need painting help...

[Pirate Rick]

does anyone have any good tips for painting the eyes on a figure? I can get gr8 jerseys pants etc...but cant seem to get the eye so i usually just paint the whole face skin tone and be done with it. any tips would be gr8ly appreciated as i love the look of the eyes behind the face mask

Get a box of the flat toothpicks. One end is usually wider than the other, so you can dip the wide end in white and blot all of your eyes and then come back with the pointeier end to do the black or colored iris. I haven't tried it, but when I do I was planning on trying this method versus the paintbrush. LMK if/how it works.

[5-13 Studios]

what i like to use is a tiny liner brush (i've used it so much i wore off the size specs printed on it ), and paint the eye area black first. let it completely dry, then hit it with a dab of white, you should end up with an outline around the eye, let dry. i then use a rapidoliner (ink pen) .25 nib, and plop the eyeball in the center of the white. i've also used brown as the outline of the eye with great success.

Originally Posted by 5-13 Studios

what i like to use is a tiny liner brush (i've used it so much i wore off the size specs printed on it ), and paint the eye area black first. let it completely dry, then hit it with a dab of white, you should end up with an outline around the eye, let dry. i then use a rapidoliner (ink pen) .25 nib, and plop the eyeball in the center of the white. i've also used brown as the outline of the eye with great success.

Chris,

Thanks for the tip about using the Rapidoliner ink pen. I'm going to give that a try.

- OldSchool

[artlax]

One old military model building technique was to use a wash (thin mixture of paint) and lay it on letting it run into the crevices that create the face detail. The idea of trying to paint the entire eye gives an almost doll like appearance and is not as realistic - they tend to look "bug eyed". I suggest using only acrylic paint for this because if you use a wash of enamel you have a lot of thinner in the mixture and that can break down the base layer you are applying it to.

Enjoy your football Sunday!