Cerridwyn1st Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 There is a lot of talk about the techniques for painting eyes. Anyone care to wade in on color choice? It seems common practice to use off-white for the eyeball, since pure white looks odd and "starey". But what about the pupils? I've come to like using a brown/black instead of pure black; it just looks better to me. Anyone else have any ideas about this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enchantra Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 With how shakey my hands are I feel lucky if I can get a dot of ANY color in there to respresent eyes. Lately I paint white, take a micron pen or really sharp brush tip and apply a dot of color and then outline the eye. That's about as good as it gets for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pae Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 I think you mean "irises" instead of pupils. I fill the eyesocket with walnut, then paint the eyeball white, then walnut again for the iris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dargrin Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 I like the effect of using blue for eyes. check out my avatar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengar Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 While I'm hardly an expert, I tend to just go with black & white. For critters like goblins, I sometimes use black & yellow. The one or two times I've tried to give the mini "eye color" it ended up a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicbkguy Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 This is what I have been doing. Paint the entire eye Vallejo Burnt Umber. Use white with just a touch of ivory added to paint the eyeball, leaving the edges lined. Using a color darker than the iris color I want to use I will paint a large iris. I will then mix the eye color I want and paint over the iris, leaving a thin ring of the darker color. I then dot a black pupil in the center of the iris. I finish by dotting a white highlight somewhere in the iris. Probably more work than is necesary on this scale, but I still do it. Here is an example from my most recent WIP. The left eye is really good on this one, the right eye not as good. The right eye was a little off as far as shape. I don't think it was the sculptor either. The piece came from the end of a run I think. I had to pick mold material out of the creases in the face. Sorry for the pic it is a little blurry, but I took this without setting up all of my lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodnik Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 I use ivory for the whites, walnut for the iris, titanium white for the reflective dot...as a general rule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 My favorite color combination that I use for eyes is a mix of W&N Finity tube acrylics - Phthalo Turquoise and Cobalt Blue. 50/50 each. It makes a nice bright blue. I've toyed with other colors, but blue is one of the ones that really stands out well from my experience with this scale. Browns are often tough to tell if it is brown or black. Greens are nice, but I find it is tough to make a mix that looks natural. I've been kind of playing around with a little violet tint, but nothing I've been pleased with. Like most people, I fill my socket and slight surrounding area (since I will be covering most of it with flesh base coating) with a dark brown (I use Raw Umber or Burnt Umber, whichever tube I find first), then I paint in the eyeball with Titanium White with a smidge of Davy's Gray mixed in to knock off the brilliance of it. Then I add in the above color irises. Usually, I mess up on one of them (different sizes, walleyes, crosseyes, etc), dip the SOB, and repaint this 4-5 times but at least this is what I paint first, so the whole mini isn't wasted by a mistake. Then I base coat the rest of the face, leaving a thin line of the brown to outline the eye. For gobbies and other monsters, I will do a really putrid yellowy "white" of the eye. Think severe jaundice, often with red iris. I couldn't tell you how I make the yellow, because it's really just a hodge podge I will mix til it looks right ot me. I usually start with a base of Yellow Ochre and Buff Titanium though. Or I will reverse them for a more watery, bloodshot look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dargrin Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 One other place you can try is Reaper's painting guide: http://www.reapermini.com/?nav=The%20Craft...aint&article=12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstLevelFighter Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lately I paint white, take a micron pen or really sharp brush tip and apply a dot of color and then outline the eye. Same here, though I'm curious about trying ivory instead of white, and I may have to give it a go to try yellow for goblins. I have much more luck and far better results with a pen than a brush, and there are many color choices with the pens, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerridwyn1st Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lately I paint white, take a micron pen or really sharp brush tip and apply a dot of color and then outline the eye. Same here, though I'm curious about trying ivory instead of white, and I may have to give it a go to try yellow for goblins. I have much more luck and far better results with a pen than a brush, and there are many color choices with the pens, too. Using white for the, uh, whites looks starey and unnatural; that's why so many use an off wite color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstLevelFighter Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 Using white for the, uh, whites looks starey and unnatural; that's why so many use an off wite color. Anyone ever tried a light grey instead of ivory (or white)? Any thoughts on whether a warm grey or a cool grey would be better? I guess that may depend on the fig, and the desired result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 then I paint in the eyeball with Titanium White with a smidge of Davy's Gray mixed in to knock off the brilliance of it. That's about as close to using a light grey as I get. It's about a 20:1 ratio. Just enough to knock the bright whiteness out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chastity Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 When I'm doing eyes, I *usually* paint in a colour that somewhat compliments the hair colour, but is a little darker (i.e. blondes, I will use leather with a bit of brown mixed in, redheads I will use chestnut, brunettes I will use dark brown or black, black, gets black) then I use whichever white is closest at hand, because I'm lazy (white, bone white, or frost giant white) then depending on what I want the eye colour to be, I will go for a dark version of that (green gets olive green, blue gets dark blue mixed with a bit of dragonscale, brown gets dark brown or black) My hands are a little too shakey to go any smaller than that, so I don't do the glint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pae Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 I don't know if you saw this one or not, but recently Vikinglodge did some brilliant green eyes on Calindra (seen here). Now that I have this one in my grubby little hands, I can say that they look even better in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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