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DarkShadowDorifuto — Garrus Vakarian
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Published: 2011-04-07 20:12:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 3135; Favourites: 39; Downloads: 0
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Description
My first attempt at digital painting, be nice!
Done in photoshop with a mouse (I don't have a graphic tablet yet).
Technically it's not really finished but I wanted to share it anyways as I wanted to do something else so I might no finish it soon.
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Comments: 42
Wow! It looks like a photo of an action figure. o__O!!
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Thanks!
I will have to try some different lighting situations and see if I can make him look more like a grown person/turian rather than an action figure.
Even in my 3D sometimes I get this scale model look, I guess I need more details to better give the sense of scale of the subject.
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That's damn impressive for the first time and with a mouse! A mouse! I can't imagine how amazing your works will be with access to a tablet. He looks as if he's been sculpted from clay and is an actual model. Great work!
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Thanks!
Well my reference pictures were photos of a sculputure I guess that explains it all. XD
Also he looks a bit greasy or waxy with the reflections on his face so those add to the model look.
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I'll just add to the chorus of people saying they can't believe you did this with just a mouse. It's already better than anything I can do with a tablet. Awesome, man.
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I just gave a quick look at your stuff, well yours is a different style (which I like) I try to go for realism whether I'm able to do it or not your style seems to be more impressionistic somehow.
I'd love to do stuff like yours, it's more "artistic" but for now I lack the experience to do stuff from imagination (I kinda used to but I stopped drawing for a long time...) and also sometimes I find myself going away from this kind of look and going towards a more realistic look just because I'm afraid that people will think that I've done an unfinished work (being less detailed somehow) while it's not really like that, I should worry less. XD
Basically, using an analogy, I may have a faster car but that doesn't mean you couldn't smoke me with a slower car simply because you can drive better.
Well I can get quite confusing and boring fast so I hope you get my point.
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The textures in this are really cool. His face looks very plastic, or like it's made from a unique material. I can almost imagine what it would feel like.
Really great shading/coloring.
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Yep it's kinda like a painting of a sculpture. XD
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Wow, you did all this with a mouse????
It's fantastic really. How long did it take you to get to this stage?
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Yep all mouse.
I did it in around 4 days, 2 to 3 hours a day.
To get at this stage I did a couple of gradient tests (mixing colors), a sphere and then this.
The most difficult part at the start was to understand how to mix colors once I got that it was quite easy to ramp it up.
(this video helped a lot [link] )
The most difficult part after getting how the technique works now is to get things looking right, as you can see some parts looks more fake than others, for that I will have to copy some stuff to be able to make up credible and more realistic paintings.
That's way I think I will way a bit before finishing this, I tried making the skin damage on his face but it didn't turn out well so I will get more experience and then finish it.
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Wow, that's amazing! Please be careful so you don't straing your wrist and develope a 'mouse arm', I did after working like that for two years. Ever since I got myself a tablet last year the problem's rarely occured again.
Sweet. 
I didn't really notice anything looking fake though, it just looked pretty perfect to my eye.
Good luck finishing this awesome piece!
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Thanks for the heads up!
Luckily it hasn't happened to me in all these years I've been heavily using a mouse.
Maybe it's the air guitar-ing that saved me? XD
I'm getting a tablet by the end of the month so I should be good just in case!
And thanks for the feedback it's really awesome when someone on the internet comments on what you do as there's no obligation, makes it much better and sincere than an IRL comment where courtesy and manners come into play.
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Oh right, well then you're a mouse pro, aren't you?
Awesome! What are you buying? I have a Wacom Intuos4.
You're welcome.
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Well I wouldn't say I'm a pro I just use it a lot. XD
By the way I don't play the guitar for real I just do some major air guitar playing while listening to metal eheh.
I'm buying a Wacom Bamboo Fun, medium size, 1024 pressure levels and I think it has a bit more than double the dpi of the bamboo pen & touch so it should follow my movements even better.
The Intuos is the professional line right? Which size do you have?
How is it?
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Ah, but you're probably doing much the same movements and such as had you been playing a real guitar?
Cool, that's probably about the same thing as mine then, mine's a medium too or roughly the size of an A4 paper. I wanted a slightly cheaper model actually but they were out of stock so I had to settle for this one. It has wireless Bluetooth connection (that I can't use since my computer doesn't come equipped with that, bah)
Oh, it's great.
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Eheh true that.
On Wacoms website the Intuos 4 Medium has pretty much the same active area of the Bamboo Fun (roughly an A5) the Intuos 4 wireless is a tiny bit smaller like a cm per side at most, so they should be indeed basically the same size from what I gathered.
Looks like it's a great tablet!
By the way you should check out this video. (I posted it a bunch of messages above but it easy to miss) [link]
It really helped me to understand how they mix colors and how you should block the big shapes first then detail later.
I think you should give it a go, your line work is good and with improved shading and colors your works would really make it to the "next level", well that is if you want to paint them instead of making them more like a comic which might not be what you want to do.
But I suppose even when cell shading you could use some of this techniques.
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That's what I thought. I'm glad I didn't settle for the tiny little Small Bamboo I spotted first. I work with my imaged in very high resolution and I often run out of space, so that tiny little work-surface would have been annoying. I could have done with the A3 sized Intuos too, but they didn't have that in stock either ...
