I'm going a bit crazy and can't tell if these eyes look right. I kind of stuffed up the painting of them, and now I can't figure out if the puppet is looking straight ahead or slightly off-centre. Please give your thoughts! (And yes, this is a sneak preview of my muppet pattern )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66356835@N00/3520863885/

Hi Na,

I'm looking at the pupils, and they don't seem aligned to me. The pupil in the left eye seem to be in a 4-5 o'clock position, and the right pupil is in an 8 o'clock position. If you rotate one to match the other, I think it will look a lot more focused and natural.

Thanks Chris; had same feedback from a few others elsewhere, so at least I know exactly what is wrong now. I think perhaps I've painted the eyes slightly differently too, which doesn't help :P

Fixing the left eye is the solution! Thanks!

It is your highlight! Well also your pupil as Chris mentioned.  I noticed the highlight first.  When you rotate your highlights will both be to the left... wait that is the puppets left... it would be your right if you are looking at the puppet... of course if you are behind the puppet looking in the mirror at the it then it would be left... Oh heck you know what I mean.

Hi, Na! Your puppet is great. Concerning the eyes position, as you guys have been teaching me (And I've been learning), I guess the pupils (Iris) in the right center of the eye is not recommended (To be exactly focus), so, as I've seen for myself what you've been telling me about, I would say its better to put the pupil like close to a side of the round eye, so when you put them together it could make a triangle with the nose!
So far (But just the eyes), the puppet is great!

I also noticed the highlight first, but then saw the pupil placement. I say that by way of introducing a question I would have in this situation. Since eyes seem more focused by being a little cross-eyed, wouldn't you need to make the place the highlight on the left eye differently from the right eye, so that the highlight would seem to reflect a light source coming from the same angle, even though the pupils are a little crossed?

Does the question make sense?

Chris you are right about the source of the light.  The highlight should "reflect" that.   You would paint the highlight on the side the light source was. The highlight should be in the same location on each eye.  I may have confused things with my patter.

Actually here is a good example of what I am talking about.  This puppet by Puppetlady has a natural highlight in them. The eyes are a bit crossed but the highlight shows up in the same location on the pupil.

I may have confused things with my patter.

Shawn, you didn't confuse me with anything. I was just exploring and trying to figure things out for myself. That picture of Puppetlady's puppet does illustrate what I was asking about. I am no artist, and all the things my seventh grade art teacher tried to teach me I am now finding I should have learned.

Hi Na,

When I am not sure about my art, wether it is a puppet or a drawing, and I need to see if things "match up", I simply take a picture of it, scan it, look at it in a mirror, anything to change my perspective. As though I was looking at somebody else's art. Maybe you could do that when you are not sure about one of your puppets. Try to find a way to look at it as if you would look at somebody else's work. Or maybe you could film your puppet with your webcam and theck out the footage after that. I am pretty sure you will see what is not right and have a good idea how to fix it after that. Great work and I love your puppet's t-shirt!