This is Mauriice Corry's 120mm resin paratrooper, 82nd Airborne Division on the eve of D-day, June 6th 1944. I painted in enamels and acrylics. A very nicely detailed kit, I hope I did it justice. As always, comments and constructive criticism welcome. Regards

very nice job

My suggestion is that you practice painting eyes. The eyes are so important to creating a well painted and realistic looking face, and to be honest, the eyes on this figure aren't even in size and the right eye in particular looks rather messy and "blobby".

My suggestion is you start by painting the "whites" of the eyes in an off-white colour, rather than white. This will allow you to add a white highlight to the top of the eyeball later.

To get the pupil right does take practice and you should observe your own eyes in the mirror for reference. To get both pupils the same size, my technique is to paint a dark colour (brown or black) straight down through the middle of the eye with a 0 size brush. A handy tip is to paint the figure's right eye first, which will be on your left as you look at him. This is harder to paint if you are right handed because you have to paint around the nose. Once you've done the right eye, you can paint the dark line through the left eye and ensure they are the same thickness and are staring in the same direction.

Then all you do is paint the eyelids in with your flesh colour to define the shape of the eye and close it up. It's hard to explain without showing images, but there are any number of painting books that can show you how to do this.

The cheapest and easiest way to learn is to observe your own eyes in a mirror or a photo and pay close attention to the shape of the eyelids and the shape and size of the pupils.

It may take a few attempts to get it right, but I think you'll find it delivers much more satisfying results when you can look at the figures' eyes and see them looking back at you.

Good luck.

I have to agree with Tony. I paint my eye area black and then with a 10/0 brush paint the corners with a touch of off white and on larger figures do a dot of off white in the center as catch light.

The rest of your figure looks great.........the eyes need some help. I bought some spare heads years ago and used them for practice for flesh tones and eyes.

i think you did well on all the other areas though! eyes are a pain and no mistake. my technique is to paint the eye in a dark colour like Umber. next i paint the Iris in my chosen shade, then the pupil in a shade of black and finally put a dot of off-white either side in each corner followed by a final dot of the Iris shade in a lighter shade and one teeeny one on the corner of the Pupil. any one who paints Miniatures from Black will understand this. Hope this helps mate.
you just keep knocking them out, it all falls in to place at some point!


all the best --- tim

Thank you all for the comments, tips and observations. i take no offense to any of this, in fact, I am pleased to have such accomplished Planeteers take an interest in my personal improvement. I have a hard time with eyes, I usually paint them last as they intimidate me (this from a guy who parachuted 36 times!!!). My hands shake, like nowhere else when I am painting the figures. But, no excuses,keep the feedback coming and I will keep posting and hopefully keep improving. thanks again for this forum to share my love for this hobby!!!

Mike