Bit of fun today as I map out how I go about painting eyes.
To make things easier to follow I've quickly drawn up a set of "Mr Potato Head" diagrams, rather than spend hours painting up a model that's not always easy to see.
STEP 1.
To start with I'll paint the flesh basecoat colour over the model's face. I usually start with Burnt Umber.
STEP 2.
Next I will paint black all around the eye sockets. I don't worry about being too tidy at this stage.
STEP 3.
Once the black is completely dry I paint a horizontal white line, making sure it encompasses the whole of the eye.
STEP 4.
Again, making sure the white is completely dry I paint a vertical black line. I make sure that the line is in the same position on both eyes – wouldn't want the model to look cross-eyed!
Now comes the tidy up stages…
STEP 5.
I go back in with the black and define the eye shape by getting rid of excess white.
STEP 6.
I then do the same thing with the flesh base colour over the black, leaving a little bit of black around the eye to help define it and help it stand out.
And that's it. It's not dainty but it's always worked well historically for me (even more so with my failing eyesight, lol).
Let me know how you paint eyes – see if it's a technique I prefer ;)