Hobby Cheating 96 - How to Paint Glowing Eyes

In this Hobby Cheating Tutorial, I take you through the process and theory of creating a glowing eye effect. This can be a great effect for your magical characters, used to draw attention to the face of the miniature or just add a fun pop color. Hope you enjoy!
Twitter: @warhammerweekly
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[@daemonofdecay]

This has really helped me visualize the process. Just the first 3 minutes helped me more than a lot of other videos. Thanks!

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you, happy to help as always. :)

[@alexelsasser4904]

Great video as always Vince. Just an idea, maybe get a little sheet of plasticard and prime it to do your little theory sections at the beginning so it behaves more like a mini would. It would be easy to strip and reuse

[@VinceVenturella]

That's a good idea, I have no idea why I didn't think about that. Lessons for next time :) - thanks for watching and commenting and I am glad it was helpful.

[@BradLacke]

Dude holy hell it's that dark band for sure! I just went back and fixed a failed glowing eye and you're absolutely right. Without dark band - looks like you're doing sloppy eyes. With dark band those things are lit with an unholy fire!

[@VinceVenturella]

Awesome, glad to help as always, it really is the secret, that and the glow needs to be a thinner glaze. :)

[@lmerinus]

Hi Vince, Thanks a lot for making these videos! I like that you cover from simple stuff to more advanced techniques in a very clear way. My hobby journey is getting richer by the video :P Keep this vids coming because they inspire and teach a lot! My dwarf hold guardians are going to have glowing eyes now. Much appreciated.

[@VinceVenturella]

Awesome, very glad to hear it. Always happy to help and don't worry, new videos will be coming each week.

[@GrizzLeeTroll13]

Compleat success as always. Having a larger example really helped to see what the goal is. Thanks for all your hard work creating a wonder learning environment and producing such high quality videos.

[@VinceVenturella]

My pleasure! :)

[@karnage27]

Thanks for the tutorials! What brush are you using for the eyes? Thanks!

[@VinceVenturella]

Generally I use a size 1, 0 or 00 Winsor Newton Series 7 or Raphael 8404 depending on just how tiny the eye is.

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

Man...painting minis is HARD!!🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for all your help!!!

[@VinceVenturella]

Happy to help!

[@NicoNarwhal]

This is a godsend! Awesome stuff.

[@DrParka]

I can confirm, that yes, I haven't had seen this video before I tried painting glowing eyes, and yes I had a magical raccoon now. I'm going to try this technique now. Thank you!

[@VinceVenturella]

Excellent, happy to help as always.

[@stuartp2006]

Hey, it's the "Rad Moses" miniature from Reaper!

[@VinceVenturella]

He is indeed pretty rad. :)

[@IDICBeer]

Great tips thanks Vince

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, much appreciated as always :)

[@Strkr3]

Great instruction from theory to hands on performance oriented results! Even the wrist placement to lock in a steady platform. Awesome! Thank you Vince!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful! :)

[@johannes372]

Thank you Vince for another great tutorial. Do you have any further recommendations on doing this on a very bright surface (e.g. a skull)?

[@VinceVenturella]

Bright colors and very, very thin glaze around the eyes (I prefer green or blue). The white will really show the color, so a thin glaze is essential.

[@Clidefride007]

Very nice tutorial. Would the same thing work with a visor? I have an infinity model with a cylon style visor and wanted to make it glow. I painted it white and gave it a glaze of blue but the glow just looks like I wasn't very neat with my blue. 😔

[@VinceVenturella]

Yep, a single visor would follow the same pattern. Glad to help as always.

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

I have to find the perfect dosage of coffee, probably down to the milliliter, to be completely alert but no shaking for this, lol!!

[@VinceVenturella]

Yeah, you can cover a lot of it with the grip and stabilizing your arms, but you do want to watch how caffinated. :)

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

What do you think of the tiniest dot of Molotow chrome in the center of small "neon" magical eyes? Like 25-32mm figs?

[@VinceVenturella]

It could work, it will reflect pure white, so it's going to be very similar to a white dot.

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

This is where we use the GOOD BRUSHES, right?!😂 Is there really a difference between a teensy round brush vs a "spotter" brush for details on eyes? What size/type brush do you use on eyes?

[@VinceVenturella]

Yep, this is where I use a good brush, sable hair, usually size 0 or 1. You really do feel the difference.

[@mrheisenberg83]

This is pretty cool. How would you go about achieving this effect with fluorescent paints?

[@VinceVenturella]

More or less the same techniques, but you would only want to utilize the fluor paints on the highest highlights I outline and maybe as the very, very thin glaze around the closest parts of the cast light.

