Eyes and Camo

[Commissar Chris]

Hey everyone. I'm not new to this game or painting but my army is forming into a very large Infantry based army. And I've been painting them without eyes. Its not that I'm lazy and don't care. Its just because every time I've tried it, it gets all over their face or they're too big of eyes or the pupils are too big. Just varying problems with each one. I do have fairly shaky hands (enough to never become a surgeon, or doctor at all for that matter). And i just would like to know if the people who paint guardsmen every week can help me with this (probably step by step instructions or a good conversation about it will do me well, pictures are also helpful).

And also to add onto my painting issue. I believe my army is too bland. Its very basically: Chaos Black Armor, Codex Grey cloth with Black Ink Wash. I want to add some Urban camo to my armor. Just to make it stand out more. I want it to look somewhat like this. [See Image Attached] But without the Grey because that's my cloth. Any Ideas how i can do that cleanly and crisply? Also i'll need to know how to do it with Tanks as well.

Please Help!

[Commissar Chris]

www.military1st.co.uk/ebay/t-shirts/t-shirt_red2.jpg

Had to post it. It wont go in the original question

[Deleted]

Well, im in the same boat as you with having shaky hands, making it incredibly hard to paint eyes >_< So what i normally will do is get the finest brush available to me, and have a napkin on hand, and keep trying to paint the eyes white over and over until i get the basic area of it into a whitish oval. Then, i either leave it as that (looks pretty good to me) Or i get a really fine tipped pen (like the ones they have at drawing stores) and attempt to make a pupil that looks good. Thats the only way i have found so far :/

[ElegaicRequiem]

I started the hobby in part to overcome shaky hands, and it's helped tremendously. Keep practicing.

Use washes of differing strength, and try dry-brushing first to give more texture.

[Sen.Kerry]

What I have found is that using a lighter grey instead of pure white leads to the eyes looking better than normal. I read it in a forum somewhere, and I've stuck with it. So far, it makes my models less like bug eyed laser wielding maniacs doped up on cocaine, and more like bug eyed laser wielding maniacs doped up on compressed air.

[ElegaicRequiem]

Well, for eyes, I use a micro pen. Much easier than fooling around with a brush.

[Commissar Chris]

well the do over again and again sounds like a pretty simple but evective idea. I'll give it a shot. But what advice do you guys have on the camo?

[siren]

The problem with camo on guardsmen is that it gets very easy to over do it really quickly and they start to look too busy. Personally I'm a fan of the blotches of shadow grey with the chips of chaos black and skull white. It was apparently in a white dwarf somewhere and shouldn't be terribly hard to find out on the internet somewhere.

As for actually applying it I've found that makeup sponges can create a pretty good splotchy pattern if you can find some that are small enough.

[ElegaicRequiem]

To the makeup section of Wal Mart!

[Commissar Chris]

aww but valentines day is over...what excuse do i have for buying one of those? lol

[ElegaicRequiem]

Tell people the truth if they ask? Or just give them a blank look.

[Commissar Chris]

okidoki

[The Envoy (AWOL)]

I generally don't bother with eyes on my basic infantrymen. Mostly because in reality, their helmets would shroud them anyway.

As for camo, it takes a little practice to get the splotches down, but you really want to give it as natural a look as possible. So no harsh angles, any of that.

[Commissar Chris]

i actually had a change of heart, the other day i saw (i believe) ElegaicRequiem's color scheme with Red and black armor and grey and (i think) white splats for cloth. I think it looks great and i wont have to re-do my entire army. So Requiem mind telling me more about ur color scheme and what you do for tanks?

[jayadan]

Feb 16, 2010 23:25:24 GMT -5 ElegaicRequiem said:

Well, for eyes, I use a micro pen. Much easier than fooling around with a brush.

I learned this lesson a few years ago and I've never looked back. The pen is much easier to control. Have a look:



Also, don't be afraid of doing post-eye clean up. A little flesh color above and below the eyeball can cure a lot of ills.

[mccaptain]

Another strategy that I employ that I learned from a red shirt is this: Paint a strip of black where the eye should be. this do two off center dots (very small) of white on each eye. This give the effect of shadowing from the brow and it doesn't leave them with bugged out eyes.