Introduction
Truth be told, I’ve never been fully satisfied with how I’ve been painting eyes on various sculptures. Not even the very best of my painted eyes could actually capture how they truly look like in life, could they? I mean, you look at them from the front and, well...not quite, right? Now yes, I'm doing the best I can with what I’ve been handed: A complete “in the round” sculpture. The problem is, I'm operating within a flawed paradigm from the onset!
But not today! Because to this end, I’ve always wanted to do an experiment: To render the equine eye as anatomically accurate as it’s structured in life as I can, into the sculpture and the paintwork. This would necessitate a very different sculpting of the eye and subsequent treatment in paintwork and glossing, but it’s an idea that’s been tickling my toes for years. And well, the only way around it is through it, right? So let’s do an experiment! Let’s finally put my percolating idea to the test to see if it actually renders an equine eye more anatomically accurate and so more realistic in person! Let’s go!…
The Dilemma
Here’s the fundamental problem: Through the past to today, we’ve had to paint on top of a rounded sculpted eye, right? But the problem is, that’s not actually how the equine eye is anatomically constructed. Anatomically, the iris is more flattish, not rounded, so the pupil isn’t sitting on the outside of the orb, but inside the contour of the orb. Instead then, it’s the cornea and the aqueous chamber that form the rounded aspect of the orb over the iris, not the iris and pupil.
The Hypothesis
So how do we get around this problem? Well, we shave down the rounded eye to be more flat in the iris area, and we paint our iris on that flattened aspect then when we’re done painting, we build up layers of clear gloss to mimic the cornea and aqueous chamber that forms the rounded aspect of the orb. That should come closer to how the equine eye is actually constructed and therefore should look more authentic. At least, that’s my hypothesis. So let’s test it!
Preparation
First, we need to know a little bit about equine eye anatomy, specifically the iris, sclera, and limbus (grey line) in order to get them right in painting. In this, the iris and pupil should be on the flatter surface and the grey line should occur where that flat meets the rounded part, leaning into the rounded part.
Methods
Step 1: Shaving Down The Orb
I had to determine the expression of my piece immediately because how that orb is swiveled will determine where the iris is located which will determine where I shave it down. So I decided to have my eye look a little bit backwards (sclera in front) so I then knew I had to place my iris back a little bit. I penciled in the area I would shave flatter (Figure 1) then I used a Dremel small diamond bit to do this (use all PPE) and I took quite a bit off (Figure 2). I did a little sanding to smooth things out more evenly, gave the area a wash with water and let it air dry, then I was ready for primer to create my blank canvas.
Step 2: Painting
I approached this just as I would paint a conventional eye, but in a literal way. That’s to say, no jewel-like cabochon shading and highlighting as I usually paint my dark eyes. Why? Because I wanted to see exactly how it would all look in the most baseline way first (Figure 3).
However, I did do a secondary experiment on the other eye, treating it in that jewel-like cabochon way because I wanted to see how this method would work with that as well (Figure 4 and 5).
Speaking of which, I also did a third and fourth eye experiment on another junker, quickie painting them blue in the literal way on one side, and then in a cabochon way on the other side (Figure 6). Again, I wanted to see how all this would work with that color of eye, too.
And as a fifth experiment, I added the corpora nigra on the upper portion on the pupil of one of the brown eyes with a teensy bit of black paint to add dimension, because I've always wanted to see how that would look, too (Figure 3). It was so tiny though, it didn't make much of a difference. It might be worth another experiment on a larger eye though.
Then as a sixth experiment, I added the "blue glint" of the tapetum lucidum on one brown eye pupil and one blue eye pupil to see how that would look as well. I simply used Golden Interference Blue for that in a thin layer on the pupil. So many experiments! It’s a madhouse here! A madhouse! (Cue mad scientist laughter.) (Figure 4 and Figure 6, on the cabochon eyes)
Step 3: Glossing
I let that paint dry then it was time to add in the “cornea” and “aqueous chamber” with gloss. This was the tricky part! You see I wanted to avoid three things:
- Messiness: The glossing had to be precise and tidy. Any hint of carelessness would ruin the result. However, I wasn't as careful as I could've been, granted, but you get the idea. I imagine had I been more careful, the result might have been better...or maybe not.
- Slumping: I had to apply the gloss in successive layers, letting each layer dry in-between to avoid slumping. That orb had to be rounded, not slumped oblong and weird. So while it was hard to exercise patience — I wanted to see if this would work right now (shrieked like Veruca Salt) — I had to go in careful, methodical steps. However, the surface tension of the gloss was enough to keep it in place so I didn't have to place the model on its side.
- Clouding: I had to be sure that the gloss wouldn’t get cloudy with gobs of it on there or yellow with age. So I veered away from nail polish and veered towards DecoArt Americana Triple Thick Brilliant Brush On Gloss Glaze. This produces a hyper-glossy finish and it’s thicker and not so prone to slumping like nail polish. I suppose you could also use Liquitex Gloss Medium, too, but I’m thinking it would need a lot more layers to build up that roundness than the DecoArt Gloss. It also doesn't dry to such a hard finish, staying relatively gummy, which I thought might be a problem with longterm durability.
So to actually apply the gloss, I added a dab on top of that flattened iris to create a rounded orb (Figure 7). Then I let that dry for two hours (the DecoArt Gloss takes a lot time to set up) with the model standing up as the surface tension was sufficient to keep it in place. Then I added a second dab and let that dry for another two hours. After that, I then glossed over the entire orb, adding a medium-thick layer to blend everything together. Then I let that dry overnight with the model standing up, as again, the surface tension of this gloss kept it from slumping.
