painting eyes

[BlueRaven]

Hello guys! I'm working in a Wolverine and Jubilee diorama that I commissioned Patmoorea to make for me. The man is super talented as I am sure most of you know. He did an amazing job! I'll be putting up some wip' s as soon as I make some progress...RL has definitely gotten in the way lately. But anyway I'm still learning here, and I am unsure about doing Jubilees eyes, the whites specifically. I know they can't be stark white. How do I do it, what color to mix with white, and is it like shading on the top part of the eyeball? Any tips are going to be a big help! Thanks!

[btbrush]

Yeah, I start out by painting the eyeball a very light gray.

[lorigrey]

I mix white with some grey and just a touch of blue. It comes out as the previous poster said. A very light grey.

[sivousplay]

Whenever I am painting human eyes, I use the lightest fleshtone I use for highlighting flesh. In my case, that's Vallejo Light Flesh.

jim

[Scooke123]

Good tips - white always gives a figure that popeyed look.

[BlueRaven]

Thanks for these suggestions/tips! Going to try both colors, see which I like best. Now I gotta go and paint me some big blue eyes...

[scuzzfink85]

Depends how small the eyes are too..
must be factored in too..

[sivousplay]

I thought I'd show a few different scales w/ some blue eyes using the light flesh as the eye white ... hope it helps.

jim

[BlueRaven]

Hi Jim, yes those examples help a lot! Those eyes look very realistic. This figure I am working on is 1/6 scale, the eyes are small, at least for me they are. I just now painted the dark base circle for the iris. Very harrowing getting an even round edge, let me tell you! I'm using both pale gray and pale flesh tone for the whites, hope that's not a mistake. These eyes won't look anything like your fine examples. If I can come close I 'll be happy!

[sivousplay]

Good luck. The eyes in those pictures are Nina-1/6, Swan-1/7, Maria-1/2, Sisters-1/7.

When I do the "dark circle", I find thin paint much easier to get the initial shape down ... it also lets me see that I have the positioning correct with paint that can be easily painted over. You might also try some pigma micron pens or fine mechanical pencil to draw the shape first and paint over the shape instead of trying to draw with a paintbrush.

[RogueJ]

You might consider using water colors for the eyes. Great if you need to reposition the eyes. Just use a damp/wet Q-tip to remove if needed. Then repaint. Once you have your eyes as you like and want them. Lightly seal with Dullcote. Then gloss them for a final wet look.

[vortexx]

Something that I used once for doing the circle in the eye was a cheap paintbrush with the bristles removed. The circle of the shaft holding the bristles was just the right size. I dipped it in a bit of paint and touched it on the model's eyeballs. Keep in mind that showing the full circle in the eyeball might make the model look like he/she is in some sort of anxious state, as usually the iris is partially obscured by the eyelids.