Jeepers Creepers: How To Paint Equine Peepers

Introduction

Painting equines realistically is certainly a challenge! So many facets to balance and juggle and account for! Like realistic effects and patterns, color theory, smooth surfaces, shading and highlighting, flattering the sculpture and on and on…it’s a lot to deal with.

But perhaps one of the most tricky features to paint are the eyes. Ooof! So much expression, detail, precision, and color use in such a small area — it can be a serious tiny mountain to climb. It’s no surprise then why so many beginners really struggle with painting eyes, finding them sometimes frustrating and sometimes even confusing. Yet eyes are both critical for expression and popping the sculpture to life, and in doing so, they can truly make-or-break a piece.

The good news is though, all this is fixable given we know two things: Eye anatomy and a reliable process we can apply across the board. So let’s talk about both in the hopes of making your eye adventures not only easier, but maybe even more fun to boot! Because if we know our stuff, eyes can instead be a real blast to paint! It’s so cool to see the sculpture just come alive right in your hands as you get them on there! So let’s go!…

Before or After?

There is no right or wrong time to paint eyes, as long as you account for your painting process. Like I know some artists who paint the eyes first because they like to have the sculpture come alive early in their painting game — and that’s perfectly okay! On the other hand, many others leave the eyes for one of the last steps, in part perhaps because their painting process has to blast on the facial shading first, or any number of other reasons. But all that is perfectly fine as well. So you paint on your eyes whenever you feel like it — your best time is the right time.

Basic Eye Anatomy

Before we start painting, we should know the general structure of the equine eye so we recognize what we’re looking at in our references to translate it accurately in our pigment. For that then, the structures of the equine eye are:

• Cornea and Aqueous Chamber: Together, they form the obvious round shape of the eye. The cornea is the clear, dome-shaped structure that sits in front of the iris and pupil, acting as a light-focusing element for the eye. Then the Aqueous Chamber is the fluid-filled space in front of the cornea containing the Aqueous Humor (the gel-like fluid). If you see these structures in a certain light from the front, you can kinda see right through them.
• Sclera: Comprising approximately 75% of the globe, it’s the white portion that comes into view when the horse rotates the eye, the “eyewhites.” All muscles responsible for moving the eyeball within the socket attach to the sclera. It has a blood supply so it often has vascular details, and sometimes a mottled pigmentation around the iris. You can see the sclera when the horse moves his eye or even at rest on some breeds, like the Appaloosa, in particular, and some Tekes and Arabians.
• Iris: The colored tissue surrounding the pupil that constricts or dilates the pupil to to control the amount of light that enters the pupil, accommodating light intensities. 
• Lens and Pupil: The pupil is the hole for light to penetrate that’s controlled by the sphincter muscle of the iris. It appears clear, dark, or “mirrory” in normal light, and is a rectangular-ish oval in the horse, in normal lighting, to extend the horizontal field of vision. The lens has tiny muscles to change its shape to alter focusing abilities at different distances. And depending on the light intensity, this pupil can close to be more of a slit in bright light or open to become rounder in low light.
• Central pupillary zone: Often obvious on the iris on blue eyes, a central ring of more intense color on the iris.
• Peripheral ciliary zone: The larger portion of the iris, often a lighter color than the Central portion.
• Collarette: On the iris, the intersection between the Central pupillary zone and the Peripheral ciliary zone, sometimes prominent in humans, but usually not in the equine.
• Trabeculae, corneal limbus, or limbal ring: The rim of grey running around a portion of the iris, visible on most horses. This line denotes where the iris joins the peripheral cornea and connects to the sclera, forming grey crescent-shaped lines on either side of the iris (front and back). In fact, the grey is created by the tiny ligaments bridging the iris and cornea. This zone also serves as drainage pathways for the aqueous humour to drain from the eye. Just within and behind this grey line area are tiny radially-oriented fibrovascular ridges known as the Palisades of Vogt that contain limbal stem cells which maintain the corneal surface.
• Nigra Bodies (or corpora nigra or granula iridica): Normal and unique in horses, these small dark folds or bundles of tissue lay on the iris. They’re usually found on the upper part of the pupil, but sometimes on the lower part as well. They’re believed to be sunshades for the eye, guarding the lower portion of the retina from overhead sunlight glare while grazing.
• Tapetum lucidum: Showing through the pupil, this is a reflective structure at the back of the eye that increases the light capturing ability of the retina’s photoreceptors. Visually, it glows in headlights at night, or creates what we call the “blue glint” in certain angles in daylight.
• Nictitans membrane or nictitating membrane (third eyelid): A triangle pink or brown mass of soft tissue with a T-shaped shield of cartilage embedded within it. When the lids blink, the membrane sweeps across the orb, removing debris from the eyeball and distributing more tears. This structure is unique to the horse and only a few other animals.
• Lacrimal caruncle: A small dark pad in the anterior corner of the eye that drains the excess fluids from the eye through the nasolacrimal ducts to a small opening just inside the nostril (so that’s not really snot coming out of the nose, but tears).
• Upper and Lower Lids: Protecting the eye with reactionary closure, these lids shut fast and firmly. The upper lid tends to have a straighter curve while the lower lid tends to have a deeper curve.
• Eyelashes: Being sensitive, they can trigger a blink reflex protecting the eye.
• Whiskers: Surrounding the eye are a few long whiskers used as feelers for eye protection.
• Medial Canthus: Front corner of the eye.
• Lateral Canthus: Back corner of the eye.

