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I've finally got some progress on this project, so I thought I'd get a thread started. 
I posted a while back that I really wanted to do a painting that had moving eyes looking out from behind eye holes, like those you see in the old movies. I had lots of great ideas thrown around, but nothing that was going to be within my abilities that would be what I was envisioning.
DaveintheGrave was one of the posters, and he let me know that he'd been thinking about trying something similar, and that he'd be happy to experiment with the idea and send me a moving eye mechanism if he could get it to work... and he did. I'd wanted a pause in between movement, and it works so perfectly - it is a beautifully simple idea, but no one had thought of it before. (can't thank you enough, Dave!)
Mechanical: - Moving Eyes Mechanism
So I have the pupils (courtesy of Terra's eye patterns-full tutorial here, but I used ping pong balls) and gloss coat on the eyeballs complete:
![]()
I had a large frame picked up from the thrift store that I spraypainted black and then did aging with gold metallic paint.
I am doing the painting on cardboard, and mounting the eye mechanism on plywood that will be behind the cardboard. The screw mount will be behind, but the screws will be hidden behind the cardboard.
Here is the beginning paint job of "Mortimer"
![]()
And the finished version - still have to do the clear coat to simulate the varnish.
Updated final paint pic - had to fix the highlights and I adjusted the colors on screen for a more accurate color portrayal. 6/14
![]()
I haven't painted in quite a while, so I wasn't planning on Mort being really detailed - sort of a primitive style portrait, and I think he turned out rather well. I am a graphic designer, and used to be a fine artist, but it's been a while since I really sat down and did "art" that involved handwork and not a computer...
Hope to get the eye holes cut into the plywood and mount the eyes tomorrow if I'm lucky.
Still have to get side panels to mount on the frame to increase the thickness of the frame itself as the motor needs about a 6-7 inches clearance from the wall. I figure on getting some wall molding to mount and then paint up to match the frame and it will look just fine.
I'm really really excited about this - can't wait to get it completed. It just may go up now, and stay up until Halloween.
I posted a while back that I really wanted to do a painting that had moving eyes looking out from behind eye holes, like those you see in the old movies. I had lots of great ideas thrown around, but nothing that was going to be within my abilities that would be what I was envisioning.
DaveintheGrave was one of the posters, and he let me know that he'd been thinking about trying something similar, and that he'd be happy to experiment with the idea and send me a moving eye mechanism if he could get it to work... and he did. I'd wanted a pause in between movement, and it works so perfectly - it is a beautifully simple idea, but no one had thought of it before. (can't thank you enough, Dave!)
Mechanical: - Moving Eyes Mechanism
So I have the pupils (courtesy of Terra's eye patterns-full tutorial here, but I used ping pong balls) and gloss coat on the eyeballs complete:
I had a large frame picked up from the thrift store that I spraypainted black and then did aging with gold metallic paint.
I am doing the painting on cardboard, and mounting the eye mechanism on plywood that will be behind the cardboard. The screw mount will be behind, but the screws will be hidden behind the cardboard.
Here is the beginning paint job of "Mortimer"
And the finished version - still have to do the clear coat to simulate the varnish.
Updated final paint pic - had to fix the highlights and I adjusted the colors on screen for a more accurate color portrayal. 6/14
I haven't painted in quite a while, so I wasn't planning on Mort being really detailed - sort of a primitive style portrait, and I think he turned out rather well. I am a graphic designer, and used to be a fine artist, but it's been a while since I really sat down and did "art" that involved handwork and not a computer...
Hope to get the eye holes cut into the plywood and mount the eyes tomorrow if I'm lucky.
Still have to get side panels to mount on the frame to increase the thickness of the frame itself as the motor needs about a 6-7 inches clearance from the wall. I figure on getting some wall molding to mount and then paint up to match the frame and it will look just fine.
I'm really really excited about this - can't wait to get it completed. It just may go up now, and stay up until Halloween.
