How to Draw a Face and Eyes

STEP 1.

 Starting from a basic tonal sketch done with large round brushes in Photoshop, no detail, just simple preliminary tone.

STEP 2.

 Here I select the tone more carefully still without any detail, I sketch the contour of the eyes and draw the average tone of the light and dark areas of the eyes.

STEP 3.

 One more step to further define the tone of the eyes and eyelids, still no detail, all focused on tone. I use one layer only and squint to see the tone of the reference picture.

STEP 4.

 I just draw a preliminar sketch of the hair, with no detail just the average tone. The dark tone of the hair is important because helps up to better observe the tone of one area with respect to the other in reference with the hair (darkest tone for reference)

STEP 5.

 I squint and observe the tone carefully, reduce the size of the brush to focus on the eyes and add just a bit more detail of tone. I blend and soften edges

STEP 6.

 I add more shapes, sketching the neck and shoulders. The white of the eyes is drawn with not much detail, however the global tone already works, squint and you'll see the figure is already there and correct.

STEP 7.

 Time for the highlights and darkest tone where needed (eyes and hair). I focus on the details of the eyes, add the indication of the eyelids