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Chaotica-I — Keiko Painting
Published: 2010-03-16 01:28:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 9396; Favourites: 160; Downloads: 0
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Description
Digital Painting of Keiko, an OrcaPainted from scratch in Photoshop CS4, using several photo references.
About 9 hours of work.
Please note that if you
but don't comment, I probably won't get a chance to say thank you... so thanks in advance!This looked WAY better in my mind. One of my all time favourite orca expressions is when they stick their tongue out the side of their mouth... totally adorable behaviour. Found a reference photo of Keiko doing it [link] and thought it was a great idea! I was super excited to paint it... really liked the basic sketch... and then when I was finished painting the majority of it, I realized what a horrible idea it was!!! It took me about three hours to get the tongue to look even a little bit right (tried three different poses, and several different strategies), and I still hate it. I like the rest of the painting too much to scrap it though. So don't tell me how bad the tongue looks, I already know lol... I think I will try the expression again sometime... because it really is one of my favourite orca expressions
Like every other orca-loving-kid, Free Willy was one of my favourite movies growing up... but now, Keiko's story just makes me indescribably sad
Thanks to ~angelorca53 , ~lillysart , =bubblywums , =darkstaytrskye , and *orcafreak for suggesting Keiko! I wouldn't have thought of painting him on my own... but he actually makes a lot of sense as a subject for me! I'm going to say that like Splash, he technically is part of the Marineland family... prior to his stay at Reino Aventura, he lived at Marineland, Ontario for three years. I know a trainer who worked with him!
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Comments: 82
When I was very little I began to watch Free Willy and fell in love with Keiko! LOVE the paintings you did! 
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Hello
I just want to tell you that a person on a forum that I know have take this image for his avatar and don't worry I tell him to ask you the permission.
Have a good day
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Keiko, what an amazing whale! I was looking at your art and before I noticed Keiko, I thought "I need to suggest Keiko".
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He really was an amazing whale... wish I'd have had the chance to see him for myself.
Thank you!
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I love orcas,too, so I also loved the Free Willy serious. I heard the came out with a fourth one, so I want to see it since it's the only Free Willy movie I've never seen. But,anyway, the tongue looks fine to me. You did a nice job on the painting. I found out about Keiko after I watched the Free Willy movies. Not sure the first time I watched it,though.
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I think I've only seen the first two... saw one of the new ones (part four maybe?) sitting on the shelf at the video store, but the orca looked so horribly fake... couldn't bring myself to rent it
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They're really good. The orcas don't look fake to me. If they do, it's 'cause they use animatronics.
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He was like, my hero growing up.
Yeah, that's right. A whale was my hero. x]
But this is a fantastic painting. And I think the toungue looks fine.
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I believe it! Whales are awesome!
Thanks
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i'm pretty sure that's what they call an unhealthy killer whale. He looks overweight for the species 
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It's not a great angle for him, but he was a pretty big boy. It's sad that he didn't have a better go after they freed him.
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Keiko was an amazing orca. i did all kinds f research n him, but everything i fund kept saying he was releaced after the mvie Free Willy, never said anything about him truly being in the mvies following it, is it true?
anyway, this is really well done, great job!
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He really was amazing. I honestly couldn't tell you if he was featured in the other movies. I wish he could have had a better life in the wild
Thanks!
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i wish he could have had a better life too, all orcas really
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If by 'the movies following it', you mean Free Willy 2/3/4 then yes. He was only in the first one. The others were put together with animatronic orcas, and some old footage.
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Now see, i didn't know that...until now. kinda sad when a big fan of those movies didn't know that for how ever many years.
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And in reguards to the painting! lol It's super cute..Yes, it looks awkward, but I think it does in the reference too...it's just an awkward uh, pose(?) for the tongue anyways. I think you did a great job on it.
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Oh, I'm going to favorite the hell outta this one. Incredibly well done! I can't peel my eyes away from this piece! You have my appreciation, good sir.
~GMLioko
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Er, good madame. My bad. I didn't check to see your info beforehand. lol
~GMLioko
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God, how long can it take for a person to comment on a drawing XD OMG! I'm horrible >.< Anyway, you did a fantastic job once again! Though you may not like the tongue too much, I think it's one of the best int he series. He looks so happy and also naughty
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Oh dear... how long does it take me to respond to messages! Apparently as much as a year and a half... that's horrible. Sorry!
Thank you!
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Oh, it's alright, I'm always late with commenting. I still have artwork to comment on from about 2 years ago
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Holy expletive Batman! Is that Keiko?
I think if you made the tongue a bit wider and shaded the part closest to the corner of his mouth (on the right)to give it more depth and this painting would be perfect. I hope that made sense. Personally I suck at the whole realism thing, but that seemed the most reasonable.
His melon is so shiny
I can't remember if it was Free Willy or Flipper that got me into my love for cetaceans.
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Thanks!
I struggled so much with that tongue! Probably spent as long refining the tongue as I did painting the rest of the picture! lol... I think you are right, it should be a bit broader... I will remember that for next time, but don't think I'll be sinking any more time into this one
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I know how that can be. There are times when I spend more time on some tiny detail then the rest of my picture. XD
I figured you would be done with this picture, but I thought I'd mention it.
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Thank you!
Thanks for
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