Things To Keep In Mind

Similarly, there are some key points to remember as we paint in order to render a more realistic result. As such, these factoids are:

• The pupil isn’t round, but a long oval, usually rectangularish. Though it can dilate to become a bit more oval, it shouldn’t resemble a human pupil or dog pupil.
• The pupil is set on a horizontal plane, always remaining more or less horizontal, approximately parallel to the ground regardless of head position. This is because horses have cyclovergence, or the ability to spin their orbs to keep the pupil approximately parallel to the ground to best spy potential predators. So study your references to find this nifty ability horses have — it’s cool!
• The iris is more ovalish in shape in the horse, not perfectly round so study eyewhites in your references to replicate its shape correctly.
• Note any blotches or other discolorations, or even vascular capillaries on the sclera, all useful details. Likewise, the sclera around the iris isn’t always white. Notice how sometimes it can be various shades of pink, brown, or salmon.
• The iris has striations radiating out from the pupil like bicycle spokes, like the human eye, which are especially apparent on blue eyes. On the other hand, the amber eyes of some champagne horses don’t always exhibit these striations, appearing more monochromatic, even a bit metallic. Similarly, on many blue eyes, we can see some concentric rings of color radiating from around the pupil as well as the spokes, which can be a nifty (albeit difficult) detail to add due to scale.
• Note the darker concentric rim of color sometimes around the pupil, often present on blue eyes, in particular. This makes the pupil look bigger than it actually is from a distance, so be sure to account for that in your paintwork. Anatomically, this is usually the coloration of the Central pupillary zone.
• The horse’s third eyelid, located at the front corner of the eye and usually seen as a thin membrane, is often colored brown, mottled brown, or dark pink. 
• The little bulb at the front canthus, the lacrimal caruncle, is often pink of various shades but sometimes a pinkish-brown, too. 
• There's the corpora nigra (black bodies) or granula iridica (iris granules) above and sometimes below the pupil. If you can swing it, it can be a neat detail to add if the eye is big enough because scale is often a problem when trying to include it.
• Horse eyes can be many shades of tan or brown, from yellowish to amber to chocolate. They can also be various shades of blue from a pale silver grey to mottled cobalt. Greenish eyes also occur as a transition color during the lightening process of the iris with champagnes. What’s more, horses can have marbled eyes in which the blue and brown pigments are jumbled together. However, equines cannot have red eyes as true albinos like rats, rabbits, and such. This is genetically lethal in the womb for horses, so no…no red-eyed horses.
• The horse is remarkably expressive with their eyes and many tiny muscles govern its motion. As such, the eyes can move up and down, front and back, and can move symmetrically in unison or even side-to-side like a “cat clock.”

