q: I noticed that in beauty or glamour magazines that eyes are tilted up to highlight lashes while the eyes you draw are often tilted down. Is this to emphasize a sort of “sad sack/loveable loser” nature to get readers to sympathize or identify with faces that have distorted features?

A: No, and I don’t think you are correct when you say the eyes I draw are “often tilted down”. I draw the eyes of any subject tilted as the eyes of the subject are tilted. Some are up, some are down, some are even. It’s all about the specific subject.

The angle the eyes are at in relation to the center axis of the face is an important observation for any subject. I use the imaginary “corner to corner” line I talk about in chapter 4 of my book to help make this observation, and to occasionally exaggerate that angle if it’s called for. Again, it is entirely dependent on the subject and not on how I want to depict them. If a subject has “upturned” eyes, where the outside corner is higher than the inside corner, I make sure I capture that. I don’t change it to a “downturned” eye angle to try and force some expression or look on the subject. That’s a recipe for losing their presence and, most likely, their likeness as well. You take what the subject gives you and exaggerate that. To change it for the sake of some imagined goal is distortion, and can really kill an otherwise good caricature.

Thanks to Erik Johnson for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!