Eyes! Help needed.

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Good afternoon all from once again sunny Cumbria.
Hoping to pick the collective brains of all involved for advice when it comes to painting the iris of the eye.
I've got the rest of the eye down and quite happy with the results but am struggling with getting that perfect circle of the iris.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way. I tend to paint busts of at least 1/9th scale so it's possible to create what I'm hoping for and having seen the result amongst the busts and figures posted on the site I hope someone will give a poor struggling northerner some help
Cheers and stay well. Perfect time for our hobby in my mind. Forced to stay inside away from others with no guilt attached. Pretty sweet in my mind
Attached chart that I use for the overall process.
Jonathan

 

[housecarl]

Mini tutorial here Jonathon.
Also a full bust here.

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Brilliant pal!
Again... I'm looking for a specific method for attaining the circle/iris.
I'm sure it's going to come down to a very steady hand and not breathing while I attempt it.
I've painted over 200 busts with better than good results... if I do say so myself It's just this last thing that tends to catch me out.
I should also qualify this by saying that I photograph my work with a macro lens which can tend to be very unforgiving.
Results attached or inspection. I have changed the way I paint the outside edge of the eyes so as not to have such a defined transition so as you look at the
pics attached don't focus on that at all.
Call me a perfectionist... go on then... call me a perfectionist... I have a collection of wives who might just agree with you.
Again... any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers again
Jonathan

 

[Nap]

Dear struggling northerner .....as if !!!!

I tend to use a long haired brush size 1 and let the natural spring of the brush move the paint to shape

..or your could also put the basic shape and then cut around from the edges to form a circle ...h and hold your breath!

Saying that think your eyes ...on the pics I hasten to add look good

Here's looking at ya .....

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[DaddyO]

Hello to sunny Cumbria from rainy Dorset

Clearly you know how to swing a brush Jonathan so if I'm reading correctly it's the painting of a circle (in this case an iris) which is what you are asking about? (Nice selection of busts by the way)

Couple of suggestions for you -
If you are right handed paint the left eye first (This means you are not covering the eye you are trying to match with the brush which makes judging things easier) On the same note paint the left hand side of the circle working from top to bottom first then add the right hand side (again top to bottom)
NB - If you try to paint a line away from you you are usually pushing the bristles which tends to cause snatching and juddering in the line

(You may well know all this stuff anyway, but it's worth re-iterating)

Add a little glazing agent/medium to the mix
It looks like you've used acrylic on the samples shown which tends to dry on the tip of the brush very quickly which makes you push harder to get the paint to flow (adding this helps the paint flow better and slide off the end of the brush so you can sweep it on in one or two strokes)
I'd also use the largest brush you can with a good point (I paint 54's mainly and don't think I own anything smaller than a number 1. The larger belly of the brush retains more paint so you don't have to keep going back to the pallet to refill (which I finds ruins your close up focus)

If you are struggling with a wobbly line make sure that you are relaxed - Consciously drop those shoulders Brace both wrists against the table so you are not moving about and don't hold you breath (which will cause the shakes) Just breath normally until the brush is close then let half a breath out and pause breathing at that point while you apply the brush than remove the brush and breath normally (It's not that difficult to do this automatically after a few attempts and you'll find it helps with any detail work)

Not really much else to add apart from something I was taught many moons ago when studying Art - Make sure you can see the mark you want to make on the figure before you put the brush near it.

Hope that helps is a small way and makes some kind of sense
Cheers
Paul

 

[Nap]

Now that's a explanation Paul !!!

Are you available for after dinner speeches ...LOL

Nice repy mate

Nap

 

[DaddyO]

Now that's a explanation Paul !!!

Are you available for after dinner speeches ...LOL

Nice repy mate

Nap

Only if I have the dinner and pud first mate

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Excellent advice from both!
I've got 12 busts sitting at the 94.2% complete stage and just need to put these suggestions to work
Not afraid of going at the eye's at all just want them to be as good as possible... my missus is very demanding when it comes to details
So suffice to say I'm used to working under pressure
I'll have a crack at the busts tomorrow as it's meant to rain yet again in lovely Cumbria and as Kev can attest I have nothing else to do in my sad life!
All the best and cheers again on the advice from both sides of the fence.
Take care and be safe. I hope you've got a good seat for the circus starting tomorrow and running till Wed aft.
Jonathan

 

[Richie]

