Question on painting eyes

[Mongo Mel]

Hello all,
I've been thinking (oh oh )..
When I try to paint the pupils on eyes, it's difficult to get them to look round (I'm talking only on the large scale busts that I do). I thought about trying to use a Sharpie extra fine point marker. With just a touch, you should get a nice round pupil.
Has anyone tried doing this? If so, how well did it work for you?
Thanks,
Craig

 

[KeithP]

Craig-

I recetnly bought Mr GS eye color pens but have not given them a try. They are brown and green. I did some playing around with them and they seem to work pretty well although the tips are not very fine.

Keith

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi Keith,
I've never heard of those. What are they? Do you have a link to them?
Thanks,
Craig

 

[KeithP]

Here you go. Also, I bought the gold pens too but did not like the results. Printers ink far superior.

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/supplie...GunzeSanyo.html

 

[Rob Brown]

Hi Craig
I actually use fine point markers to do pupils and have had good success. I can't think of the name of the pens right now, but I have some sharpies with fine points, but the ones I use have finer points. I will try to check and get back to you.
Rob

 

[Mongo Mel]

Thanks Keith. That look like the same idea. I believe that Sharpie makes pens in different colors besides black too.
I like using printers inks for metallics too. The only problem I've had with them is when I accidentally get some on an adjacent area. It's really hard to get it completely off. In fact, that's what caused me to strip the uniform portion of my Von Blucher bust way back when.

Rob, Sharpie makes an Extra Fine point marker that I think might work. These are the ones I'm thinking of trying.

I'm getting better at painting the colored portion of the eyes (the iris?) but I have trouble getting the black part (the pupil?) to look round. That's what got me to thinking about this. I'm happy to see that it's not such an offbeat idea after all .

Thanks guys,
Craig

 

[pkess]

I use toothpicks, dipped in superglue than sanded to a variety of diameters for painting eyes on smaller scale figures. The key is to get the paint to the right consistency. To check the consistency, I dip the toothpick in the paint and practice on a 3x5 card. I generally use Polly S or Vallejo acrylics when painting eyes. On large scale busts and figures, I prefer to paint the eyes in oils because they need more detail.

 

[KeithP]

Phil-

Thanks for that tip.

For me, I find it very difficult to use acrylics for painting eyes as they seem to dry too quickly on the brush. Toothpick doesn't work too well either. But, I'll take another shot...

Keith

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi pkess
Thank for the idea. I've tried using toothpicks before but never tried shaping the ends with superglue. The trouble for me with toothpicks was that they have no absorbency. The only control was how much paint I had on the tip. The bigger the paint drop, the bigger the dot (if that makes sense).
I do use oils on my work so that's not a problem. It's more that I have to "draw" a circle of black and the "canvas" is pretty small . It usually comes out looking oblong or worse. That's why I was thinking of the Sharpie. Plenty of ink and the tip is already the right shape.

Keith called you Phil. Are you Phil Kesseling? If so, we've met and talked once or twice at the MFCA and D.C shows. Doubt that you'd remember me though .

Thanks again,
Craig

 

[Einion]

Craig, one thing I wanted to mention about using markers, if they don't use pigmented inks there's a risk of the pupil bleeding into surrounding colours over time and they can fade too. I came across an old note made with a marker the other day that is now blueish lines surrounded by a brown halo

If you have trouble painting a nice round pupil with a brush (who doesn't?!) just keep some of the iris colour on hand to correct it, painting around the circle of the pupil is a lot easier for most people than painting a neat circle directly. You could even do the whole iris area black and then paint the iris in a ring, some illustrators do their eyes this way.

Einion

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hey Craig!

What I would suggest is to use like a winser newton series 7 sized 0 or even a 1, or anything with a good point, and load it with a fair about of paint so when you touch the eye ball a little bead will 'drop' and form a good pupil.

 

[Pete_H]

I hear decals work really really well

I'm sorry, but the devil made me do it :lol:

In all seriousness, try Phil's method. It works wonders for me in any scale.

 

[pkess]

Craig,
I do remember meeting you a few times.
As you mentioned, the size of the paint drop on the toothpick does determine the size of the dot. I mix the paint fairly thin and I am only looking for one dot. I always try it out on a 3x5 card first. That way you can tell if the paint is to thick or if the dot is too big.

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi guys,

Einion, I've seen happen what you mentioned. Do you think that paper absorbing the ink would have caused that? So maybe the ink wouldn't leach out on to the oil paint? Just an idea.

Anders, I use those brushes too. I've even got the 00 and 000 ones. With what I'm reading here, maybe the solution is to thin my paint a little. I've been using it straight out of the tube so that it won't run when I apply it. Just have to find a happy median

Pete...you've got a mean streak there buddy

Phil, I'll give your method a try soon. Thanks for the tip.
I've got a good size set of eyes to do on that Dracula bust I bought at MFCA. Should be a good piece to test it out on.

Thanks again guys for all the help. Much appreciated.
Craig

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi J.L.,
No, I've never even heard of them before.
But I'll look around for them.
Thanks for the info.
Craig

 

[KeithP]

They just made my to buy list for Dick Blick.
Thanks JL.

http://www.dickblick.com/zz207/02/products...am=0&ig_id=1388

Keith

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hey J.L.,
Thanks for the info. I found them online at Cheap Joes too.
No Hobby Lobby around here but we do have Michaels so I'll look there.
Thanks
Craig

 

[Mongo Mel]

J.L.,
I found those pens at the local Jo-Ann Fabric shop. They were only available there in sets but they had another brand sold individually and I got one of those. I tried it today on an olf bust that had "bad eyes" and I liked how it worked.
It could be a neat way to go for painting the colored portion of the eyes too. Thanks for telling me about them.

Craig