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Apr 2019

I'm still new to digital art and this was really my first attempt at drawing tears. Can you guys tell it's tears I hope its not too sloppy but I wanted them to come across as transparent. I know there are a lot of different ways to draw tears rather colored or transparent. Thick or thin but I just wanted to know how you guys draw tears and for those who have mastered it what are some tips you can offer? (also excuse the tags I upload a lot of my art to instagram so thats why its there)

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    Apr '19
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    May '19
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One thing I've noticed is that in real life, when people cry tears flow from the inside corner of their eyes whereas in drawings oftentimes artists draw tears flowing from the center.

Another thing that makes drawings look unrealistic is that the characters are often "too pretty" - no one in real life cries with eyes wide open and lips parted in a charming way- their faces get all scrunched up, their noses flare out, their eyes and mouths wrinkle.

But of course realism isn't the end all be all. Lots of things are just down to personal choice.

Do you have any examples of your characters crying? If so maybe you would not mind sharing them with me?

It's probably a good idea to look at some reference - both photo reference and others' drawings in similar styles to what you want.

there's honestly a kinda wide variety in ways to draw tears. best bets would be looking up tutorials in places like deviantart, youtube, pintrest and the like then practicing till you find something you're comfy with

i'm not sure if there's consistency to how i draw tears but it's usually some variation of these along with other expressions:

like mentioned in other replies it helps to look at references especially photos so you can get an idea of how a face's shape changes when crying. looking at others art and even cartoons/anime to see how it comes off in different styles.

Actually, I did not. That kind of surprised me, but since you asked so nicely I did a quick sketch just for you:


It's not in my comic style, but honestly thanks for motivating me to practice something I haven't really drawn before lol.

But definitely also look up reference from real life and from artists better than me. Draw photos from real life, or from this weird soul pancake video6 , or draw yourself in a mirror.

Thanks a lot Vibrant Fox you are always very helpful. Next time I go for it I will try a really expressive face

kiwi byrd made a nice gif on this!

17
Reminded me of this 1

I like to do tears that sorta stand out against the skin. They're semi-transparent, but have a shine here and there. I also get creative with where the tears place. So I might do a few that trail under the chin sometimes. It helps give off that "constant tearing" vibe.


(Though, the second one has a mixture of sweat and tears. Usually, I draw sweat as simple "tear drops" and my tears standing out more).

I really like making shiny tears. Mostly what I go for as others have pointed out is to have them stand out a bit from the skin. I think highlights on the teardrops are good, also make sure they mostly fall from the inside or outer side corner of the eye. Drawing thinner trails and drops falling off can also help increase the effect.
I'd also look into how Studio ghibli draws tears, I know theirs are SUPER big but they have nice shading and form.

Honestly depends. If they're sad tears, go for shiny and dramatic. If they're happy (or it's a funny moment) just do some simple lines.

I tend to draw stoic people so I try to ugly cry when I get the opportunity, I don't think it's perfect or even good but I still want to use it as a template, it's kind of a meme tbh.


Tears are mainly noticeable because their light reflection and slight shadow. (I didn't draw shadows, but in more realistic drawing you can see them :>) So I suggest focus on these things mainly. A barely visible outline can't be bad as well.

I work in abstraction so I'm not going to bother with the ins and outs of light physics too much. One thing I would say though is don't use pure white to outline the form of the tear. It's a transparent material with high contrast, pure white or something close to would be used to show the reflection of a bright light source (shine). However the outline that defines the form of the tear is going to have some skin colour bounced onto it so it's likely going to be more of a greyish brown-pink. Still significantly lighter in value than her skin, but the colour relation should be there. I would also go for thinner lines personally, it's a light coloured substance that won't drop any hard shadows so thin lines would better describe the material in my opinion.

Here's mine. imo it's not good to overdo it, it's a body fluid after all, and some people find body fluids off-putting. It's also not realistic, and might look comical