General Eye Painting Tips

What’s more there are specific tips you can employ for the painting of all colors of eyes, in all situations, as such:

• Be very precise and tidy when painting the eye and surrounding areas, everything here should be clear, tight, and decisive, not careless, wobbly, messy, or hurried. Absolute precision is your friend here. Indeed, the eye structures are very precise and so should your painting of them. Like we shouldn’t have lid color dipping onto the orb or eye color creeping up onto the lids and pupils shouldn’t be misshapen and blobby. Keep things tidy.
• Don’t be married to a preconceived notion of an expression because, often, the piece will dictate what looks best despite your original intentions.
• Use a set of tiny quality brushes with very good points and longish bristles to hold a good reservoir of paint. But don’t soak your brush with pigment as this will suck paint into the ferrule then dry, spreading apart the bristles. In fact, having a dedicated set of eye-painting brushes is a good idea for this reason. Take good care of them.
• It’s important that your painted eyes “glow," like glass illuminated from behind. This is only achieved through a skilled use of tone and color, so keep practicing until you’ve gotten the knack of it. 
• You can add metallics to the eye colors for extra punch and are particularly effective when painting the eyes of champagnes.
• Shrink down your reference to the size of the eyeball you’re painting to get a better one-to-one comparison for guidance. This is especially helpful for painting blue eyes. (Use photo paper for your print out, not printer paper to preserve color and crispness in the details, or if you can shrink the image on a tablet, that's even better.)
• Your paint mixtures should be on the thin side, about a 1% milk consistency. This will prevent a bumpy, lumpy, “braille” result. You want to slowly build up the layers of color and detail rather than bang it out in one go. That’s to say, you want the paint wet enough to flow well and stay put, but still be a bit blendable while not gumming up the works. Again, there’s a Goldilocks Zone of consistency so practice at it first on a junker model.
• If you want to paint in that blue glint in the pupil, simply thin down some dark blue metallic paint or Interference Blue and paint a smear of that on there. This’ll produce that “now you see it, now you don’t” blue sheen you want.
• For extra points, you can paint the “eyeliner” along the rim of the lower eyelid which is sometimes there as a subtle dark charcoal for dark skin and subtle medium salmon for pink skin.
• Avoid creating a “braille” eyeball with lots of brush strokes and big dollops of color. Keep your paint thin enough to be smooth on the eyeball. 
• Try using drying retardants for your acrylic paint if you want. They can often make your job easier when it comes to painting complicated eyes with acrylics.
• Keep the details on your eyeball clear and distinct so you don’t end up with a confusing mess. Precision and clean lines are your friends when painting eyes.
• Know when to edit out to maintain clarity and avoid a messy, confusing result. 
• Don’t veer off-tone with your eyes, but stay true to your reference. It’s easy to get caught up in the business of painting an eye, but keep yourself on target by checking against your reference regularly.
• Don’t go out of scale. Keep things as teensy tiny as they need to be.
• The brush you use is everything! One with a tiny, hyperfine point with a nice belly to hold pigment is your best friend with painting eyes. So if you’re struggling, try a better brush. Also, don’t use this brush to mix paint as that’ll ruin it. Mix up your paint with a palette knife or a junker brush.

Basic Colors To Use

Equine eyes come on a variety of colors and tones so stay sensitive to that diversity. In other words, don't necessarily paint the same type of eye on different pieces but instead try to express this variety found in life, consistent to a reliable reference. Even so, we can lean into some standard colors that can produce the wide spectrum of colors we'll need. (These colors are in Liquitex Soft Body and Golden Fluid Acrylics, but there are equivalents in oils as well.)

For brown, hazel, tiger, yellow, or amber eyes, think about using these kinds of colors:

• Blacks (warm Mars Black, cool Ivory Black, or neutral Carbon Black)
• Burnt Umber
• Raw Umber
• Burnt Sienna
• Van Dyke Brown Hue
• Raw Sienna
• Red Oxide
• Yellow Oxide
• Taupe
• Turner's Yellow
• Titanium White

For blue eyes or wall eyes think about leaning into some of these types of hues:

• Titanium White
• Raw Umber
• Blacks
• French Grey
• Navy
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Light Ultramarine Blue
• Light Blue, Permanent
• Brilliant Blue
• Cerulean Blue
• Whatever blue matches your reference best

For green eyes, think about grabbing some of these colors:

• Titanium White
• Blacks
• Burnt Umber
• Raw Umber
• Raw Sienna
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Cerulean Blue
• Naples Yellow
• Turner's Yellow
• Diarylide Yellow
• Brilliant Yellow Green
• Parchment

For grey eyes on foals, consider these colors:

• Blacks
• Titanium White
• French Grey
• Raw Umber
• Burnt Umber

For sclera, think about using these hues:

• Titanium White
• Burnt Sienna
• Burnt Umber
• Raw Umber
• Blacks (warm, cool, or neutral)
• Taupe
• Yellow Oxide

For the "blue glint" inside the pupil (optional), think about using one of these:

• Interference Blue
• FolkArt Metallic Midnight Blue
• FolkArt Metallic Blue Sapphire

Which Approach?