Yes, and if I had the latest versions of the softwares it'd be great too, for now I'm running on ancient versions, one dating back to Win95! 
Thanks, yes I bookmarked that video but haven't gotten around to watching it yet, oops!
Paint them? Hm, that sounds like lightyears ahead of my technique.
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It would be cool if you made like a remake once the story is all done.
I can see how it would get in the way if you're not used to it, it took me 3 days to make this thing so for a comic it could take much longer.
It's like a lot of popular cartoons were more simple when they started because of time and money restrains and then they got more complex as they had more budget and time, it's not lack of skills it's just a choice between making it prettier or making the story better.
I'd prefer the story, in your case you could come back and maybe extract some specific scenes from the story and use them as the subjects for paintings.
By the way what software are you using? I'm sure there will be some alternatives that could work for you. ^_^
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That's a neat idea. It'd be awesome if I could make covers for my comics, then they'd feel even more like an actual paper magazine.
Yes I bet it'd take ages to do a single page for me that way, that's the major reason I didn't dive into learning how to Photoshop for real. 
Right, makes sense. And sometimes you have the best possible graphics and a lousy story too, then even the best graphics in the world won't help ...
Ha ha, I'm using an ancient software called MGI Photosuite that came with an old scanner of mine. It has a neat function that makes it very easy and handy to copy and paste, that's mostly why I use it for one phase of the comic, then I'm using Photoshop Elements 2.0. I have two or three more recent versions of it but neither has quick buttons for save and undo. Very annoying! So I'm sticking with this older version.
What are you using? (Sorry, forgot)
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I use Photoshop CS5. (I use it for work too)
You should use either Photoshop or if you don't want to spend anything you could try Gimp which is a free alternative and it's pretty good.
I would also suggest you have a try at keyboard shortcuts (if you aren't using them already), any program you use should have more or less the same, for example copy and paste you copy with ctrl+c and paste with ctrl+v and that works everywhere, ctrl+z for undo and ctrl+s for saving are also very common and should work in pretty much anything.
It might also be cool to make collabs for the covers, one does the drawing the other the painting, it could turn out to be an interesting experience, what do you think?
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Ah, right. Nah, I'd never buy a full version, I just think it's silly to have a software that costs like three times my computer, which still is a rather decent one.
Yes, I've heard about Gimp, never explored it though, thanks for the tip, I'll check it out.
Oh yeah, I know I should use shortcuts, I just never get around to teaching myself the commands.
That's also an option of course, if I could find someone to trust. I just might miss the experience though, you know, doing it all from start to finish.
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Well they sure are pricy, you could try a student version if you are a student of course.
Ahah I understand what you mean about doing all yourself, I'm like that too, as they say if you want it done right do it yourself.
Of course it might not be the case every time but if it's something you can do well why not?
Most of the time you know (or should know) what you want and how you want it so it makes sense that doing something from start to finish by yourself should result in something more satisfying.
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Well unfortunately I'm long past that stage.
Ha ha, and there's that too.
Yes I think it's hard to explain what I see before my inner eye. All my ideas start off as images and then I have to try and convert them into words for future reference, that's hard enough to explain to myself, it would be nearly impossible to explain it to someone else I think.
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I thought you were kinda young actually like my age, around the 20s, I suppose I guess too much. XD
Well not that anything below 50 isn't actually, maybe half a century ago but now even at 50 people are still quite young in my opinion.
I'm not saying you are 50 btw but even if you are it doesn't really change anything, other than you would be much more knowledgeable.
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No, I'm afraid I'll turn 39 in October.
Oh yes, it's all about how young, or old, you feel, and how young your mind is really.
He he, thanks!
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I really love the style of the painting, but you have a bit of anomaly in the subject matter. His suit is damaged from the event in ME2, but he's not injured. He should be missing his weird thing (what is it called?!?!) on the right side of his mouth, because it was blown off during the incident. Once again, lovely colours and shading, I really like the textures.
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You are indeed right, that's why it's unfinished. ^_^
I wanted to make a normal Garrus and than an injured Garrus, I started on the suit but have yet to finish it and than I have to do the face damage.
Basically I uploaded it to see if people liked to judge if I should continue or just do something new.
Thanks for the comment I really appreciate each one, I never had this much feedback before and this really helps me going so I think I'm gonna definitely finish it!
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well, in reply to that, I like it, keep going!!
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very sweet. looks good.... He doesn't have his signature visor though, was that on purpose?
amazing work for your first time! and done with a mouse... damn.
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Thanks!
Yep he is missing the visor, as I said in the comment above I'm kinda doing it in separate steps and layers so I can have a clean Garrus, a ME2 Garrus and all the versions in between.
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Ups I got the times mixed up, I meant the comment below. XD
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This is with a mouse?!
Wow that is amazing...
I'm sure you're talent plus a tablet will absolutely incredible!
(kinda looks like a Garrus action figure.....)
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Thanks!
Eheh yep it has a bit of a plasticky look, especially the face.
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No problem!
I can't wait to see what you can do with a tablet!
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The tablet should help with making the paintings feel more organic I guess, I can't wait to draw with one!
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You should be really proud of this having done it with a mouse. I bet you'll blow me away with your tablet work. Good job.
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It's comments like this that make me want to make more, thanks!
I can't wait to have the pressure sensitivity of a tablet and the control of the pen.
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Thanks!
Using a good mouse definitely helped tho.
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