How do you paint eyes?

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Ease
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How do you paint eyes?

Post by Ease »

I've only recently started painting models with flesh, and I'm having real trouble with the eyes. I pride myself on a steady hand, but it just seems like I can't get a small enough brush. I have the smallest brushes GW sell, and they still seem too thick. I've even cut one in half, so it was half as wide, but that didn't work! I then tried to use a needle, but none of the paint would leave the needle against anything besides my own skin... :P
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Fantasyfreak »

Use a different brush that is smaller than the ones GW sell, there are plenty that are smaller and much better quality while being shockingly cheaper into the bargin.


Also, make sure you thin your paints down so that the paint flows from the brush nicely, straight from the pot is a definite no-no.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by popisdead »

badly.

White, then some ink glazes, then using a Pigma Micron 005 I dot the eye.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by ArchMagosAlchemys »

I use different diameter steel wire.

Thick for a black dot
Medium for an inner white or light dot
thin for a fine black dot in the center.

I only go to that trouble for characters.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Ease »

Does the steel wire 'drop' the paint well then? Because the needle I used (which I assume is steel) wouldn't 'let go' of the paint at all...
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by alejandro »

what I do is paint white then dot the eye with a fine tip pen, its good enough at a distance obviously not golden demon quality
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by lune »

First of all: I use GW brushes, even for eyes.
To explain how I made these ones:
eyes.jpg
I use thinned chaos black, dip my brush in it and while it's soaked up with color, I tip on a towel, getting most color out of the brush. With the remains, I blacken the whole eye. Same process with skull white while I leave some black as eyelids. Next Step same with chaos black (this time only making a dot for the iris).
Voilà.
Depending on eye size I start sometimes with standard brsuh, but latest with the 2nd layer I take the fine detail.
The trick is to only coat the brushe's head in color.
For making the iris I sometimes use unthinned color on the brushes head and make carefully a dot.

To be honest, I can't make more than 5 eyes in a lane, else my hands become too shivery to make any kind of detail.

My hint would be to make many breakds when painting eyes. Do a pair, than stop, drink something, make something else, a quarter hour later make the next one.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by JRGumby »

Honestly, you don't need a tiny brush if you have a good brush.

I've used a Winsor Netwon Size 2 (yes 2) for almost everything on my 20 GG I've... almost finished (metals I haven't decidd what to do yet).

I leave the eye socket the darkest shade on the face, and try to just get the buldge with white. Depending on what I'm goign for I'll either paint the pupils bblack (most common) or if I have a characterful-model that I want some life in I might use blue, green, or brown as the iris.

Just a little color in there seems to make a huge difference.

Seriously though, use a good brush that isn't ridiculously tiny. I like size 0 or 1, but under 00 becomes just incapable of holdign enough juice to paint well.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Zardan »

I basically do it a little backwards from most.

I paint the entire eye socket black (or dark).
I then carefully dot white with a tiny brush in the left and the right area of the eye, creating a pupil by painting in the area left and right of it. This usually creates a more living eye, since our eyes often have shadows.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by MUCKSTER »

I personally take the smallest brush I have and I paint white on the socket then attemp a black dot with the brush that I pulled most of the fibers out by accident.

THen I realize I suck at painting and just paint over it and will go back to it when Im better :P
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by ArchMagosAlchemys »

Steel wire has a 'flat' on it which holds and forms a tiny drop. A needle has a point and holds paint differently.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Kolfrosta »

It is not easy. The way I do it is paint the eye the entire color of the pupil (in my case dark blue). Then take white and paint the sides of the eye to actually make the pupil (rather than doing the dot approach).
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by ivrg »

I use balck as basecoat, then white. When using white try not to put in the edges of the eye, they are to remain black. When the white colour has dried than take black and paint a thin black line as the pupil. Vertical ofc. I think this is a pretty simpel method but it takes som practise ofc. And you dont really need better eye-painting on rank and files models.
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Spangleburt »

I tend to use a white undercoat (I like light colours, so I start with white and then layers washes over it). Depending upon the colour of wash, the eyes should remain pretty much white, then I dot the pupil in with whatever colour (usually a blue of some sort). the colour wil usually go over the edge, but if I then use a wash again around the eyes it tones it in and colours the eye socket a bit because the wash picks up a little bit of the pupil colour. Obviously this works better with female characters and elves :D
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Sothalis »

for my Woodies I use a different approach then with the rest. paint the eyes black (like mentioned above) and then pain the inside a light blue, leaving the outer lines black. that's it, no pupil at all. this gives the mini a kinda ghostly look.

here's my Branchy on which I used the same technique, but all my Woodies look like this (sorry for the big pic)

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v425/ ... nt=007.jpg
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Re: How do you paint eyes?

Post by Zardan »

Kolfrosta wrote:It is not easy. The way I do it is paint the eye the entire color of the pupil (in my case dark blue). Then take white and paint the sides of the eye to actually make the pupil (rather than doing the dot approach).
Which is exactly the way I go! :) I thought most people didn't.
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