There are four basic schools of thought when it comes to painting eyes: 

• To paint them like a cabochon jewel
• To paint them literally
• To paint the iris as a colored crescent
• To paint the eyes all black

Whichever approach is up to you and your tastes, there’s no real right or wrong answer here. And you can mix them up! For example, brown eyes often do better with the cabochon approach while blue eyes usually do better with a literal approach. On the other hand, painting an eye all black will produce a beautiful “liquid eye” or “doe-eyed” softer expression. Then if you want a more Vintage Custom look, try the crescent technique. And you don’t have to stick with just one forever — mix them up depending on the needs of your piece and narrative.

But for the cabochon jewel approach, we paint the iris like it reflects light like a jewel. In this, when light hits the eyeball, it passes through and hits the iris on the opposite side. Therefore, based on a light path that enters at the front and top of the eye, a standard placement for light, use the darkest shadings at this point of entry then use the lightest shadings directly opposite this point on the iris, just below the pupil. It really makes the eye come to life and “pop” with interest, luster, and glow. It also dampens down a possessed look often caused by a timid use of shadow and highlight. Just take care to blend the colors to achieve this gem-like quality.

As for the literal approach, you simply paint the eye exactly as you see it in your reference, using little to no shading and highlight to denote light’s passage through the eye. This is actually ideal for blue eyes due to all their details where shading and highlight could just confuse the result. Even so, if you can use the cabochon method on a less detailed blue eye, try it as it makes for a lovely effect.

For the crescent method, create a pointed half-circle of brown color (for a brown eye) or blue color (for a blue eye) along the back and bottom of the iris, producing a hint of the iris in a very simplified approach. This technique was common in the past and as such, is often seen on Vintage Customs. However, today, it's fallen out of favor.

Then for the all-black approach, usually a solid, opaque black like Mars Black or Carbon Black will do. You can still paint in the third eyelid and lacrimal caruncle, too, if you like, or not. It’s up to your aesthetics. This is another good beginner method.

Omlats are sometimes included by some artists, that dot of white paint at the top front corner of the eye to denote light reflection on the orb. This was rather common in the past and is often seen on Vintage Customs, but the practice has largely fallen out of favor today.

Painting A Brown Eye

To paint brown eyes, adjusting some of those recommended colors will create pretty much all the hues and tones you’ll ever need, from yellow eyes to dark brown eyes. As for the actual sequence, you can proceed as follows:

• Paint the whole eye black. 
• Paint in your basic sclera or expression, so you know where to place the pupil and other bits of anatomy.
• Next, paint over the black portion with a dark brown of your choice, leaving an encircling thin black rim against the sclera. 
• Then lay in the pupil with black, being mindful to keep it parallel to the ground consistent with cyclovergence. Also be mindful of the orb’s rotation and subsequent pupil position so it’s consistent with the sclera's exposure.
• Next highlight that lower back portion of the iris, opposite the point of light entry, often with Burnt Sienna mixed with some Raw Sienna for more punch, then blend. 
• Then at the point of light entry, darken the area with darker shadings for more punch.
• Then blend the three color areas together, careful not to muddy them and staying mindful not to distort your pupil too much (you can clean it up later so don't fret this too much).
• Add in the grey line if you can see it, like if your reference tells you so.
• Add in tiny striations for added detail if you wish, depending on what your reference is showing you and if scale permits. Also be mindful of the concentric oval of darker color around the pupil if present in your reference, the Central pupillary zone.
• Make adjustments so it’s all just right, and done! If you wish, you can now add in the pupil's "blue glint" to denote the reflective qualities of the tapetum lucidum. Just keep it a light wash because you want just a kiss of shimmer here. 

