How to animate blinks and eye darts

Blinking and eye movements gives life to a character, even when it’s standing still. Each animator develops his/her own blinking style, but in this video I’ll show you some of my bread and butter blinks and eye darts that never fail.

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The video covers:

Reasons for blinking.
4 types of blinks.
Eye darts.

Why do we blink?

A blink is not a random thing. Yes, we sometimes blink because our eyes are dry, but there are a few universal reasons for blinking that an animator needs to be aware of:

Head turn.

Try this right now: look to your left and then quickly look to you right. Did you blink? Odds are you did. A head turn (or any fast head movement) would almost always get us to blink.

A change of thought

When a character realizes something or thinks of a solution to a problem, a blink would emphasize it and convey that emotion.

Staring

After a long lingering look a blink can help keep things alive.

Types of blinks

1) Regular blink

Closing lids (2 frames) hold eyes closed (1 frame) opening lids (3 frames).

uses:

Staring
Head movement
Character is bored
Keeping the character alive

2) Fast blink

Closing lids (2 frames) opening lids (3 frames)

uses:

Character is anxious
Something went past the character’s face
Character is angry

3) Long blink

Closing lids (3 frames) hold eyes closed (2 frames) opening lids (4 frames)

uses:

Long head movement
Change of thought

4) Eye batting

Close lids 3/4 (1 frame) opening lids (2)

uses:

Flirting

Eye movement

Darts

Eye darts are those quick movements of the pupils. They usually take 3 frames: The original position of the pupil, a transitional frame, and the ending position. there are 3 types of eye darts that I use:

Left to right

When a character is having a conversation, the left to right eye darts convey the character is looking at his partner’s eyes while they talk.

Up and down

When a character is sizing up the person they’re talking to. It can be used when a character is dismissive or fearful.

Triangle

When entering a new place, the triangle eye dart goes from left to right and then up (forming a triangle shape) conveying that the character is examining the room or the environment around them.