Painting eyes

[Thedarkprincesnun]

Has anyone got any tips on painting eyes? Im about to start painting my terminator captains eyes and have no idea what im doing lol

[GrandMagnus]

The easy method is to paint the eye white and then glaze it with what ever colour you want for the lenses (we are talking about helmet lenses right?)

 

The harder method, the one I personally prefer, is to paint the lens in a darker version of the colour you want and the proceed to highlight the lower part towards the centre of the helmet in that colour, highlight in 3 or 4 steps increasing the brightness of the lens. Finally add a small white dot to the other end of the lens. This tutorial can help:

 

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com.es/2010/11/painting-space-marine-helmet-lenses.html

[Athrawes]

are we talking lenses or actual eyes?

[apologist]

Human eyes, or helmet lenses (or something else)?

 

For human eyes, I tend to recommend painting the sockets with a very dark brown, then painting the face normally. Once dry, add a small horizontal stripe of black across each eye, and add a touch of pale cream (not pure white) to either side of each eye. This leaves the appearance of a pupil in the middle, without the 'staring' appearance the tends to result from dotting a black pupil in a white eye.

 

That'll give you something like this:

You can suggest expression by putting more white on one side of the eyes than the other, which results in the pupils being more to one side.

 

If you've got more time, then by all means experiment with developing the area around the eye. Adding a hint of blue to the skin mix for bags under the eyes can be effective; and using a fine brown line above the eye helps suggest a eyelid. This is also a good way to remove a staring effect.

 

The important thing is tonal contrast. This marine shows an eye painted with a simple dark tone – it's really just a patch of Charadon Granite mixed with black. It works particularly well for the all-black eye of Raven Guard.

 

If your figure has very pale skin, it's best to glaze the area around the eyes with a red, purple or blue (depending on what effect you want) before you begin the eyes.

 

Hope that helps.

[Thedarkprincesnun]

Thanks guys yes I meant actual human eyes will definitely try a couple of these tips out

[Lucien Eilam]

Personally I find getting two dots lined up properly infuriating.

 

Instead I paint the eye black, paint a thinner white line horizontally, then divide it vertically with black again.