Tsunami's Ultra Basic Eye Painting Tutorial

[Lord Tsunami]

Hello, and welcome to the TUBEPT (just rolls right off your tongue, doesnt it?)

I just wanted to share a very simple and quick way to paint eyes. many of you will be beyond this stage of painting, and have moved on to other more advanced techniques, but this is a very good start if you have never painted eyes before and want to give it a try.

Lizards are great for practising eye painting, because most of them (especially skinks) have very large eyes that do not lie deep within the eye socket. you can easily paint LM eyes even if you are pretty new to painting.

I paint eyes last, because i find it easier if i dont have to worry about them when i wash the skin, but some tutorials suggest you start with eyes and gums/teeth. You can try either and pick what suites you. This technique is still valid.

STEP 1
This is how the mini looks after you painted the skin.

STEP 2
In this case i chose a yellow eye and green skin. I use Iyaden darksun because it has great coverage, but any color will work. Start by painting the eye the color you want it. It is important that you cover all of it, and it is ok if you paint it way too large (like in the pic). After this is dry, you could (but it is not necessary at this level) wash it with for example an orange wash, to give it a more vibrant color (it can also help to hide mistakes).

STEP 3
Now paint a vertical black slit for the pupil. Again it is important that it it covers the entire eye (top to bottom) and this is way easier to achieve if you paint it much larger than the eye is supposed to be. The mini will look crazy (and you may or may not want that) if your pupil doesnt reach from top to bottom, but is more like a dot.

STEP 4
Now go back with the skin color and fix the misstakes. This is WAY easier than if you try and paint the eye in the correct shape and size from the start, trust me. On core units, i wouldnt bother with highlights and shades around the eyes, but rather pick the darkest color i used for the skin and use that for covering the yellow around the eyes. You could use washes and highlights again around the eye but if you are at this level, you probably wont have too many colors in the skin to begin with. If you use a lighter color than the rest of the skin for the repairs, it will look weird, but if it is slightly darker you wont notice.



TADAAA! thats it. you now have a great looking eye! As you become better you wont have to do as much repairs, and you can start experimenting with adding a small white dot to the black of the pupil to make the eyes really come alive, but that is a very advanced technique, and dont bother with it until you have mastered the basics.

thanks for reading, and GL with the eye painting. If you have tried this, and find it useful, feel free to post some pics of the results. have a nice one.

/T

 

[SeBM]

I like this tutorial! I've read about that technique before but your little pictures really helped understanding it all !

 

[strewart]

Cool, thanks for posting! Looks like a decent technique.

I want to add a tiny bit of detail about brushes. The most critical part of your paintbrush when doing fine detail work such as eyes is the tip. You absolutely must keep the tip of your detail brush sharp and pointy, and with no bristles poking out. Many people choose to lick the brush after cleaning it to keep it sharp, this does work well. Just make sure the tip is sharp.

Next, you need to make sure the tip of the brush isn't overloaded but you also want to make sure the brush is charged with paint so it actually comes off on the eye. If you just dip the end of your brush in the mixture you have made on your pallete (assuming the paint is watered down on the pallete as it should be) you will find you get a small blob on the end of the brush, which effectively nullifies the tip.

Get paint on about half the brush, the gently roll it at a 45 degree angle on the edge of your pallete to get rid of the excess paint on the tip and push paint into the middle of the brush. Now you have a nicely loaded brush with a sharp tip since rolling it like that will also help push the tip together.

 

[Raein]

Thanks for writing this out such a useful tool, as I hate painting eyes..

 

[brokbrok]

http://www.amazon.com/Sakura-Pigma-...8G8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321303566&sr=8-1

Here's a little somethin somethin to make your pupil painting life easier. You can get these at any art store, pick up a .01mm pen and you're set for life. Once you do a pupil with a micron pen, you'll never go back.

If you're not familiar with micron, they're basically the leading pen for professional inkers in the comic and art industry.