Chez Lestat pour Thanksgiving (updated with Addendum December 22 2021)

csyeung wrote:Forgot to respond to this. Thanks ! I didn't realize that. On my first repaint I added a doll dot <hangs head in shame> Although being new to action figures, I took what I knew from painting and drawing where I usually add that in. It does make sense that now with gloss over the eyes that it's not needed and can come off looking too artificial.

No trouble. And it is natural -- many eye painting tutorials actually provide instructions for painting the doll dot (perhaps only to be comprehensive), that is how ingrained it is in head sculpt painting. Actually I just realized another reason why it is best to avoid, apart from the aforementioned added realism and the fact it is one more step in the agonizing process of painting eyes this small. This is that the natural reflection is not necessarily identical (in size or shape) in both eyes at the same time -- looking at the photos I took for my newest review.

that is true. I recently saw a sculpting video, it was 1:1 scale, and the sculptor actually dug out the iris area so it's hollow and then filled it with clear resin after, so it's even more like the real eye where some light goes inside the eyeball. he then painted and then painted the eye and put the gloss over. Looked super realistic. I know some doll makers use glass balls for the iris as well (embedded into the eye). Always awesome to learn new techniques!

csyeung wrote:that is true. I recently saw a sculpting video, it was 1:1 scale, and the sculptor actually dug out the iris area so it's hollow and then filled it with clear resin after, so it's even more like the real eye where some light goes inside the eyeball. he then painted and then painted the eye and put the gloss over. Looked super realistic. I know some doll makers use glass balls for the iris as well (embedded into the eye). Always awesome to learn new techniques!

You're absolutely right, glass eyes would be best. I don't know how practical that is with most human 1/6 eyes -- the ones I dealt with in these vampire-related customs were tiny. Ephiane changed the eyes on her knockoff Groot with glass eyes, to great effect. There was a bit of discussion, probably in that thread. Poke around (google search is better than our own search feature) if you're interested.

GubernatorFan wrote:

csyeung wrote:Forgot to respond to this. Thanks ! I didn't realize that. On my first repaint I added a doll dot <hangs head in shame> Although being new to action figures, I took what I knew from painting and drawing where I usually add that in. It does make sense that now with gloss over the eyes that it's not needed and can come off looking too artificial.

No trouble. And it is natural -- many eye painting tutorials actually provide instructions for painting the doll dot (perhaps only to be comprehensive), that is how ingrained it is in head sculpt painting. Actually I just realized another reason why it is best to avoid, apart from the aforementioned added realism and the fact it is one more step in the agonizing process of painting eyes this small. This is that the natural reflection is not necessarily identical (in size or shape) in both eyes at the same time -- looking at the photos I took for my newest review.

Not only is it standard to include this in 2D painting, but it also is still fairly standard in some doll painting. Certain types of dolls as well as styles of doll repainting don't gloss the eyes. For instance, I have a Tonner doll that was professionally repainted via the watercolour pencils + pastels method, and the eyes are not glossy. It therefore has an eye-dot to mimic the shine.  Though, I've also seen some doll artists do the eye-dot *and* put gloss in the eye, which doesn't necessarily look terrible in carefully-posed and well-lit photos, but it can make the eyes look overly-glassy from certain angles in person.

I think the eye-dot becomes such an issue with the 1/6 action figures because the eyes on those are already so tiny, whereas doll eyes can be a lot larger and therefore there is more 'room' for the eye dot to be there without being so conspicuous. Also, action figure eyes (at least modern ones) tend to be a lot more three-dimensionally sculpted compared to the types of doll eyes that get painted (like Tonner, barbie, other fashion dolls, etc). So when they catch the light, they need to do so as realistically as possible.

ETA: Of course, there are some types of dolls that don't require eye-painting at all, and use inset glass or resin eyes instead, but that's not really comparable to painted eyes.

skywalkersaga wrote:Not only is it standard to include this in 2D painting, but it also is still fairly standard in some doll painting. Certain types of dolls as well as styles of doll repainting don't gloss the eyes. For instance, I have a Tonner doll that was professionally repainted via the watercolour pencils + pastels method, and the eyes are not glossy. It therefore has an eye-dot to mimic the shine.  Though, I've also seen some doll artists do the eye-dot *and* put gloss in the eye, which doesn't necessarily look terrible in carefully-posed and well-lit photos, but it can make the eyes look overly-glassy from certain angles in person.

I think the eye-dot becomes such an issue with the 1/6 action figures because the eyes on those are already so tiny, whereas doll eyes can be a lot larger and therefore there is more 'room' for the eye dot to be there without being so conspicuous. Also, action figure eyes (at least modern ones) tend to be a lot more three-dimensionally sculpted compared to the types of doll eyes that get painted (like Tonner, barbie, other fashion dolls, etc). So when they catch the light, they need to do so as realistically as possible.

ETA: Of course, there are some types of dolls that don't require eye-painting at all, and use inset glass or resin eyes instead, but that's not really comparable to painted eyes.

I agree completely. If the eyes don't reflect light, the doll dot makes perfect sense, and I think the quality of certain products, or their style (the more stylized the larger the eyes, likely), lend themselves to or even require that treatment. Gloss and doll dot seems excessive to me, but yes, if you pose and light carefully, you might be able to get away with it. Had to look up Tonner doll. But you're right, glass eyes are the best.