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PAINTING FACES

Next I painted in the eyeball with Linen White, thinned with some flow improver to help it go on smoothly, making sure to leave a fine line of the dark brown showing around the eye. An off-white here looks more natural than pure white.

Eyebrows were added with Earth Brown, thinned to wash consistency. I always add Flow Improver for fine lines like this. Starting at the inner edge, I drew the brow along the sculpted brow ridge, using a lightly loaded detail brush and very little brush pressure.

This character, I decided, would not wear makeup. I mixed a touch of Rust Brown into Tanned Skin to paint the lips, leaving the dark line showing between, and thinned the mix down to glaze the tip of the nose and the area beneath the eyebrows.


Pupils were dotted in with Pure Black to help them stand out. This just takes practice--for most painters, lots of practice--and good brush control. I also put on my headband magnifier (Optivisor) for this step. In my early painting, I liked to use Pigma Micron technical pens to dot in pupils. As I learned to paint better, though, I found that a brush offers far more control and precision. It's easier, too, to repaint or touch up mistakes on paint than on the opaque waterproof ink of the pens.

I also highlighted the eyelids and the lower lip with Rosy Skin.




Since this eye was comparatively large, as miniatures go, I layered a touch of Scaly Highlight at the base of the pupil, to give the sense of a colored iris.













Last, I further highlighted the lower lip with Rosy Highlight. A nice final touch for eyes is a catchlight of Pure White on the black pupil. Even when the eye is small, I try to add this if I can, since it gives so much life to the model. I thinned the paint with a bit of flow improver, loaded just the last millimeter or so of a detail brush, and used even less pressure than when painting the pupils.