tips for painting eyes

[Mariner]

My first models arrived yesterday; Young Minis Templar Knight in Jerusalem is the piece I chose to do first, as there are so many stunning examples of it here. (I saved Blackbeard for later.)
I notice many different bust models have heads that are turned slightly and one thing that will ruin the effect is 'crooked' eyes.
I'd appreciate any tips on getting perfectly aligned eyes; don't want such a great cast ending up crosseyed

I will be working on him over the holidays and will post some photos; thanks to all the great people here for your help and Happy Holidays to all of you.
Mary

 

[housecarl]

This is quite good Mary. http://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d238.html
Aall the best,
Carl.

 

[Andrew Craft]

Hi Mary,
Something another planeteer told me once was try to avoid having the eyes look dead ahead, have them looking the way the head is turning (the head usually turns the direction the eyes are looking).
I also start a lot smaller with the iris and build up to a size I am happy with, this makes it easier to paint the second eye too as you can adjust the direction it is looking to match the first eye you paint.

Hope that makes sense,
Andrew

 

[Mariner]

Thank you, guys, that's a big help. The Knight looks like the irises would be painted slightly toward the corners rather than 'dead centre' of the cornea, but I'm not quite sure...

 

[Einion]

There are a lot of previous threads here on painting eyes (perennial problem!) with various tips but here are all the ones I can think of at the moment:

• first and most important tip is look at references closely before you start;
• use off-white for the eyeball, not pure white* and shade it, at larger scales in particular never use a flat colour for the whites;
• keep some of the eyeball mixtures for touch ups in case of mistakes (spirit-dampened brush if working in oils or enamels);
• dot in the pupil initially to set the direction the figure is looking, then expand the dot to form the iris;
• be careful with the size of the iris - it should normally touch the lower lid**;
• iris colour should generally be darker and/or duller than you initially think;
• shade the iris (dark on top, lighter below) at larger scales in particular;
• always try to paint a pupil, although at smaller scales it's often not necessary particularly if the eye colour is fairly dark;
• don't paint a catchlight unless the rest of the piece is painted correspondingly;
• where you aren't using a catchlight to imply the eye is glossy, gloss-coat the eyeball with something (acrylic medium, Future, varnish) the contrast in gloss between the skin and the eyeball can make or break a bust - not so much in photos but very much when seen in the round.

Did I mention studying references before you start?

*I usually use the lightest flesh mix plus a dot of blue, then some additional white if necessary.

**Unless the eyes are open wide in terror or surprise, or the person is being depicted looking up (in which case, why?) or they're stunned/dead and the eyes have rolled back in the sockets.

One of the main ways to avoid any of these things unintentionally is to make sure the iris is large enough: it should take up roughly half of the eye... so more |-|--|-| than |--|--|--| broadly speaking; having the iris a little small is a fairly common error (you'll see this on painted models quite a bit, where the iris is only about 1/3 of the visible eyeball) I think due to being nervous about making the iris too big and then overcompensating.

Last tip is the most common one: practice practice practice!

Einion