Painting blue eyes with Heather Bullach

Tonight in Heather Bullach's Intro to Oil Painting Workshop: Painting Black we're starting on the details Because of this, it seems especially fitting that today's guest post is about painting details - specifically blue eyes - by Heather Bullach. Thank you, Heather. This is awesome. It almost makes me want to give Antara a blue eye!

Painting Blue Eyes

by Heather Bullach

Here's a step by step tutorial for painting blue eyes. The paint colors I use are:

• Titanium white
• Ivory black
• Burnt siena
• Ultramarine
• Raw umber

Step 1: The model's body color is finished and sealed with Testor’s Dull Coat.

Step 2: White acrylics applied to the side of the eye that will have whites visible. Skip this step if no whites will be visible on your model.

Step 3: Black acrylics applied to form Iris.

Step 4: Thinned down burnt Sienna applied in a wash over the eye whites.

Step 5: Light blue applied to iris, leaving just a sliver of black. My mixture for blue is Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, and Raw Umber. Brown or orange tones added to your blues keep them soft and subtle vs intense and unrealistically bright.

Step 6: Black applied to form the pupil.

Step 7: A darker blue mixture (again white, Ultramarine, and Raw Umber) applied in washes to begin forming the lines and details around the pupil.

Step 8: The lighter blue applied in washes between the darker lines from step 7, overlapping the black of the pupil a bit.

Step 9: A slightly lighter light blue (white added) applied in washes in a ring between the pupil and the outer edge of the iris to create more dimension in the eye.

Step 10: Black used to clean up and darker the center of the pupil.

Step 11: Thin washes of slightly darker light blue applied to the upper half and the upper corner of the iris for a bit more dimension. I work with my initial light and dark blue mixes and combine bits of the two to create a range of shades in between as needed.

Step 12: Just a bit darker blue added into the corner of the eye to deepen even further. And a touch of near white applied just below the pupil to add a pop of light.

Just for fun, here's a peek at Heather's NaMoPaiMo Whirlwind army.

Thanks, Heather. You are amazing!