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Imaliea — Dean Winchester - Wayward Son
Published: 2009-12-10 01:42:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 39797; Favourites: 2418; Downloads: 6
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Description
Carry on my wayward son,There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more...
- Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas
Update March 2010 - So it turns out I just can't let sleeping Dean's lie - I have to poke at them until they satisfy me >_>... I made some changes because I still wasn't happy with it... I know everyone's seen this by now but I would love some comments. I guess it's an improvement? lol I don't know anymore... I should just move on
AGAIN UPDATE but I'm not gonna spam everyone's inboxes so I'll just note it quietly here for anyone who noticed haha... I think I've gone back and retouched this about a zillion times now. This will be the final one... if I want to paint Dean again, it'll be with a brand new painting, cuz sometiems I just gotta let sleeping Deans lie! lol I've done the best I can do for now XD
UPDATE: Okay, spent my lunch hour today going back and repainting some of his features >_> lolz.
Oh. My. God. I think I was possessed. By Dean Winchester (or Jensen Ackles). He wanted me to paint him. He made me sit down at my desk, push aside everything else I was working on, and watchepisode after episode of Supernatural while I painted him for hours. See, he'd issued a challenge (or maybe I'm just having a psychotic break). I had to paint him using a technique I hadn't tried before and without rushing through it!
Patience is something I'm always struggling with, because usually I get so excited about what I'm working on I can't wait to see it finished haha, which often leads me to having to redo things over and over because I rushed through the first time around.
So this time I thought, no, I'm not gonna rush, I'm just gonna sit down and paint and take my time. And yes I still had to paint and repaint different parts of his features until I got them right, but it wasn't time wasted because of rushedness on my part. I was so determined not to fall into the same old traps with this one!
I dunno if this sounds conceited or not, but I really am proud of it, and not ashamed to say so. I learnt SO MUCH while painting this, since it's a completely new technique as well - I used only one brush to paint the whole thing, a fuzzy round brush. So no texture brushes at all (which I usually love to use) o.o. Painted each freckle and pore by hand x_x and I tried so hard to get emotion in his eyes and features... I really hope I pulled it off! (not to mention I hope everyone can regonise it as him >_> ) I think I will stick with this technique for a while... which means I'm tempted to go back and repaint all the other paintings I've been currently working on -_-'
As an interesting (sorta) side-note, I was actually watching the episode where Dean gets dragged to Hell T_T when I finished painting this...
Technical Info:
Painted entirely in Photoshop, using 2 different pics as reference (both screencaps from an episode), plus made my own small changes to add a bit of uniqueness
umm I think that's it... Oh and yes, that is my initial I 'stitched' onto his collar... >_> heehee... so no stealing!
See Sam here if you haven't already
Artwork © Imaliea
DO NOT steal this artwork or use it without permission
I claim no ownership of the characters used in this image. Characters of Supernatural belong to their creator Eric Kripke as well as Warner Bros. Television and Productions
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Comments: 442
i thought it was a photo! your really good!! the eyes are really beautiful!
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so greattttttttttttttttttttt aaaaaaaaaaaaaa! screammmm u r so talented really
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This is just...faint worthy! If you have time, I would really really appreciate you giving me a few tips on my own Dean Winchester painting. You are quite the artist!
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Thank you so much! And I would be delighted to help you in any way I can. I'm at work at the moment, but I can definitely have a look when I get home - is this the painting you're referring to? [link] btw you are very talented!
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Yes! Thank you! 
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Hi again! Okay I've had a think and hopefully I am able to help you out a bit with some tips. Just a heads up, a fair few of these tips I only know how to do in Photoshop/Painter, so usefulness may depend on what program you have - having said that, I'm fairly sure most graphics/programs have the ability to do all of this. They should also be fine to do whether you use a mouse or a tablet
Skin texture: You've got a good thing going on there with the stubble, it looks nice and textured. The thing is, I would use a similar look over all of his skin. That is basically just dabbing the colours on over his face so that you end up with that rougher, more textured look.
Obviously the differences in colour have an impact, and varying the brush size is important. Use a brush that is fairly small, but not TOO small - maybe about the same size as his pupil is in your painting. A slightly softer-edged brush on a lower opacity (maybe 20-30%, lower if it's becoming TOO dotty-looking) works well for this. All you need to do is constantly sample the colour you've already laid down, dab around a bit with the brush, rinse and repeat.
