“It’s him. The eye”

Who knew there was so much in an eye. Yes, it’s a very intricate organ and an essential component of the body – any body. But who knew that it could make or break a picture.

I had no idea until I decided to draw my great aunt something. I’d left buying a birthday present for her a bit too late (my bad!) so I thought I’d do a drawing. This is a few years ago and I decided to play it safe by drawing a bird using pencil crayon. I opted for a robin.

When I’d finished, I felt something didn’t quite feel right about the picture. The body looked pretty lifelike and my great aunt seemed to like it so I wasn’t too bothered. It didn’t come to me straight away, but seeing that picture a number of times since, I realised what it was. The robin’s cold, dead eye immediately drew me in. The poor thing.

I ummed and ahhed over what I could have done to rescue this poor creature from a lifetime of purgatory. Pinned up on my great aunt’s wall, it’s colourful, vibrant feathers suggested life but the poor eye showed it for the sad thing it was. In all that time I didn’t have a lightbulb moment – clearly there was nothing I could have done to save it.

Fast forward to last year. I drew another bird. A female mallard. This was also vibrant and colourful and I enjoyed using pencil crayon again to do the feathers. I cut some corners with the detail and the experience overall was enjoyable – though my overall lack of motivation meant it took me a lifetime to finish it! When I completed the face, I noticed something instantly. It brought me back to memories of the poor dead robin. The eye.

Thankfully my duck, unlike the robin, actually looked alive and well. And this was all because of something I thought up until that point was so insignificant. Just a tiny white dot in the eye. The lightbulb had arrived. How ridiculous that such a tiny thing could transform a picture. The power of the eye.

More recently, I drew a goldfinch. I immediately made a mental note that the most important thing I needed to get right was the eye – I didn’t want to have another ‘robin incident’. It had certainly been a lesson learnt. I don’t think the goldfinch was quite as successful as the mallard (full of life!) but it was certainly better than my great aunt’s robin.

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Turns out that while I was looking through my old artwork, I had even known this as a GCSE student. I’d used a fine liner to do a study of an eye – a female mallard’s eye no less – and there it was. Looking right back at me. The white dot. I suppose I’ve learnt more important things since then and that was ‘non-essential knowledge’ but it would’ve been really useful to have remembered this every time I was confronted by the poor robin over the years!

Ok, about the title of this blog post. I feel this needs a bit of an explanation. When jotting down a first draft, a quote from Lord of the Rings kept repeating itself in my head. For those who know, it’s when Frodo and Sam first enter Mordor. Frodo’s remark (think ‘say what you see’) is “It’s him. The eye” – niche? Yes. Should I get a life? Probably!