[@70rayvn]

I'm painting Blood Angels, they have green eye lenses how would I make that glow if red absorbs green? Would I just do the eye illusion without the surrounding glow?

[@VinceVenturella]

So we have 3 options. 1) Make the eyes some other color. I have seen BA with blue eyes, and blue reflects just fine. 2) Cheat a little and make the green very yellow (which will show on yellow) and do a light green/yellow glaze. 3) Just don't have the eyes glow onto the armor, but have the eyes themselves really pop and don't worry about the glow on the armor around. Hope that helps.

[@UnitedWarGamers]

How would I found a color for glowing eyes, let's say my SM is painted blue. Would I want to pick on the color wheel the more brighter color next to blue?

[@DocEonChannel]

No, you want more contrast. For a mostly blue mini I would make the eyes somewhere in the red-orange-yellow range.

[@UnitedWarGamers]

Doc Eon that's what am asking Orange is across from blue but green and purple are next to blue on the color wheel.

[@VinceVenturella]

I would tend to agree, Orange/Red would be good on blue. Blue is tricky, because it is so strong. In general, you want something contrasting, but you don't want it completely overwhelming, so having a little bit of variation in the color (i.e. modulation from orange to red) can help.

[@johntailby74]

The key test is whether face book thinks its a person when you upload the picture.

[@VinceVenturella]

Always a good test for sure. :)

[@CadorYT]

wow, i really like your videos! really helpful! please do more :)

[@VinceVenturella]

More are always coming. :) - New Hobby Cheating every Saturday.

[@Summerfield1982]

Ohh, nice! This is exactly what I need! Thanks!

[@VinceVenturella]

Awesome, glad to help as always. :) - thanks for watching and commenting.

[@deadgamer1918]

Mind.......BLOWN

[@deadgamer1918]

and..... i love you........... but NOT as much as I love Doom and Darkness

[@VinceVenturella]

Totally fair, I accept, I love him more than myself as well.

[@MariosIliofotou]

Hey Vince, thank you again for the tutorials! So I am trying to do this effect on my stormcast eternals army. The round hollow helmets are giving me a hard time. Any ideas? I am considering to fill the holes up with green stuff and then try to paint that?

[@VinceVenturella]

If it's a complete recess or hole, it's really hard honestly. You need a clear definition of eyes there to really achieve this effect. If it's a complete hold, you can put a paper clip in there for a dot of the color in the void.

[@MariosIliofotou]

Thanks!

[@mikeljokinecheveste1287]

Nice tip.

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, much appreciated.

[@MrGiul95]

Hi Vince, thanks a lot for your hobby cheating videos, they made me get back to miniature painting after 6+ years!. Now I'm painting some fluo green/yellow ghosts (chainrasp horde) and I would like giving them glowing/magic eyes. Can this tecnique be applied on sunken eyes? Would bright purple, like hexed lichen from vallejo, be ok?

[@VinceVenturella]

Sure, the same basic rules apply, brightest in the center, dark ring, gentle glaze around the outside.

[@EviLNox8]

Haha. You say its a poorly painted model, that's what I'd strive to accomplish. Hahaha.

[@VinceVenturella]

Well, that's okay, we all have our own place on the hobby journey. :)

[@Whorabl3]

Hey Vince, great video; I've watched it multiple times. Was thinking of doing some glowing Terminator eyes (like the movie) for my Ossiarch BRs. I have access to the Fantasy and Games Line a few other scale paints and would be willing to buy whatever else is necessary (other than things that are imported from overseas) to sell the effect. Any chance you could drop the color range you'd use and where you'd place each (eg m-d-m-h). Used the Zenithal metal technique from one of your vids then used Mephiston Red for the loin cloth to pop the color. So I figured if I had a nice glow from the eyes it would balance things as per your color traingle. Also, the heads are the brightest point of the model unfortunately is there a remedy for this? Maybe a nuln wash around the eyes first? Thank you!

[@VinceVenturella]

It's tough, glowing eyes on little skeletons like that are always challenging to get them to really look glowing. The way I would do it is yes, start with a good dark area in the eyes (either black wash or just shove some dark paint in there). Then I would paint an area inside with a mid-white like ivory thin, but controlled. Then I would put a single white dot in the very center. Then I would glaze the recess with the color in question. I would put a bright spot of a fluorescent paint in the center (any vallejo, scale, or Warcolours would be fine), then I would use the same mid-tone and glaze it lightly (very lightly) over the top of the lower edge of the eye. Hope that helps.

[@Whorabl3]

Vince Venturella thank you. And happy belated!