Things To Keep In Mind With Blue Eyes

Blue eyes are indeed arresting, but if done improperly, are notorious for a staring, possessed look. To that end, some important tips to remember about blue eyes are:

• Blue eyes aren’t dependent on face markings or pinto patterns. In fact, they can occur with little to no face markings or pinto pattern whatsoever. In turn, bald face markings can have brown eyes or even marbled eyes. So it all depends on an individual’s genetics so work from a good, reliable reference. 
• Blue eyes come in a wide variety of tones in from blue-grey to silver blue-grey to a slate blue to navy blue to denim blue to even a brilliant turquoise. There’s so much variation! So always — always — use good reference photos when painting a blue eye. A great reference is your best friend in this! To that end, follow that reference religiously in terms of tone and structures otherwise your blue eye won’t be so convincing. 
• Observe the details of variation. Like note that the bluer the eye, what tends to happen is that the blue patches become more pronounced and numerous as do the mottling and streaking. In other words, notice how the iris usually doesn’t become bluer by monochromatic intensity, but by the bolder mottling, striations, streaks or patches? One of the biggest mistakes in creating a very blue eye is to make it a homogenous strong blue color which usually contributes to that staring, possessed look. An exception to this are the blue eyes on champagne foals which can be a rather vivid "creamy" blue more monochromatically until they change into green then finally into amber.
• Blue eyes just have a lot of stuff going on in a tight space, but it’s important to catch as many of these details as feasibly possible, keeping scale in mind. For example, iris striations are easy to see on blue eyes, becoming very important details to reproduce is scale allows it. Also notice the blue line running along the circumference of the iris where it borders the sclera? Then next to this, towards the iris, is the grey line, then often inside that is a lighter grey band, then we get to the blue on the iris. It’s details like this that will take your blue eye to the next level if scale allows it.
• Notice how blue eyes often have patchiness of darker blues in zones above and below the pupil. Patchiness and mottling can happen all over, of course, but there is a tendency for it to concentrate above and below the pupil on many eyes.
• Know your eye structure when painting a blue eye because they all become rather obvious with those pretty blues.
• Be sure to match your blue tones to the blues in your reference. This is very important to create a truly believable result. Like consider using the color sampler tool in a photo-editing program to pinpoint the color families as the results can actually be a bit surprising. For example, some blues eyes don't really lean blue, but into bluish grey and grieges whereas others can be really blue or turquoise. Some hues can even lean into purples, reds, greens, oranges, and yellows! The point is, keep an open mind when interpreting tones, and using that sampling tool helps to guide us pretty well.

Painting A Blue Eye

To paint blue eyes, consider using those recommended colors. In particular, I find that a bluish French Grey can come in very useful at times for those eyes that lean into greys rather than blues. Also consider Burnt Umber or Raw Umber to add a griege component as needed.

• To start, find the darkest blueish tone in your reference and mix that color then paint the entire eye with it.
• Paint in your basic sclera or expression, so you know where to place the pupil and other bits of anatomy.
• Then take your black and boop on your pupil as precisely as you can, being mindful of its placement as consistent to the sclera and with cyclovergence as per the head position. Now you have you basic canvas. 
• You can approach painting a blue eye in two ways — literally or jewel-like, your choice. Literally is simply following your reference to the letter, and that works beautifully. Jewel-like is shading and highlighting the iris in that cabochon manner to add dimension. I recommend painting literally when you paint your first blue eyes to get a feel for the process. Then as you gain confidence you can add some artistic touches like shading and highlight if you wish — or not, it’s not necessary. Just a matter of taste. And sometimes a literal approach for highly detailed blue eyes is the only feasible option to avoid a confusing result, so it's very much a "your best judgment" kinda situation.
• Don’t overlook the splotches, mottling, and streaks many blue eyes have, for detail. Like, capture as many details as you can such as the striations radiating out from the pupil on the iris to any striations that encircle the pupil as well, if scale permits. Also pay attention to the concentric oval of darker blue color around the pupil that's often present on blue eyes (the Central pupillary zone), making the pupil look bigger than it actually is from a distance.
• Expect to do a lot of back-and-forth work with painting a blue eye to get it just right, but try not to compromise the tidiness or the position of your pupil too much. If you do though, no big whoop. You can finesse it up later.
• Make adjustments until it's just right, and done! If you want, now you can add in the pupil's "blue glint." Keep it a subtle wash because you want just a hint of shimmer.
• Or you can simply use the crescent method and finish up quicker, your choice.

