Bit of fun today as I map out how I go about painting eyes.
To make things easier to follow I've quickly drawn up a set of "Mr Potato Head" diagrams, rather than spend hours painting up a model that's not always easy to see.
STEP 1.
To start with I'll paint the flesh basecoat colour over the model's face. I usually start with Burnt Umber.
STEP 2.
Next I will paint black all around the eye sockets. I don't worry about being too tidy at this stage.
STEP 3.
Once the black is completely dry I paint a horizontal white line, making sure it encompasses the whole of the eye.
STEP 4.
Again, making sure the white is completely dry I paint a vertical black line. I make sure that the line is in the same position on both eyes – wouldn't want the model to look cross-eyed!
Now comes the tidy up stages…
STEP 5.
I go back in with the black and define the eye shape by getting rid of excess white.
STEP 6.
I then do the same thing with the flesh base colour over the black, leaving a little bit of black around the eye to help define it and help it stand out.
And that's it. It's not dainty but it's always worked well historically for me (even more so with my failing eyesight, lol).
Let me know how you paint eyes – see if it's a technique I prefer ;)
I have a similar approach, albeit with fewer steps - I paint the skin and wash it, then paint in the whites of the eyes and then paint the pupil.
ReplyDeleteI've found the key thing to making them look decent is the amount of white on show, I usually try to get the pupil to cover about half of the eye, with the white at either side representing a quarter of the surface area each.
Yes, that level of coverage makes sense. The more white the more frightened your model will look I guess.
DeleteI employ an almost identical process, but have stopped using the black. Instead the base skin colour suffices for the socket shade, it just seemed to give a more even gradation with the miniatures I was painting.
ReplyDeleteI like the attitude and intensity that the black around the eyes gives. Old Ox there looks well and truly annoyed, lol.
DeleteI find eyes very difficult to do well
ReplyDeleteI find I need a good point on my brush, well watered down paint and a bloody good magnifier, lol.
DeleteWhat size brush are you using to do eyes with?
ReplyDeleteI use a size 0 brush that I bought from Firestorm Games a while back – it has an incredibly fine point on it. Don't use it for much else come to think of it.
DeleteNice tutorial my personal demon is eyes I find them so hit and miss.
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon. Yes, they're certainly not my favourite part of painting!
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