Painting eyes. Yay or nay?

[Hobgoblin]

For me, it depends on the size of the miniature (not necessarily the scale). More heroic-style minis with cartoony faces tend to have bigger eyes, which are easier to paint. When I’m painting standard 28mm figures, like Perry’s, I usually don’t bother with the eyes.

That's a really good point. And within that, fantasy (and some sci-fi) humanoids often have even more disproportionately large heads than 'heroic' figures. For example, the heads of those Perry hobgoblins I posted above are probably about four times the size of the head on a plastic Perry man-at-arms.

An exception would be the Oathmark range, where the orcs and goblins have rather small eyes - and where the option of glowing eyes (with no pupil) is very welcome as a result!

One more tip on eyes with pupils: if you paint the figure so that it's looking to the left or right, you can make the process much easier, as you only need one bit of 'white' (i.e. grey or off-white) in each eye. I've found that this helps quite a lot with small historicals.

Another thing: using a grey for the 'white' of the eye means that you can get a much better light/reflection effect if you put a dot of tiny dot of pure white into the pupil. The eye will look much more alive as a result.

[Cubs]

25/28mm or above, I paint the eyes. 20mm or below, I don't.

How I paint the eyes - I do it right after the flesh basecoat on the face, so I can go back over the 'white' (actually a dirty grey colour) with more of the base coat to thin it right down for very narrow eyes (narrower than you think), then the iris, then neaten up with more basecoat if it's got messy, before painting in the rest of the face.

[Redshank]

On the basis of the debate so far, I think I can say... the eyes have it

(I'll fetch my coat)

[Moriarty]

With that humour, you’ll find it on the bonfire :-)

[Charlie_]

I don't paint them.

Most of my figures are Perry 28mm, and both with plastic and metal you usually have an eyeball and eyelids on the sculpts. I paint the eyelids, and leave the ball itself dark brown. Most of these figures wear helmets with low rims, so the eyes usually end up in shadow.



On the figures without low helmets rims, i.e. the occasional figure with a soft hat or no headgear, I still do the same, and you can see the eyelids and the dark slit between them more easily. Never felt the need to do anything more.

[Charlie_]

As the closing statement, here’s a “real world” image depicting a shot closer to the subjects than you would be to a mini at arm’s length. No eyeballs visible.

I think that's a pretty damn good closing statement!!

[Freddy]

I think that's a pretty damn good closing statement!!

I do not think it is good one.

Humans are trained to look into each others eyes, so detailed eyes have simply more weight than detailed belt buckles or boots. And it is not about the white of the eyes, it is about the facial expression and the direction of the gaze. It is determined by the adjustment of the eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrows and the pupil/iris as the focal point, especially its ratio to the white of the eyes. Here is another photo, if the direction of the light is not a strong one from above but more diffused, the pupils/iris are also clearly visible.


If the iris is too small compared to the white, you will get the dumb/shell shocked look.


In most cases a T-shape for the eyelashes and the pupil is enough on a figure. If the sculpting is detailed enough, even a wash can bring out the important details of the eye.

Also note that most of our figures are heroic scale, with the heads way bigger than they should be in the scale. For the eyes, even the hyper-realistic Roman sculptures had sometimes the eyes bigger as it is such an important part of the face.

My closing statement would be a wish for everyone having their figures painted to a level where only the eye details are missing

also:

[Freddy]

-

[Sunjester]

As a rule I don't, unless the figure looks "wrong" with out the eyes painted in. Usually limited to fantasy monster types to be honest.