Eye Color Variations

We can apply either or both of these painting approaches to all the color and effect variations we see in equine eyes. For example:

• If you wish to paint a glass eye or wall eye, simply use more white in your blue mixes and lean more into silvery grey rather than blue. If you need darker blues, ease up on the whites and lean more into your blue pigment and bluish greys. If you need to mute the blue a little bit, think about adding a teensy dab of black (preferably a cool-tone black such as Ivory Black, but a neutral black such as Carbon Black works well, too) to create more of a blue-grey. If you need more of a greige, think about adding a smidgeon of Raw Umber or Burnt Umber. There’s a lot of options so play around with the possibilities and follow your reference as closely as you can, using that color sampler tool for guidance.
• To paint a tiger eye, amber eye, or yellow eye, use less brown (the Umbers) and lean more into the yellows, golds, and tans (such as Raw Sienna and Taupe) and white. Also think about using not-red Raw Umber more as a darkening agent rather than Burnt Umber, which is a warm red-tone that can confuse the look if used too much. Or you can mix together Raw Umber and Burnt Umber to create a neutral brown which you can then use to build these types of eye colors, too. The point is, you want to accentuate the not-red golds and downplay the reds for the best result here.
• To paint the green eyes on young champagnes, instead of using just blues, mix in a bit of golds or yellows to green up those blues a smidge, or even just use muted greens if you like, leaning into sages and greyed-up green tones. Experiment to see what works with your reference. An important thing to notice though is that a champagne’s green eyes tend not to have the patchiness on the iris blue eyes often have since the green is a transition color. Also when painting green eyes, be mindful of the age depicted in the sculpture as green is typically an age-dependent transition stage in champagnes. For instance, at around 4-5 months they're a blueish or green color then at around 10-12 months they start to turn from green to Amber, very generally speaking. It all depends on the individual genetics of the animal as some of these timelines can be longer.
• A marbled eye is achieved by combining the brown and blue techniques onto one eye. It’s a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a wonderful touch of novelty.
• If you study eyes closely, you'll see that some of them have a sort of metallic sheen to them in a certain light. Adult champagnes can have this effect, for instance. You can mimic this by adding metallics into your eye colors. Don't go overboard though as we want just a sheen, not a carnival paint effect.
• Newborns and young foals tend to have eyes with a greyish-bluish cast to them as their eye color comes through as they mature and more melanin develops. This can extend to the first few months of their lives, to about six months of age. It all depends on when that melanin develops. However, champagne foals can have "creamy" blue eyes or blue-green eyes, so pay attention to color genetics when painting foal eyes.

Sclera

Eyewhites are created by the sclera when the orb is moved, and which lends so much expressive power in our paintwork. However, sclera isn’t always white but can be riddled with a spectrum of reds, pinks, browns, salmons, mochas to even some greys. This is due to the blood supply to the eye, the colors of the membranes, and how the iris blends into the sclera. Also note that some sclera can be flat-out chocolate-colored and not pale at all, so be mindful of that kind of variation, too. Also, the border between the iris and sclera isn’t always crisp, clean and perfectly oval. Sometimes it can indeed be mottled, blended, irregular or patchy in places. Closely study eyes on living horses and in photos to get a better idea of these details. 

Tips For Painting Sclera

• Be sure that grey line is present as it’s usually obvious when the eye is rolled forwards or backwards, upwards or downwards. So pay attention to it in your reference.
• Study how eyewhites vary in position and degree, depending on the horse’s different head positions and expressions.
• Sclera should be consistently “shaped” with the pupil/orb's cyclovergence due to the head position; they have to marry together.
• The less white you lean into when painting sclera, the more realistic the eye will appear whereas the more you lean into white, the more cartoony the eye will appear. So try not to to use straight white for sclera as it’s too stark but instead mute it into more of a fleshy griege so it reads more flesh-like. However, if you want a more Vintage Custom look, use the straight white as that was the practice back then.
• Sclera can really change the expression of a piece so give it some thought and think about the narrative of the sculpture as well.
• I like to paint my sclera completely first then paint the rest of the eye. I just find this works best for me, but approach it in any way that works best for you.

