You did really good with the tears tbh, they look realistic, especially with the lighting. I think the only thing I'd have to say is with tears they build up and run down the middle (or sides if the person is looking up/laying down and sometimes they swell and stay built up especially with stress and puffy eyes) with the build up being thick, especially when it's about to leak out of the lid. So it's a bit off seeing 'em thin and lookin' like they are dripping from the eye. However with that note, with your style it actually makes the eyes stand out more the way ya did the tears. They don't grab all the attention but at the same time you did a great job with the liquid aspect of them.

The last eye ya nailed the tears for that one, the tears are runny and the shading is great. I do really like the detail with the second eye having the sclera reddening, it really helps the iris pop (I love that violet/indigo color btw). Also the way ya did the first eye's iris is really well done, you did a great job making it look like it has depth.

Liquids are hard to do, especially with paintings, but this is really well done.

a thoughtful critique that i didn't have to beg someone to give me? on a casual art/social media website?? what dimension is this

i admit these are pretty unrealistic depictions of flow. your points are valid and i'll keep them in mind for any future work i do involving tears (and other fluids if it applies ofc). the thing with tears is because they come from the tear ducts, they're very circumstantial in how they collect. like you cry a single tear, it dribbles down from your duct to your cheek in a curve, weeping results in those big ghibli tears, etc. takes a lot of figuring (as per ush in art), and to be totally honest i wasn't paying much mind to how tears flow so much as what they look like, and i probably should've made that a higher priority. but ya live and ya learn. better to mess up in a study then in something someone gave me money for

thank you for the critique! it's not everyday i get comments that are genuinely thoughtful and for the sake of helping me out

Not a problem! I was honestly nervous typing it out cause I didn't want ya to think I was hating on your style. I can't really talk much cause I do more toony stuff and still learning myself, but I did remember from art class when we were doing eye studies my teacher talked about tears a lot and that helped me with old comics so I wanted to pass it on. Thank you for the feedback!

no worries, i understand you were trying to help and not be malicious. that'd be a totally different situation haha. thoughtful feedback is encouraged regardless of where it comes from.