Thanks to the wide range of resources and tutorials available at the Citadel Colour website,* painting your models can be as simple or intricate as you like. Painting to a simple Battle Ready standard is perfect for getting right into a game, while beautiful Parade Ready models impress on the battlefield and display cabinet alike.
But if there’s one detail we get the most questions about from painters of all skill levels, it’s eyes. They’re among the smallest parts to paint, and getting it right without messing up the rest of the face really sorts the grots from the boyz.
Don’t worry – most of us are bad at painting eyes too. That’s why we’ve gone right to the experts from Citadel Colour Masterclass** to find out how they deal with this tiny task.
Beginner
Got dozens of Ork Boyz or Cadian Shock Troops to get through before your next big game day? You should try… not painting the eyes at all. It might sound like a cop-out, but with a bit of Citadel Shade or Contrast paint over the head’s base colour, natural shadows form around the eyes.
For instance, a coat of Guilliman Flesh thinned down with Contrast Medium works great over Cadian Fleshtone to get a natural ruddy face suitable for the soldiery. You can then add another coat or two around the brow to darken down the eye sockets even more, using thinner Shades like Reikland Fleshshade to easily control the effect.
From a distance, this technique is barely distinguishable from a more complex approach, so give it a try on your next infantry horde.
Intermediate
Once you’re comfortable painting smaller details, it’s time to get the whites in their eyes. Warhammer Painting Presenter, Emma Robinson, recommends using an off-white as the base to stop the eyes looking too bright and obvious, which can help obscure any micro mistakes you might make – Celestra Grey, Grey Seer, and Corax White are all perfect for this.
Then, with a spot of thinned Corvus Black on a Small Layer brush, paint a vertical line down the centre of the eyeball. Make sure it covers the white completely from top to bottom (unless you want the model to look like it’s been caught in the headlights), and don’t worry too much about making this part look round.
Advanced
To take your skills a little further, we’ll be basecoating the eyeball with Corvus Black or Abaddon Black this time. Using your chosen off-white colour, carefully paint small dots either side of the centre and shape them until they frame a nice solid pupil in the middle.
You’re left with a nice dark outline around the eye that can be controlled by making the white parts larger or smaller as needed. This requires a steady hand and a very fine point on your bristles, so consider upgrading to the XS Artificer Layer brush for improved control over your paint.
Expert
Finally, you can make your eyes really stand out by adding a reflective effect to the very centre. Using a bright white like White Scar, get a very small amount of paint on the very tip of your brush and poke a small dot into the upper left or right corner of the pupil.
This small detail adds a huge amount of realism, and it can be tweaked with different bright colours to reflect any object-source lighting you might be using elsewhere.*** If you make a mistake and drop a little too much paint onto the eye, you can always cover it up with Corvus Black and try again.
Glowing Eyes
A variety of mystical effects can be handy for just avoiding the whole process entirely. Painting your Stormcast Eternals with glowing eyes makes them look awesome, and it can be accomplished with just two paints.
Start by painting the eyes in a Contrast base like Grey Seer or White Scar, then drop one of the new, vibrant Contrast paints thinned with a little Medium into the recesses. Bright colours like Frostheart and Doomfire Magenta really pop, and painting thin layers on the brow and cheekbones can help tie the effect together. Just keep building up layers until you get the vibrancy you want, making sure to leave the very centre white and glowing.
For a really advanced ‘inner light’ effect, paint a gradient of different colours leading up to the bright centre such as Khorne Red, Mephiston Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet, and Fire Dragon Bright.
Base the eye with Khorne Red, then thin it down with Lahmian Medium in roughly a 1:4 ratio – just about a glaze consistency. Apply this mix over the base and around the surrounding area, dragging the paintbrush towards the centre of the eye, then repeat that ratio of 1:4 with the next three paints in steadily smaller circles.
Remember to paint inside the area of the previous layer so you build a nice glow effect as you transition towards a bright centre. Finally, a dot of pure Fire Dragon Bright in the very centre of the eye shows the brightest (and hottest) point of the glow. This process works excellently with other colours such as green, purple, blue, orange, and yellow.
Now that you’ve got all of the skills down for painting some top-quality eyeballs, you’ll have no problems tackling the more optically endowed monsters found among the worlds of Warhammer. Screamers of Tzeentch, anyone?
… Or you can just call the whole thing off by building an army of Skeletons.****
* Or the Citadel Colour painting companion app.
** Available to watch now on Warhammer+!
*** Is your model holding a torch or bright screen near their face? Try using Troll Slayer Orange or Moot Green to match.
**** Unless… you want to make their eyes glow!