Painting Eyes?

[Gannon]

Hi Paintmasters, a question for you. I've noticed how amazing some eyes can look, the whites, with the colored iris and pupils and sometimes a really cool white dot for reflection. My question is, how do you paint these? Or do you use decals? If decals, do you buy (if so where) or do you make (if so how?). What do people like Sideshow, Bowen, Gentle Giant do it ? Those eyes are really striking but find it very hard to believe that is done by hand, espeicially in sometime such small figures. Any idea? Thanks for your time.

[boondocksaint]

Hi Paintmasters, a question for you. I've noticed how amazing some eyes can look, the whites, with the colored iris and pupils and sometimes a really cool white dot for reflection. My question is, how do you paint these? Or do you use decals? If decals, do you buy (if so where) or do you make (if so how?). What do people like Sideshow, Bowen, Gentle Giant do it ? Those eyes are really striking but find it very hard to believe that is done by hand, espeicially in sometime such small figures. Any idea? Thanks for your time.


definitely done by hand....no decals..

[BattyDave19]

get sandstone made by delta, it looks more relistic then regular white. after that take a led pencile and draw in ur(better than paint because u can erace ur mistake if u make any) after that work in ur collors and then take a black wash and go over ur iris with it.

[Gannon]

Thanks for responding. Wow! I'm totally surprised! By hand? Is this just for garage kit paint ups? Or would this be the same for Sideshow, Bowen etc? I cant imagine the factory handling handpainted eyes AND making them perfect each time. Any thoughts?

[BattyDave19]

just for anything, u will have alot more controll with a brush

[RickDTM]

I like to use watercolors to do eyes w/. For the whites, I mix a light gray w/ a little Payne's Gray watercolor to get a more realistic look to the eye. Paint in the border of the iris using the PGray watercolor, then add your chosen iris color in with watercolors as well. Take a little white acrylic paint on a fine brush and paint in some striations to replicate a human eye. This is time consuming and a little tricky, but the beauty of using watercolors is you can wash them off w/ a damp brush if you make a mistake. Add the pupil in w/ black acrylic paint. Final step is to add the "catchlight", and I like to use a sharpened toothpick to lightly dot pure white in. LAST step is to seal the watercolor work w/ a light spray of Krylon Matte or Testor's DullCoat then gloss w/ either 5 minute epoxy or Testor's Clear Top coat. You can also use Future Floor Wax straight out of the bottle.

Hope that helps!

[Gannon]

I like to use watercolors to do eyes w/. For the whites, I mix a light gray w/ a little Payne's Gray watercolor to get a more realistic look to the eye. Paint in the border of the iris using the PGray watercolor, then add your chosen iris color in with watercolors as well. Take a little white acrylic paint on a fine brush and paint in some striations to replicate a human eye. This is time consuming and a little tricky, but the beauty of using watercolors is you can wash them off w/ a damp brush if you make a mistake. Add the pupil in w/ black acrylic paint. Final step is to add the "catchlight", and I like to use a sharpened toothpick to lightly dot pure white in. LAST step is to seal the watercolor work w/ a light spray of Krylon Matte or Testor's DullCoat then gloss w/ either 5 minute epoxy or Testor's Clear Top coat. You can also use Future Floor Wax straight out of the bottle.

Hope that helps!

Thanks Rick! That is a really neat trick! So interesting!

[HereBeMonsters]

To echo what Rick said. For 1/6 scale and smaller I use a sewing needle with the tip cut straight off and sanded flat. This makes the tip a near perfect flat circle that you can dab paint onto and apply to the center of your iris and make your pupil. Just clean it off and reuse again. A good pair of magnifier glasses helps to really see how your eyes are shaping up. And never use white for the eye/sclera always use a off white parchment or sandlwood mixed with a little raw umber or gray.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8863/pupil8hf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Gannon]

To echo what Rick said. For 1/6 scale and smaller I use a sewing needle with the tip cut straight off and sanded flat. This makes the tip a near perfect flat circle that you can dab paint onto and apply to the center of your iris and make your pupil. Just clean it off and reuse again. A good pair of magnifier glasses helps to really see how your eyes are shaping up. And never use white for the eye/sclera always use a off white parchment or sandlwood mixed with a little raw umber or gray.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8863/pupil8hf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Wow, cool! Painting eyes themselves seems like a whole new artform in itself! Thanks for the explaination!

['Nuff]

I like to use watercolors to do eyes w/. For the whites, I mix a light gray w/ a little Payne's Gray watercolor to get a more realistic look to the eye. Paint in the border of the iris using the PGray watercolor, then add your chosen iris color in with watercolors as well. Take a little white acrylic paint on a fine brush and paint in some striations to replicate a human eye. This is time consuming and a little tricky, but the beauty of using watercolors is you can wash them off w/ a damp brush if you make a mistake. Add the pupil in w/ black acrylic paint. Final step is to add the "catchlight", and I like to use a sharpened toothpick to lightly dot pure white in. LAST step is to seal the watercolor work w/ a light spray of Krylon Matte or Testor's DullCoat then gloss w/ either 5 minute epoxy or Testor's Clear Top coat. You can also use Future Floor Wax straight out of the bottle.

Hope that helps!

Just wanted to make sure I could find this again...Thanks...:thumbs2:

[deanst]

How do you know where to put the "catchlight" white spot???

['Nuff]

How do you know where to put the "catchlight" white spot???

Depends on where the "light source" is coming from...Welcome to the Forum...:thumbs2:

[deanst]

Ahhh...I see obewan....so it can be pretty arbitrary but usually on the iris to either or both sides of the pupil?

[cblakey1]

Ahhh...I see obewan....so it can be pretty arbitrary but usually on the iris to either or both sides of the pupil?

Yep, arbitrary.. but sometimes depends on the head's orientation [or direction of the stare] where you put it and if you put it in both eyes. I don't think you should ever put it on both sides of a pupil.

[SiMo]

I use a sewing needle with the tip cut straight off and sanded flat. This makes the tip a near perfect flat circle that you can dab paint onto and apply to the center of your iris and make your pupil.

Not too bad.. ;)