Eyes, Eyes, Everywhere

[Talion]

I consider myslef a fair painter, but theres one thing that really drives me crazy.

Eyes.............

I find them the most annoying part of the mini.

I find it hard to paint a the thin white line, and the tiny dot. I feel I need a brush with 1 hair to do it right.

I\'ve seen some amazing eye detail on some of the minis, but how do you guys do it.???

Do you use a magnifying glass, really small brushes. When I see eyes with both the colour and pupil, I\'m amazed.

Anyone got any tips to make my life less eye straining.........

 

[Ritual]

I use a quite small brush, but nothing exceptional. It\'s a matter of practice and getting your hand steady. I guess you could use a magnifying glass, but I don\'t.

The easiest way to get it nice, I think is to work in the following order:

1. apply base coat on face
2. do shading on the face
3. paint the white of the eye (you don\'t have to be super neat at this point)
4. paint the iris and do as much details as you think necessary
5. paint a dark brown line above the white (here\'s the time to get neat)
6. paint a semi-dark brown line under the white (also as neat as possible)
7. continue with the face

This way you don\'t have to be that neat when painting the white or the iris since you fix any mistakes afterwards by outlining the eye. Of course, doing the outline can be fairly tricky, but not as tricky as trying to paint an iris on an alredy outlined eye.

 

[War Griffon]

I tend to do the eyes as soon as the base coat is done for the skin. paint in the white then do the pupil any mistakes are easy to rectify at this point before the shading of the flesh starts to go on also if you can rest both arms/hands on something this helps as well bit like sign writers when they are doing letters or artists that need to reach up/over something they use a stick with a piece of foam on th eend (forget its correct name) but I just support both wrists on the edge of the table/bench and find this helps.

 

[Talion]

Thanks.

My problem was I was always taught to leave the eyes until last.

I then had to fit the eye to the finished face, I just tried it after painting the first highlight, and had a lot more space to play with.

I guess you fit the face to the eye, not the eye to the face.

cheers

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Practice, practice, practice........................

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Talion
My problem was I was always taught to leave the eyes until last.

I paint that way, once you get used to it it\'s not that hard.

Steady hand(s) and a good point on your brush are two important things, as is just the right paint consistency - too fluid and it can spread and swamp the eye area, too thick and it sometimes doesn\'t want to come off the brush at all.

Oh and of course the ol\' practice mantra as Shawn has already mentioned

Einion

 

[Primeval]

Originally posted by Talion
Thanks.

My problem was I was always taught to leave the eyes until last.

I then had to fit the eye to the finished face, I just tried it after painting the first highlight, and had a lot more space to play with.

I guess you fit the face to the eye, not the eye to the face.

cheers

I actually - and I know this sounds weird - prefer the eyes done first so that I get a feel for \"who\" I am painting, it makes the miniature seem more alive (of course, I give them all a backstory that guides my painting as well, so maybe it is the combination that works for me). But then I also know if the eyes are done first I won\'t ruin the face at the end

 

[leopardpixie]

Eyes last!!!!
paint the sockets black, and dot the white paint

 

[Fizl]

Eyes first!

Go on after the primer, and before any other bit gets painted

Shaz

 

[Dragonsreach]

Eyes first or after the base skin coat.
Put the white /off white in the eye nearest to your painting hand first , then turn the figure upside down and put in the other eye. This helps to keep your painting hand as steady as possible and moving in the direction that is most comfortable for you.
(What is the most difficult thing to get right is the pupil. As Einion said it\'s a matter of having a brush with the right point and consitancy of paint. If you can get that in with a stripe and then tidy up you\'ll be on the right track.)

 

[EricJ]

I paint eyes to give me that 2nd wind on a mini. I paint until I\'m about to get sick of the thing, and then do the eyes because it makes the thing \"wake up\" so to speak. Which then gives me new energy to finish.

I Rituals method should be good, and LPs as well, although I wouldn\'t use black, but rather a darker tone of what you\'re using for shadows in your skin. Or else the mini might end up looking like they either have 2 black eyes, or eye make fetishes.

I like eyes

<----I guess my avatar is a nice close up of a painted eye

 

[airhead]

I have learned to do the eyes first. So I can screw up and strip the mini without losing everything.

eyes

 

[Jabberwocky]

I tend to paint the eyes first, after the basecoat. I have had good luck with the micron pens. I use the 005 (or .20 mm nib). They minimize the \"cats eye\" look a brush stroke can give if you run from the upper eyelid all the way to the lower eyelid. They are sold at Michael\'s here in the States. Website can be found at www.gellyroll.com. Ms. Haley has also found good use for them doing tattoos and writings in spellbooks as well.

Hope this helps,
Jabber

 

[Wolf_Fang]

well ive just started painting eyes.... and well i still try to avoid it if i can! lol.....

this eye was just recently done on my slithe queen (will post pics in WIP) all i did for this was when i was done painting her i painted the eye with a dark blue then a tiny whit dot

 

[Medved]

must admit i am part of the eyes last brigade. it is soul destroying when you keep on cocking it up, but when you get them right you know the mini is finished. i mix ups some runny white paint (milk consistency) and let my brush go from up to down (i turn the mini to do this) then if i\'m painting a female face i will dot the eye with a deep blue. if this goes right then i compose myself and go for that highlight!

if its a male face i only bother with the highlight if its above 54mm. otherwise you end up with a mini that looks like its winking at you (quite worrying if your male and paint barbarians!

 

[Naukhel]

I paint the eyes whenever I darned well feel like it!

The best advice I\'ve gotten for painting eyes actually came from the reapermini.com article on painting eyes, about steadying your painting hand by pressing the heel of it against the other hand, which is holding the mini. This usually will make your hands shake the same way at the same time, and seem immobile, relative to eachother.



I\'m actually quite proud of my mini\'s eyes...

Now, if I could just take a good picture of them....

 

[laurence]

Eye know what you mean..

Hi Talion,

I used to get really nervous when I painted eyes. I guess this is because there\'s basically no margin for error.

I\'ve found that you\'ve just got to relax when painting eyes. Take it easy and go in with the attitude that painting eyes is really easy.

And if you do mess it up (which ain\'t happening on my watch) you can always re-do \'em.

You can do it!!!

 

[Infidel Castro]

Buy figures that don\'t have eyes

 

[mickc22]

a font of wisdom as always Rev
with smaller mini\'s it is a bit easier to do the eyes first, but as with everything else in this \'hobby/obsession\' there is no right or wrong, just what ever you are comfortable with and achieves the result you are after
..oh yeah and practice, dig out some old mini\'s and just do a load of eyes for an afternoon...

 

[Wolf_Fang]

Originally posted by reverend
Buy figures that don\'t have eyes

i like your thinking..... personaly ive gone for minis where u can leave the eyes black and still have it look fine lol