Eyeball

 I thought it be intresting to try and paint an eyeball since their surface has an intresting reflection and the veins at the back would be a challenge.

my first attempt I did looking at eyes rather than eyeballs and this lack of proper reference really showed in the product since the reflection was unclear and I could never get it to look finished . I also was unsure of how the veins would work and they ended up much too sparse compared to what a real human eyeball looks like

my second attempt I did a different approach of using images of full eye balls and 3D models that allowed me to see the full 360 and adjust lighting . I found that real eyes look kind of like yolk of a fried egg to put it bluntly, also the iris sits a bit further back in the eye which I didnt consider in my first piece. 

First I sketched out the basic shaped I needed first but rather than using tonal paintings and gradient maps I just went straight in with colour and an oil painting brush set which I found was the best set for replicating a waxy texture, the 'whites' of the eye I roughly painted since it didnt require any detail other than veins that I refined later . the main thing I wanted to focus on was the details in the iris since they are likesmall galaxies but I missed this in the first attempt. I think I managed to achieve and I am quite happy with the depth of colours in the eye and how they are blended together, the only thing I would change is to look again at the angle of the iris as I think it is slightly off .

overall I am very happy with this outcome and I am glad I tried again from scratch using proper reference,  if I were to redo it again or add more to it I would maybe include some of the flesh of the cornier since I do think it is a bit too clean as is .