Results
Well whadoya know! It worked! But did it work well enough? You can compare the brown eye effect with the blue eye effect from the front in Figure 8....
You can't really see it well enough in the photos, but you can kinda see through the aqueous chamber when you see them from the front, but the effect is so painfully subtle. Overall then, the mean result is that pupils still look like they're painted "on top" from the front, for the most part. The aqueous chamber effect just isn't that pronounced, which is surprising given how much orb I removed and how much gloss I applied. However, the eyes do have that rather dimensional quality, and they even seem to follow you a bit, which is super cool. So yes, that dimensionality bumps up the effect equine eyes have in person, adding some improved believability and a slightly stronger impression. The thing is though, you have to see them in person to get the full effect as photos just aren't capturing that dimensionality quite as well as I would hope.
Now the thing is, I was a bit sloppy in both their painting and gloss application, I admit, but this was just a proof-of-concept experiment and I think you get the idea. That said though, there are a few things I learned in the process:
- Working on a bigger eye was definitely easier than a smaller one, especially when it came to glossing. So scale factors into this method big time. I would say anything smaller than a 1:12 scale just isn't a good candidate.
- The properly sculpted anatomical structure of the eye is really important for this process to look best. The more "off" the eye's structure, the more odd this effect looks only because these kinds of eyes have a lot more "pop."
- You've got to know your eye anatomy, particularly between the iris and the sclera and the grey line. And getting the proper placement of the grey line was critical, as it had to be just on the edge of the flattened area but still on the rounded part.
- Painting the iris and pupil is so much easier on a flatter surface!
- I think this approach would work with any color eye from brown and blue, as we've seen, to green, amber, tiger eye, yellow eye to even a marbled eye. And I wonder how a slight metallic sheen, like we can sometimes see on adult champagnes, would work, too. I bet it would.
- There was a lot of downtime per eye glossing plus overnight drying, allowing the gloss to dry properly. So I wonder if there's another type of gloss that dries quicker that would work, too? Might be worth a good search. This effect might also be a good reason to create these kinds of eyeballs in batches, in an assembly line, to get a bunch done at a time.
- The PAM's eyes got a snidge cloudy around the pupil since I applied more gloss onto them than that SHS eyes, so I've made a mental note of that with this gloss.
- I would let the gloss on these eyeballs fully dry for a good week before wrapping and shipping, just to be safe. Make sure that gloss is really dry and hard.
Discussion
Wrap it all up, and I do have to ask if all this work was actually worth it, given the (surprisingly) paltry results. I'm going to venture a "no," the extra work isn't really worth it because the effect just isn't pronounced enough for my liking. But maybe it will be for yours? Dunno. I do really like the dimensionality and "follow you" effect quite a bit, but well, pairing it with how much much harder it was it keep things tidy with all that gloss involved, I'm wondering if that was worth it, too. Hmmm. I kinda doubt it.
And just keep in mind that if you plan to go this route, it requires defacement of an Artist Resin (often a big no-no) or customization of an OF, which may complicate its placement in a repaint-only class. It also isn’t quite possible with ceramic pieces as I don’t see how you can get around the gloss glaze slumping off the eye during the fire, and you certainly can’t add on cold-painted aspects after the fact. As such, I’m thinking this may only be appropriate for Customs or on ARs where you have special permission from the sculptor.
What's more, with this penchant for stripping previously painted models, that practice will also strip away this effect on the eyes. This will necessitate a complete do-over so unless a painter is adept at this method, that's a real problem. I suppose if they aren't they can rebuild the eye into the "in the round" shape with epoxy clay and paint as per usual, but it would be a shame to destroy a perfectly cool eyeball done with this approach. The other option is to simply block out the eye with painter's tape and re-primer the piece to paint over it as that would preserve the eye treatment.
There’s this, too — will sculptors now have to account for this by sculpting in a flat surface onto their orbs? Hmmm. That’s a conundrum. For myself? I think not. I want my sculptures to stand-alone, to be whole and complete even without a paintjob so I’m going to continue to sculpt my eyes rounded out. Also, I want painters to pick their own expressions rather than being forced into one of my own. I dunno, I just think that's more fun.
But as for myself and my Custom maquettes, I think I'll stick with modus operandi with eyes "in the round." I wish this experiment had a more successful result, but maybe it's good that it didn't. The paradigm shift it would've introduced would have opened up a huge can of worms we're perhaps better off without. But even so...I do so wish the results were better! Maybe I'll give it another good think and try another approach sometime in the future.
Conclusion
Well, there ya go — a clear example of how creative FAFO can be so darned valuable in your arting! Experimentation and exploration isn’t only fun, it can be far more important than you may realize whether you succeed or fail. You learn something incredibly useful either way, something that could even shift the direction of your methods or aesthetic!
So if you have a novel idea, try it! Grab a junker and just try it! If it’s not dangerous, why not? What do you have to lose? Even if it implodes in failure, you’ll still have put something to the test and learned something new. And truth be told, failures can often be even more interesting than successes by presenting a lot more intriguing questions for new routes of discovery.
Put on that lab coat then, don those goggles, and muss up your hair like a proper mad scientist, and get into that studio lab and commence your experiments! Cackle madly if you wish! Adopt that Cheshire cat grin! Tesla coils, beakers, and particle colliders, oh my! Sizzle! Pop! Whirrr! Any which way, develop a creative hypothesis and put it to the test. It’s fascinating, surprising, and super fun, and it could hold the key to an innovative evolution in your work! Go for it!
“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.”
— Mark Rothko
