Finishing Whitetail eye with oil paints

[eddieb]

I received a few e-mails concerning my eye finishing technique so I set my camera up today and photographed the process.
I hope this will help others that might be curious about this process.




The Apoxie Sculpt is thinned with Safety Solvent. Great stuff..must have!












All the above photos were taken with a flash. The finished photo below was taken in sunlight, no flash. This caused the coloration to be different.
I will brush in the corner of the eye with a dry "Paintless" brush to blend the different colors together. Also around the outside areas to blend and soften.

After the eye has dried I will spray a satin acrylic sealer on the fleshy area and put Modpodge in the corner of the eye as well as in the lower lid next to the eye.
So the "Finished Eye" photo you see hear is not really the finished eye!

[*]

Yes indeed, the same we did it in the OLD DAYS before airbrushes
I see some still do 
Good pics and great technique.
Before Apoxie sculpt we used Beeswax
I liked this post 

[Manny]

Thanks for the helpful info, some of us werent around back in the day.

[eddieb]

Thanks for the helpful info, some of us werent around back in the day.

Ha, What do you mean "back in the day"? I did this today!
Seriously, I still use this technique as well as airbrush. I seem to be able to blend and soften the colors
with oils better than with an airbrush. (Maybe that's because I paint with oils on canvas from time to time.)
I still have to crank up the compressor to do the ears though.
..."back in the day"...

[Michael Butler, a.k.a. artwildcreate]

Very nice job Eddie.. Great post... Thanks for taking the time to share..

[*]

Not insulting you Ed 
I just used to do that way LONG time ago 
I'm gald you show that you don't need a fancy airbrush to get GREAT RESULTS
Just goes to show Newbies if it aint broke no need fixing it.
The method of eye finsih that is..

[Norste]

That really gives a nice soft look to the finished eye, beautiful work Eddie!

[utsiishi]

why did you botherm with the flock when you painted over it anyhow?

[eddieb]

why did you botherm with the flock when you painted over it anyhow?

When you clean the eye and also when you blend the corner with a dry clean brush the pink shows through slightly in some places. The Apoxie Sculpt in the lower lid is not painted over so it remains pink. You just can't see it in the photo. I rebuild the lower lip at the same time for the same reason.I will post another photo that shows what I am talking about later.

[utsiishi]

ok, thanks eddie

[Jon S]

How long do you give the oil paint to dry?
I've done similar with acrylic paints with good results, but the oils look a little better, and of course are easier to blend. Still better than I could do with an airbrush though.

[Greg Livbucks]

Looks great!
I just wonder why you use the red flocking if you are just going to paint it?
Maybe the pics don't show the color nuances.

[eddieb]

How long do you give the oil paint to dry?
I've done similar with acrylic paints with good results, but the oils look a little better, and of course are easier to blend. Still better than I could do with an airbrush though.

I waited a couple of hours for the white to dry a little. I have waited overnight before adding the brown.
This deer is a light colored deer. I would have made the brown area darker depending on the deer.

Looks great!
I just wonder why you use the red flocking if you are just going to paint it?
Maybe the pics don't show the color nuances.

That is a good question. It is hard to see the subtle details...See previous post.

[eddieb]

One other explanation for using the pink Apoxie Sculpt..I mix up enough to do the tear duct, nostrils and lower lip. I just found it was easier than using black Apoxie Sculpt on the nict. membrane and then mixing pink for the rest. You can experiment with gradually removing a little of the black at a time so that just a subtle shade of pink is exposed. The oil paint blends so well that you get a nice blend of the pink, black and umber in the area just in front of the eye that I can't seem to get with an airbrush. Also, this is a "commercial" customer deer as opposed to a competition deer. 

[Adam Wright]

Thats a great post, thank you! Ive only done 4 heads and ive used oils to finish the eyes and nose. Im going to get an airbrush for the nose and ears but after seeing this post im going to stick with the oils for the eyes. Do you finish the nose with oils also? If so i would love to see how you do it.