Painting Sclera

You can paint your sclera before painting the eye proper or afterwards, your choice. However, I recommend painting it first so you can better place your pupil. 

• To start, mix Titanium White and Burnt Sienna with just a scooch of Burnt Umber together, producing a medium pale muted pink; this is your basic mix. Paint this onto the orb in the location you wish to create your target expression, staying mindful of the iris’ oval shape, the intended position of the pupil, and cyclovergence.
• Take a small portion of this mixture and deepen it by adding a bit more Burnt Sienna. Add this darkened color to either “tail” of the eyewhite to lend dimension. You can also add in a teensy bit more of Burnt Umber or Raw Umber to this mix as well for variation.
• Take a small portion of the standard mix and lighten it by adding more Titanium White. Thin this mixture a little bit with water and paint tiny blotches or streaks in the middle, between the deeply pinked “tails.”
• If your reference calls for it, mix up some Titanium White and black to make a soft grey and add in some grey splotches…or salmon colored or brown, depending on your reference.
• Then neatly dab in the lacrimal caruncle with the appropriate color.
• If you wish and if scale permits, use the thinned deep pink mixture and mix in a bit of Burnt Umber and use this brown-pinkish mix to delicately line the outer rim of the third eyelid, defining it. Just be careful not to create Appaloosa-like sclera on a non-appy as this might be off-type. Also, be sure to avoid making the third eyelid too exposed or large since this would indicate injury or disease. Keep it subtle and small.
• You can take a small portion of the standard mix and mix in Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber or some such color to create a burgundy-red to create little capillaries criss-crossing your sclera. Don’t go overboard, just two or three teensy ones will do. This isn’t a necessary detail as it’s not always apparent, but it’s a fun one if scale permits.

Glossing

After your painted eyeballs are thoroughly dry, many folks like to coat theirs in a gloss of some kind to make them appear alive, shiny, twinkly, and wet. Really, it adds a perfect touch! Everyone seems to have their own way to gloss eyeballs, but there seems to be three basic ways to do this, as follows:

• Liquitex Gloss Medium: Apply this straight out of the bottle with a fine-pointed small round brush. Be tidy! And don't pile it on in one go! One medium coat will do. Let dry completely (at least one hour) before handling. Clean your brush with water.
• Clear nail polish: Don’t use the provided cap brush to apply, but use a fine-pointed small round brush. But before you apply to your eyeball, coat that eyeball first in Liquitex Gloss Medium to create a barrier. You see, nail polish is full of solvents that’ll dissolve and buckle all your paintwork if you apply it directly on. To avoid that, apply the Gloss Medium first and let it dry completely (a good hour) before applying the nail polish. One layer will do. Don’t gob it on either, one thinnish coat is fine. Let dry completely (two good hours) before proceeding with the whatever else you want to do like hairing. Clean your brush with nail polish remover then rinse in water.
• DecoArt Americana Triple Thick Brilliant Brush On Gloss Glaze: Apply with a fine-pointed small round brush and be careful as this stuff is super thick and takes some getting used to. So don’t gob it on, but keep it as thin a layer as you can. Let dry overnight before proceeding. Clean your brush with water.

Conclusion

Painting eyes well takes a lot of practice to develop an ability to ping the proper tones, a steady hand for a tidy, precise result, and an Eye to home in on all the details. It’s simply a numbers game. So paint up a lot of junker eyes over and over and over again to perfect your skills before painting your fine piece. And just remember, if you hose it up, no big deal! Simply paint over it in the base color and start again.

Above all though, be patient with yourself. Painting eyes is difficult, even for the seasoned artist because there’s a lot going on in a teensy tiny space! So show yourself some grace, take a breath, and try again.

With study and anatomical knowledge, lots of practice, a solid mental library, good references, and a bit of gumption, you too can be painting up beautiful eyes in no time! They truly are the “windows to the soul” that will make your piece just pop to life in such a beautiful way, often making them so much fun to paint up once you get them pretty well under your belt. So keep at it, study horse eyes for variations and details, and you’ll soon develop your own savvy Eye for painting those beautiful equine peepers!

“An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.”

― Martin Buber

Jeepers Creepers: How To Paint Equine Peepers