Making eyeballs

Good eyes can really make or break a character. You can make eyeballs out of soft clay, however if you would like a more perfect eyeball, which will survive the rigors of animating, check out this tutorial.

	It is easy to make your own eyes, any color you like! You can move the eyes with a small hole in the iris and a paperclip or better still, a toothpick. You can buy fantastic eyeball beads online from www.animateclay.com, or you can use art supply beadmaking pearl beads (as we use here). You can also roll your own with air dry or oven bake clays.
	You get a lot of bead eyes for a small outlay! These are around 5mm (.2 inches) in diameter. Quite a few of the eyes are too lumpy or have stuck together, so pick around until you find a few sets that are clean and smooth. Check the holes are nice and clear. You can use an emery board to file off any lumps. At this point you can simply put a black dot over the hole using a permanent marker and use the eyes, but if you want a more professional finish, keep going...
	If you are keen go for more realistic eyes, make several at once! You never can have enough eyeballs. Paint the eyes a gloss white. If you are really keen on a slick result, use gloss white spray paint. If you can find white beads, use these instead
	To make a nice circular iris mix your paint and dip your eyballs into the paint. Make sure the bead holes are pointing right into the paint when you dip. The eyes are held onto the ice cream stick with sticky tack. Dip the eyes in sets of two.
	Here are the eyes out of the paint. You may need to dab excess paint off the eyes using some absorbent paper. Let the paint dry.
	OK, now dip the end of a small paintbrush (not the brush end) into some black paint and dab onto the bead holes. (This takes a bit of practice - lucky you made a few sets for trial and error.) You may need to hold the eyes vertically.
	Great, here is the final result - some eyes put into a frog face. You can go a step further by making a dark ring around the iris (colored part of the eye). This helps the eye stand out and looks more natural.