Painting masterclass eyes

[Quinras]

Hi guys,

Ever since I started painting fantasy models, I found myself pushing my own boundary. I learned a lot about shading, highlighting and light/glow effects. Now it's time for the next step, painting masterclass eyes.
Right now, I always paint the eye a single colour, and put a little black stripe. But I like my models to look realistic (hence the colours I choose), and eyes are moist.

So, do you know any tips or tricks? How and where do I paint white light reflections? Do I use glossy varnis? And what about the tongue? Though the latter has nothing to do with the eyes, do I add gloddy varnis to make it look moist?

Show me how you do it!

~Q

 

[n810]

Well you could go and extra step and start with a white eye,
then add a slightly smaller colored area (dot),
and then add the black, in a tiny dot, or a stripe.
oh and like you said a drop of clear varnish couldn't hurt.
lastly, clean up the area around the eye, eyelids, eyebrows,
etc... that usually get paint all over them.

Ps. if your feeling brave, you could add that microscopic white highlight,
I find that a slight scratch in the black paint with a hobby knife, is a little
safer than your tiniest brush.

 

[Hojdar]

I read an Eavy Metal guide on painting eyes once... Let's see what i remember.

They started off with painting the eye black. Then they added the white but left a black line around the eye. This black line effect could probably also be achieved by washing the eye colour, say if you use red eyes then a black or dark red wash might do the trick.

For the iris they just added a black dot or similar. They explained that by making the black dot touch both the upper and lower eye lid was important, otherwise the model would look startled.

They didn't bring up light reflections. Checking out a guide about painting gems will tell you all you need to know about it though. If you use gloss varnish on the eyes then I wouldn't paint light reflections though, as one of the points of gloss varnish is to give a natural light reflection.

Hope this helps!

 

[Quinras]

I usually mix the colours of the eyes between units. I.E. my skink skirmishers so far have greyish eyes with a black iris, while my skink howdah crew from the basti have red eyes with a black iris. Together with the colour of the Crest, it's what makes a squad (a single spawning in my army fluff) unique.

Just out of curiosity, why do you think adding both a white reflection dot and 'Ardcoat is too much? The eye is so small, do you really think adding 'Ardcoat will create such a good reflection?

Nice tip about the hobby knife btw, N810, thanks. I have been stuggling in the past with painting details so small that even a small drop on your brush will mess it up. Thanks!

 

[themuffinman873]

Wow here I was about to search the archives for eye painting and here it is on page 1. What are thoughts on applying slits? What sort of brush or tool you use? I can hardly paint the eye 1 color without bleeding over.

 

[n810]

I either use my pointiest brush, or sometimes I use a fine tip sharpie marker, and if it's really hard to reach, I may use a sharpened toothpick with a tiny bit of paint on it.

Ps. you are going to want your paint fairly thick for this, It will run like crazy if you water it down much.

Pps. after all this talk I should probably post an example of the results.

 

[Quinras]

Your skinks look great, dude, well done. I have to admit though, the eyes are a bit difficult to see, but I think I get the gist of it.
Did you paint small reflection dots? and did you use 'Ardcoat?

 

[n810]

yea they have some sort of clear gloss coating... probably Krylon.

 

[Huinipachutli]

I find having the right tools more important than the right technique. I use a pencil with a rubber end, akin to clay shapers, for doing the pupil of the eye. Depending on the size, you might want to use a needle rather than a brush. Or even try sharpening an eraser.

 

[n810]

I have tried a needle, but I found that a sharpened toothpick worked a bit better, it acted a little more brush line, since it absorbs a tiny bit of paint.