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furry arts discussion => fursuits, plushies, and costuming => Topic started by: Redsword on May 01, 2014, 03:53:09 pm
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I am trying to figure out how I am going to do the eyes in my fur suit.
I have found two techniques that look really promising to me.
I am leaning toward this one:
Plastic Orbs with One-Way Tinting (http://www.instructables.com/id/Animal-Eyes-easy-quick-and-cheap/)
but this one looks like it has merits too:
White plastic bowl (http://www.matrices.net/eyes.asp)
Any thoughts. I am interested in your experience with visibility for the actor, overall look of the eye, appeal to the public, etc.
Also, if there is a technique that I am too dumb to even ask about, please share a link.
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You're going to need to decide what sort of style you want for your suit in general. You don't want to mix super toony eyes with an otherwise realistic suit... Or super realistic looking eyes with a super toony suit.
Visibility-wise, nothing is going to beat the super toony plastic bowl eyes. Visibility on the super realistic looking resin eyes is going to be absurdly low.
There is something that sits somewhere inbetween the two, and honestly works for either style of suit. It's a semi-realistic look called, "3d," or, "Follow me eyes."
They look like this:
http://en.wikifur.com/w/images/thumb/f/f8/AC_2007_Shortwave_Husky.JPG/120px-AC_2007_Shortwave_Husky.JPG
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9989346@N04/6383335901
Any the major benifit of them is that they always look like they're looking at you no-matter what angle you're looking at them from. They have visibility more like toony eyes, and they work decently well in realistic and toony suits.
Here's how to make them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKryPPBKiA
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Another helpful link is this:
http://forums.furtopia.org/fursuits-and-plushies/what-is-vision-like-through-a-fursuit-head/
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I like the eyes that Alsek linked the most. They are very bright and help bring out the character (that is.. if your not going for realism). I wonder if you would get clearer vision if the plastic was curved to match the curvature of the eye? Although, since those types of eyes are large it probably wouldn't look as good if you did that.
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One downfall to follow-me eyes that I never really thought much of until I read about it, is that it photographs very differently than toony eyes. Follow-me eyes will always appear to be looking at the camera. So some situations or poses don't actually work all that well for it.
Take, for example, two suits bumping noses (both their sides are to the camera). Fixed toony eyes will work best for something like this, so it looks like the characters are actually looking at each other. With follow-me eyes, it'll look like both characters are awkwardly glancing at the camera through the corners of their eyes.
Same goes for any situation where you want the character to actually be looking directly at some object. The audience or camera will perceive the character as actually looking at said object with toony (or other static) eyes. With follow-me eyes, the character will appear to be facing the object, but still be perceived as staring at the audience or camera.
Just something else to keep in mind when choosing between those eye styles. Do you really want the character to always appear to be staring at the audience, no matter where they are facing?
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The first one is so pretty!