Everybody can paint eyes. You, too. But there's a secret to it no one is talking about...
This is not a bullshit post and it's not hyperbole. I firmly believe that everybody can paint eyes. But there is one specific thing holding a lot of people back.
The secret no one is talking about
Normally, I prefer to get straight to the point, but I think this post needs some background to make it understandable:
I had been painting minis when I was a child, then left the hobby behind me and came back to it as an adult. In 2017, when painting Guild Ball Fishermen, I compared them to models I had painted as a child and had to realize that, while my whole understanding of the painting process had gotten better, I had become terrible at painting eyes. After several tries and countless corrections, this was the best I could come up with:
Guild Ball Fisherman Shark
Compare this to a model probably painted around 2000, where I had no clue what I was doing:
The eyes on the Imperial Soldier aren't great either, but they look much more realistic than Shark's oversized and uneven eyes. Why had painting eyes become so hard when I now actually somewhat understood what I was doing? How was it possible that my brush handling had regressed so much?
One time, when I wasn't satisfied with the eyes on a model, once again, I took a photo and zoomed in to realize why the eyes looked odd. It was perfectly clear from the photo. So I made the necessary corrections and the eyes looked much better. But wait a minute... how is it possible that I saw this from the photo, but not from looking at the miniature itself?
Because the key skill to painting eyes is not a steady hand, it's good eyesight.
My eyesight had gotten worse over the years, but not so bad that I had considered getting glasses. This is why my results were so much worse than those from the 2000s. After realizing this, I got some cheap magnifying glasses and from that moment on, painting eyes was super easy. These are some of the results that were now possible thanks to better eyesight:
Guild Ball Brewer Corker
Guild Ball Mortician Obulus
So, if you think you can't paint eyes: Yes, you absolutely can. All you have to do is paint with your glasses on or get some cheap magnifying glasses. There are some wearable models available on Amazon, I am using these, but other solutions should work just as well.
The step-by-step process
Regarding the actual process of painting eyes, there are a lot of guides on that topic, this is the best one I know:
For step one, I strongly recommend to use a dark brown instead of black, just like they point out in the article under the picture. Using black will either look comic-esque or like the model has put on mascara. As they say in the article, steps four and five are optional and are not possible with every sculpt, they only work well if the sculpted eyes on the model are large enough. I have only seen one video where the painter live paints eyes with a (coloured) iris on 28mm scale models: How to Paint Miniatures - Eyes
If you know others, let me know.
Steady hands
Not convinced? Are you thinking "well, maybe some sort of glasses would help, but my hands just aren't steady enough"? I can only urge you to try. There are some tips that allow you to have a more steady hand which really make a differnce. You probably know them already:
- Rest your lower arms on the table edge when painting.
- Grip the model firmly with the offhand (a painting handle can be helpful) and have both hands very close to each other.
- Don't paint immediately after sports or other stuff that causes a high heart rate, wait for at least an half an hour, better a full hour.
- Breathe through the nose while painting.
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