[Steven]

I have been reviewing Wood Carving Illustrated Spring/Summer of 1998 and Spring/Summer 1999. This LaMontagne fellow.....wow. How do you suppose he does those eyes? Those are not taxidermy eyes, nos sir. He carved and painted/finished those babies, but how did he get them to look so real? What is the painting and finishing process, step-by-step do you figure?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

for me, I carve them with very small slices so that it is almost round, sand until it is round and smooth, paint, then put a very minute drop of treasure cote on them......at least thats how I do it!

[Old_Gord]

Hmmm , how about checking out the last issue of WCI #30 , it has a How to Paint a Human Eye article , only one page , last page in that issue if I remember correctly.

OG

[Callynne]

Hi Steven, I don't know how he does his but I'll share how I do mine. Eyes are super important, in my opinion! First I use a very, very pale blue to paint the eyeball. Next the color, for example, if I'm painting a blue eyed person, I will paint the eye color on, using a darker blue than I want the finished eye to be and making sure not to do too 'round' a shape at top and or bottom, that gives the 'startled look'. Next I will mix white or light blue to make a lighter color, thin it down with water and make a little half moon shape at the bottom of the eye. Don't take this lighter color out to the edges, you want to have a ring of darker blue on the outside edge.

By making it a half moon, at the bottom of the eye, it will give a shadowed look at the top, which is what you want. Next paint the pupil in black, again, making sure it's not just a round shape in the middle, part of it should look like it's under the lid.

Then I put a tiny, tiny dot of white in the same spot on each eye. Next I use what Hi Ho mentioned, the Treasure Crystal Cote, I wouldn't do eyes without it now that I've used it, it 'makes' the eyes. If the eye is large enough, I put a coat of it over the entire eye ball, when it dries I add another coat just to the iris, to make it more domed looking.

Hope this helps, good luck! Callynne