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Author Topic: Eyes or No eyes??  (Read 2415 times)

barryfoote

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Eyes or No eyes??
« on: June 03, 2008, 05:32:36 pm »

Okay figure painting time....Now  don't want anyone laughing but I am quite pleased with the results, bearing in mind there is no way I am ever going to get to the standard of the dedicated figure painters.....Anyone got any tips, please pass them on.

Now I have added eyes to one figure but every time I try on the others it looks awful. Is it really necessary to add them? Would they be better left as they are...Ideas welcome...I don't want to put them on the model if they can be improved...

Cheers guys and galls,
Barry
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Bradley

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Re: Eyes or No eyes??
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2008, 05:56:00 pm »

They look good, Barry.  You've got to give 'em eyes otherwise they can't see what YOU are up to.   ;) {-)
Derek.   :police:
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barryfoote

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Re: Eyes or No eyes??
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2008, 08:09:49 pm »

They look good, Barry.  You've got to give 'em eyes otherwise they can't see what YOU are up to.   ;) {-)
Derek.   :police:

Thanks derek, but the wife says thats why she has apair in the back of her head.. 8)

Barry :police:
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Robert Davies

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Re: Eyes or No eyes??
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2008, 01:47:07 am »

Hi Barry,

A tip...

Look in the mirror....

Paint what you see.

Eh?

Most people's error is to make the white's of the eyes far too big, and the pupil etc far too small - a tiny black spec in a sea of white.

The pupil and eye colour is not actually round for most people, it tends to flattened top and bottom by the eyelids.

The best I used to be able to manage was a short white line with a slightly shorter black line painted over the top of it - with just a smidge of the original white showing at each end of the line. All you're trying to do is suggest what is there so that the viewer's mind fills in the blanks.

Most of your figures look like they are peering, or squinting into the sunlight, which would mean that their eyes would only appear as horizontal lines - go and squint in the mirror and see what happens! :)

Up until a year or so ago I'd have painted up an example and done a piccie, but I seemed to have acquired 'tremors' that would occasional make it tricky to paint a 1:1 scale eye!

Regards,

-Rob

ps Forgot to say! :) Nice work so far on the figures - nice shading effects.
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Bunkerbarge

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Re: Eyes or No eyes??
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2008, 04:50:34 am »

Barry, lovely jobs on the figures, it is amazing how effective even a little bit of shading can be.

As for eyes I always try to use a photo, resize it to the correct scale and study the eyes.  You will be surprised at just how little of the whites you can see.  I have seen a lot of figures that look more like they have had a bit of a shock because the modeller insists on painting white in the eyes to bring them to life.

Have a look at the attached picture, it is a good one to use as an example.  Print it out at the appropriate size and try to recreate in your figure what you see in the picture.  It is also worth noting that the white is actually very rarely a pure white as well.
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"Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"

barryfoote

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Re: Eyes or No eyes??
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2008, 08:49:02 am »

Rob and Bunkerbarge,

Thanks very much,
I will combine your ideas and give it a go.....Watch this space.

Barry
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