If after this you find there's a bit TOO much, go over the area softly with a large, soft, low-opacity brush, just to smooth things out a bit. Try to think about it too - there are some areas where you might see more pores (texture) on the skin. Around Dean's nose and cheeks is an especially good place to add texture, because he has those delicious freckles XD
Colours: I think a lot of your colour issues might be helped by deepening the shadows/upping the contrast slightly. It may be a difference between monitors (it's hard to tell with digital art), but to me your shadows appear too light. This can be quickly solved at this stage by using Photoshop's Levels tool, or failing that the Tonal settings in Painter. Whatever program you use, I am fairly sure most of them have some sort of colour/tone correction tool available 
I think that darkening the shadows will help with making the mid-tones and highlights 'pop' more.
Now as for actual colours of the skin, again, at the end of a painting if you think it needs more colour, a neat trick is to up the Saturation slightly. Don't go overboard, or it'll look a bit clownish, but adding some Saturation will help a lot.
Another great way to add a bit more colour variation is to make a new layer, and with a big airbrush and full opacity, just start dabbing on some different colours. Warm colours around the cheeks/lips, cooler colours around his stubble, etc, whatever you think it might need. Just play around with colour. Then set the layer to Overlay mode, and change the layer opacity to about 10%. This will add just a hint more colour to his cheeks - kind of like adding colour using a wash in traditional art. It's a bit of a quick and dirty trick, but it does the job and saves you having to repaint too much.
That trick can actually be a lot of fun and add some interesting dynamics to your painting.
When starting a new painting, make sure to include some more vibrant colours in your palette. A desaturated colour is good for base and mid-tones, but for highlights and shadows it's good to use more 'colourful' colours haha. When painting, most likely you won't end up using these colours at full opacity - it'll be lighter than normal, which means the colours won't end up at their original vibrancy. I hope that makes sense.
You might find that just using the above tips will actually help with his eyes as well - I can't see anything technically different from your eyes to mine. Mine's perhaps even a bit messier with the painting itself, but that's not to say messier is better. I think the 'lifelessness' you're describing could more be because of that lack of contrast/colour.
Wow that ended up a lot longer than I intended! But if you have any more questions or want me to clear up anything. I'm sure I can dig up some different progress screenshots if you like, might help illustrate what I mean. I really hope those little tips help you out, they certainly helped me out to learn when I first started. As I said before, you're SUPER talented - I look forward to seeing the next thing you come up with!
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YES! This helps a LOT especially the layer/overlay. I was always reticent of using the saturation feature when it came to realistic paintings...you've giving me plenty of nice tips here and I am definitely using them next time. I am giving you credit on my next painting, if you don't mind! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
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I know I replied to your note, but I'm catching up on my DA comments so: Yay! I'm very glad I was able to help! and of course if you have any further questions I am happy as always to answer
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Thank you
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS SO AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you forever.
You painted this?! YOU PAINTED THIS?!
You're amazing. D:
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I'd say I love you back but I hardly know you
yes I'm afraid I did paint this
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this is fantastic. absolutely stunning! i wanna be like you when i grow up!
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Amazing work! You've got some kind of devotion to your craft
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dammit, i almost think this was a photo D:
you're awesome!
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I could hardly believe this is not a photo. ._. This is just breathtaking! I love how you even textured the skin, it looks so real... I can't help but gawk.
I wish one day I'll be able to paint on such a high level as you. 
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Thank you kindly!
Trust me, all it takes is to keep on practicing
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This is AMAZING! Absolutely love it! And I'm really impressed by the fact that you only used one brush throughout the whole painting. Dunno if I'd have the patience to do that. That's one of the reasons why I draw digitally and not traditionally.
Exactly how long did you spend on this one?
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Thank you so very much! To be honest using one brush wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The particular brush I used was very versatile
Hmmm I'm terrible with keeping track of time, but it would have had to have been 30+ hours I think.
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wait.
this is a painting?
WHAT???
what amazes me the most is the eyes..i mean u can see the tears to the minisicle eyelashes..
stunning.
the only critisicm i have really is that the background could have done more to draw more attention to the subject, i tihnk
the background kinda blends in with the person and it's hard to see the seperation.
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