really good eyes

[absolutrudy]

Sometimes I struggle with eyes, other times they are right on the money. Any good tutorials or techniques out there where the eyes are perfect every time?

Also, I\'ve seen minis with the irises painted in as well....any advise on that?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Equus]

I think you\'ll find that a lot of people do different things for their eyes, and it also depends on the scale and scuplting of the mini.

Some people do a black pool, then dot the whites on either side of the iris. Others do a black pool and then put a smaller pool of white in, then paint in either a dot or a line for the iris. Another way is to do the white and then carefully line the eye. There are probably tons of other ways as well.

I\'ve tried most of the above, and have had limited success. I would say go with whatever is comfortable for you and then practice a lot. Eyes are somewhat troublesome, and I find I end up \"redoing\" them quite a bit to have them come out ok.

If I can find some of the tutorials on eyes online, I\'ll link them. Otherwise, I\'m sure someone more helpful than myself can put some up. ^_^

 

[absolutrudy]

I appreciate you help. I\'ve also found that practice is the best means to getting better, but I was just curious about what all you \"experts\" thought.

 

[Equus]

Heh...don\'t mock the experts by inferring that I am one myself.

Personally, I usually do a pool of black or brown over the entire eye, put the white in, then dot it with one of those tiny Micron pens. Then I usually end up having to do some clean up around it...either putting in more line around the eyes or not.

I\'m still struggling with it, personally, and I think most people do end up redoing the eyes more often than not. I\'ve also taken to doing the eyes earlier in the process, just because there\'s less chance of me drastically messing up anything else. Artistically, I probably would prefer to do them at the end, as it kinda strikes me as a finishing touch, but realistically I usually make an unholy mess of the face if I\'m not careful enough.

 

[mattsterbenz]

thats the technique i do: all black eye, then smaller shape in white, then dot the eye. one thing to do is make the iris the right size so that it doesnt look like the model saw a ghost. also a tiny dot of white in the corner of the pupil makes it look very realistic.

hope this helps,

matt

 

[LouisCypher]

Originally posted by mattsterbenz
thats the technique i do: all black eye, then smaller shape in white, then dot the eye. one thing to do is make the iris the right size so that it doesnt look like the model saw a ghost. also a tiny dot of white in the corner of the pupil makes it look very realistic.

hope this helps,

matt

i do the same, with good results and not too much re-doing!
As for iris, i just dot in black, then dot again with the chosen color leaving a small small black line around the colored iris... just a little much complicated but not impossibile!

and... check This EYE out lol

Luca

 

[airhead]

The articles here have a couple of nice eyes. Reaper\'s website has a good tutorial as well - click the link for the \'craft\'.
here

Irises shouldn\'t show up on most 25-28 mm minis. Look at someone across the lot (FLGS) where they are about the same as a mini at arms length. Can you see what color the eyes are? Generally not.
But when you paint the buggers and blow them up to 6\" tall on your computer screen, the iris color should probably show up there.

All a matter of scale.

 

[absolutrudy]

So what you\'re saying is if I\'m painting 28mm figs, I shouldn\'t worry about the pupil?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by absolutrudy
So what you\'re saying is if I\'m painting 28mm figs, I shouldn\'t worry about the pupil?

No not quite.
You can \"fudge\" the eyes by painting the iris/pupil black and it will look OK, or for figures with clearly defined eyes you could get away with using colour. Just remember as Airhead said the figure at 28mm is approx 1/65th the true size of a human so the scale does not always allow for colour to work as the iris.
If you look at the eyes on a Werner Klocke sculpted figure ( Freebooter or Reaper) you\'ll see that the are quite large in comparison to other figure scupltors, this gives you the opportunity to try the Painted iris.
But if you are intending to paint the pupils one handy way for ease is to paint in the white of the eye after the base coat of skintone has been done then paint in a black line from top to bottom eyelids. Then you can go back and tidy up the skin basecoat and continue the rest of the skin highlighting.