Ngaire, first of all don't think of it as an eye, just as some colors in a certain spot. See how similar the color and value of the white of her eye is to the skin at that point. Can you see how you have exaggerated the value contrast, making the eye too light?
First, paint out the eye completely, using flesh color. Then make a "bed" for the eye by painting the color variations around it. Don't get detailed. try to place the eye accurately by putting in the exact shade of grey--not too far from the skin tone.
I use complementary colors to mix greys. One example is cad orange + ultramarine blue, or cad yellow deep + ultramarine blue. Each makes a slightly different grey. cad yellow + ultramarine violet is also nice. You can mix shades of red in with this mixture to create shadowy skin tones. (Adding white will bring up the value.) Without the red, the grey itself (with maybe a little skintone mixed in from painting wet-into-wet) plus a little white will give you the right value and color for the eye. Some people really like this method but some find it hard to control. You can also mix Ultramarine with just a little of the orange into the hair color (brown/black)in shadow. The more orange you add, the warmer it will be. You also need the cool component to make it shadowy. Watch the catch lights in the eye--don't make them too light and prominent. All the values, even the shine, are much closer together.
Everything has a warm and cool component--it is the balance of warm and cool that we can adjust. You might prefer a completely diferent way of mixing colors. Everyone's got their own way. Some pople like raw umber mixed with different colors. You can experiment!
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Hybrid Mode
