Refer to grayscale eye tutorial if you want to see deeper explanation of why the reflections are placed as they are placed. Also note that this tutorial works with any 2d media. So paint away.

Drawing eyes in 12 easy steps - in color

1.

You have a background color, which will be something skin-like. Now pick a lighter variant of the same color and draw an outline. Throw in a few pinkish

highlights on the edges - eyelids tend to be pinkish. Remember to put the outer corner of the eye above the inner corner.

2.

Decide upon a lightsource - technically you should already have decided upon a lightsource - and do some shading. Pick darker colors (obviously) that are

close to the skin-tone, but NOT just a darker variant of the same exact color. Unless you're going for a purely monochrome image, try to vary the colors as

much as you can.

3.

Now pick a lighter color that is close to your background color, but a little different - preferably a little more pinkish. Do some shading, then pick a

slightly darker color and continue shading as shown in the image. What I'm going for is the impression of an orb, that is getting some reflections cast back

on it on the left side from the eyelids. It is important to NOT use pure white at this stage. White just won't look good, trust me, besides, in real life,

eyes reflect the surrounding lighting, and there are all those little bloodvessels in them, so they're never really white.

4.

Blending, blending, lalala.

5.

Now let's add a pupil. I picked violet, because violetish and yellowish colors are opposites. Just drawn the pupil as it'll be right now, try to keep it more

or less round, unless the eye is viewed from an angle.

6.

Now remember where your light source is, and add some lighter color in the opposite side of the pupil from the lightsource. Again, don't use just a lighter

violet - be creative! Here, I mixed a bit of the background color in the highlight to bring parts of the image together.

7.

Now a little shading on the pupil - again, vary colors. I picked a more blueish color, to keep the shadow different from the highlight.

8.

Add the little black spot. BUT don't make it black - it will look very very flat if you do! Here I'm using dark red, because red is cool - well and also

because it ties in with both the violet and the skin color.

9.

Now let's do some shading around the white part of the eye. Note that I'm using a violetish color for that, but not pure violet - it's more or less a mix

between the violet and the background color. That way, the image is brought more together, and also it makes sense that the violet would reflect here or

there. Besides, it just looks more lively this way.

10.

Reflections - finally adding reflections from the lightsource, refining slightly the reflection in the inner corner, adding a few eyelashes.

11.

Refining the shadows a bit more, adding more eyelashes.

12.

Adding a socket for the eye to 'live in', refining the highlights, etc. Let your imagination play around. And, before you know it, you're all done!