Excellent advice from both!
I've got 12 busts sitting at the 94.2% complete stage and just need to put these suggestions to work
Not afraid of going at the eye's at all just want them to be as good as possible... my missus is very demanding when it comes to details
So suffice to say I'm used to working under pressure
I'll have a crack at the busts tomorrow as it's meant to rain yet again in lovely Cumbria and as Kev can attest I have nothing else to do in my sad life!
All the best and cheers again on the advice from both sides of the fence.
Take care and be safe. I hope you've got a good seat for the circus starting tomorrow and running till Wed aft.
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,
You could try something like a cocktail stick. Sand it carefully to the correct diameter and then square it off and dip the end in superglue and refine again with careful sanding. You can then use this as a stamp to get the correct round iris shape. You can do the same for the pupil and paint in the detail with a brush.
Food for thought.
cheers
Richie

 

[Blind Pew]

Eyes....the Ayes have it. Indeed.
A while ago I took to painting gladiators to avoid doing eyes. Seriously. They're the one aspect of a figure that can ruin an otherwise medal winner.
Down the years, I've tried every trick I can think of. I even tried those Archer transfers, which I found harder to use that paint.
I wish you luck...

 

[fogie]

Eyes are certainly tricksy things to paint....and they get even more tricksy as you go up in scale.
I tend to stick with 75mm or 54mm, and discovered this a while back (can't recall who, where
or when sadly) - I found its simplicity useful. If you get things right the illusion of a detailed eye
can be achieved without the pain....





Mike

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Cheers on all the advice fellas!
I figured... excuse the pun... that there would be some good answers within the Brain Truss!
Happy to say I've not been disappointed.
Many thanks on all fronts. With it being Sun here in the Lakes I may just use this as a day of rest from the circus and
try my hand at some eye work.
Updates to follow.
Cheers to all and stay well.
Jonathan

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

We have a winner!
Just when you think things have to be difficult some clever bugger comes up with a 100% winner answer!
Huge cheers to Richie for his cocktail stick answer.
As much as my "artist" brain say's this is cheating, all I know is that it works perfectly! First try out of the gates and the "roundnes" is better than anything I've ever obtained with a brush. The positioning of the eyeball is dead simple. A tiny bit of clean up with a 000 brush and sorted!
I don't mind saying that I've been vexed by this part of the hobby for going on 45 years and to get this result in about 34 seconds makes me smile at the fool I've been for all these years. I hate to say it but this result is with simply clipping the end off of a cocktail stick and dabbing it it the oils and applying it to the eye... no shaping of the sticks etc as of yet but I will take some time to create the versions described by Richie.
So 10 out of 10 to Richie for his cocktail stick answer.
Right Richie! What's your advice on women?
Back to it fellas and I will try to post some pics as the process moves along.
Cheers from not so sunny Cumbria.
Jonathan

 

[Richie]

Give the women a wide bearth and paint. Glad this little trick has eased your frustrations.

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Cheers pal but she's already got the lions share of the "bearth"... I fight for a wee bit of the bed and covers every night
As for "paint", if she had her way the whole cottage would be some weird ass Farrow and Ball Norfolk Mud Flats in Sept Blue... shit you not!
Cheers again on the cracking advice... on all fronts.
Jonathan

 

[theBaron]

I'd add that you can drawn in the iris with a pencil, too, once you have the white and its shades painted in. That's a tip I learned painting the eyes on an anime figure. I found a similar series of how-to images, albeit for anime style, and the painter used that tip. I found it helps, with the larger-scale figures.

For smaller scales/sizes, like 54mm, I use the old-school method of painting the iris as a colored band, and then cutting in the upper and lower eyelids, to close the eye down to the desired open width.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Cheers on that Brad!
All help welcome.
Stay safe and keep painting.
Jonathan

 

[Nap]

Hi Jonathan

Good to hear the eyes are solved ...can Ibsuggest you do make sure you eat the cheery from the first though

I have heard Richie uses a bananna to the same effect ...lol

As for women advice ..get one ..they are useful

Happy benchtime hope we see the results here on PF

Nap

 

[Jonthan mcmeekin]

Your depth of concern always touches me pal!
For anyone interested in adding something to their Wall of Shame and Infamy collection...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H55-MM-R...982551?hash=item3ff2796897:g:MlwAAOSwaLxgBMYQ

Not usually a big fan of the "Eastern" market, but I've never seen this one anywhere else.
Cheers from where it do rain cats and dogs for hours and days... shame that!
JOnathan