Paint the Eyes on Miniature Figures: Easy Tricks

Many collectors of toy soldiers and wargame figures like to paint their own. One thing that many find daunting is painting the eyes. Though there are experts who can paint amazingly realistic eyes, the average hobbyist does a fair job of it. All too often, they eyes are bulging as if the soldier just saw a ghost, or they are varying degrees of cockeyed.

Do not despair. Here are some simple tricks that modelers have used for years.

Eyes are not that difficult using these trick

The Better Paint Job.

This one is pretty easy. Follow the illustrations below, numbered 1 through 4. The oval in the middle of the image represents the contours of the casting’s eye. In other words, it is the molded-in eye.

2) Paint a strip of white over the eye. It is alright to go past the contours of the eye.

3) Paint a line downward where the pupil should be, in the eye color.

4) Following the molded contours, paint the flesh color as shown. Then follow up with eyebrows..

Using this trick, the Sikh soldier's eyes look natural, not the "I see a ghost" from too much white

Even a crude figure can have a good set of eyes

The Simpler Paint Jobs

Maybe you find that a bit difficult. Here are two tricks that were used by factories that painted the old toy soldiers. It can be used on figures 50mm / 1/35 and above.

In both examples, the oval represents the contour of the eye as molded on the figure.

Large Figures 

This one is good for figures from 50mm on up. One company that used it to good effect was Elastolin.  If you have an exceptionally well-detailed figure, you can do it on smaller miniatures.

1) Paint over the eye, where the eyebrow should be. You could use black or brown, or the figure’s hair color.

2) Paint a black line through the eye where the pupil should be

You can touch up with skin tone if your lines are too long.

Small Figures

This little trick is great for smaller figures from 30mm to 15mm.

1) Paint a black or dark brown line over the top of the eye contour.

2) Paint a short line underneath where the pupil should be.

Do not fret if you go over the “line”. You can touch up with skin-tone paint.

These are all good tricks for painting the eyes. With practice ,you can do more advanced techniques. These tricks will get you started in the right direction.

This Elastolin warrior shows the simpler eye method for large figures.