Happy Halloween !
By far the coolest holiday, I had to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. If you don't have the tradition in your country, it is pretty much isolated to countries that trace back to those islands off the upper left hand side of Europe, then why not import it? If McDonalds can be brought to India, then certainly Halloween can find a home anywhere. Costumes & Monsters & Candy: what's not to love? Plus it's a holiday that is focused on the night... not many of those around. So unleash your favorite costume, and if you're young enough, have a kid, or maybe if you're just short enough, go demand candy from the neighbors ;)
Just look at all the fun these kids are having...
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd open my door to this lot either.
In the tradition of Trick or Treat, I'm going to give you both!
The Trick:
Easier than pie perfect animal eye:
This is a trick that is simple and effective. One of the things most commonly complained about by people trying to paint miniatures is painting eyes. I have seen people get so obsessed with trying to get eyes right that they continue the typical 'dark almond shape, smaller light almond inside, dark dot/line inside' style on everything with eyes. That might be ok for humans but relax! Most animals don't have eyes like humans, with all that white showing. Not long ago I saw a picture of some horses, a whole unit of cav, and every horse had these awkward almond whites for eyes. I don't want to seem mean by showing a picture of them, not trying to 'shame' anyone, my only purpose is to remind people that it is easy to get stuck in a pattern & assumption, and sometimes those assumptive patterns are neither effective or worth the increased work & strain.
For most animals just paint the eye black and add a small reflective dot. Don't use white by the way. I almost never use white, it is far too bright. A small dot of off white like P3 Menoth White or Reaper Linen is fine. The Ape above's reflective dot isn't done in white but it looks white because it's the lightest color on the piece. And that's it! Takes all of 3 seconds and looks right if I say so myself.
If you have problems with human eyes you can do something similar.. go with that dark almond shape (don't use black! A brown is best unless you're going for the 1920's starlet or modern goth look) and add a dot of light to one corner, and repeat for the other eye, now the person is looking to one side. Much easier than looking straight ahead! A great compromise if you're not confident about your brush control or have a whole bench full of eyes to do.
OK, that was your Trick, now on to
The Treats:
My house is fresh out of goodies, but some of the neighbors are giving things away...
Monty's Caravan is spilling out goods here and here. He's past 50,000 views, so go view some more and see about some prizes!
Loki's Great Hall has a Jack-O-Lantern set out, so go up to the door and demand Treats, and don't let that Viking costume scare you. He's celebrating cramming in 200 followers into his Hall, so if there is room for all of them, surely there is room for more.
And have a Happy Halloween!
Nothing to be afraid of. Right?