It might seem a little early for some folks, but I love Halloween, and this weekend my husband is getting out all our decorations. With the help of a grandson, he’ll be stringing spider lights, creating cobwebs, and checking out our motion-activated Grim Reaper (AKA Grimmy) to scare the wits out of unsuspecting trick-or-treaters this year. Of course, I put on recorded organ music — Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is delightful — to add to the overall effect.
In the past, we’ve thrown huge Halloween parties for the grandkids and their friends. We don’t do that now, but we still carry on with the traditions of making spooky treats and having a craft project. Last year we painted haunted houses made from thick, corrugated cardboard. This year, I think we’ll be drawing eyeballs.
Eyeballs are fairly easy to draw — especially if you make use of a circle template and a ruler. Our grandkids are all old enough now to use measuring tools, and the eyeball project will be good practice for them.
Eyeballs are another part of our Halloween traditions. We have a large set that we toss into the punch each year. (They go into the freezer first, and they help keep the punch cold.)
In past years we’ve made ghosts from cheesecloth and Styrofoam balls, bats from foam craft sheets, and other fun things. This year, it’s definitely going to be eyeballs.
Eyeballs are easy enough. Begin with a large circle for the eyeball itself. Add a smaller circle for the iris. Add an even smaller circle for the pupil.
By the way, this is also very educational for the kids! They not only get to have fun, they also get to learn:
- Iris – the colored area of the eye
- Pupil – the dark center of the eye that expands and contracts with light and dark
- Sclera – the white of the eye
- Veins – those creepy-looking blood veins
Eyeballs really do look like this. Every six weeks when my husband visits the retinologist, we get to see photographs of my husband’s eyes taken with the doctor’s specialized equipment. Dr. Fletcher has also let me look through his instruments so I’ve had some very up close and personal views of the human eyeball.
But back to art.
Once the circles are drawn and the pupil colored in, have fun making spokes or rays from the pupil to the outer edge of the iris. You can also indicate a highlight by leaving a little spot uncolored. Make the spokes several different colors, blend a bit, and add a little shading to give the eyeball a three-dimensional effect.
In my drawing, I colored in the sclera with a bit of cream and light yellow, then added gray for shading. I did use orange and red for the blood veins, but in the picture they look almost brown.
I’ll dig out lots of colored pencils for the kids and we’ll have fun drawing creepy eyeballs for Halloween. It’s a perfect time for crafts projects. Here are a few ideas:
Have fun, and please share your craft projects and Halloween art projects. I’d love to see them!
Artistcoveries 
We English people don’t seem to celebrate Autumn and Halloween like you do in America. I love the eyeballs, very clever 😉
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It’s not celebrated so much now as it was when I was younger. There are still lots of parties and there are community events for kids, but the custom of “trick-or-treating” isn’t as big as it used to be. Do you have other autumn holidays in England? Autumn is such a lovely time of year. I would probably do something to celebrate it even if there weren’t holidays. Oh, what about All Saints Day, itself? The church does celebrate that, doesn’t it?
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