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KaraNan — Staring Contest
Published: 2012-05-02 00:27:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 8445; Favourites: 273; Downloads: 167
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More late night Mass Effect fan art!Why is it that all of my drawings featuring Javik are silly? At least he's in character this time.
Either way... Javik mentions how the Protheans passed time between battles by having staring contests. So I thought it'd be funny if Shepard decided to challenge him. Can one pair of eyes beat two? I think Commander Shepard's sheer bad-assery and willpower will keep her on par with Javik's cold demeanor.
Though in my head, their contest gets interrupted when somebody wants Shepard on the vid comm. She backs away from the mess hall while keeping a steady stare fixed on Javik until he's safely out of sight. In the elevator she'd crack up at the fact that she just spent nearly half an hour staring into the eyes of the grumpy alien.
Words alone cannot describe how much I love Javik's design. The detail, colors, shapes, everything! Screw Liara, Javik's the prettiest alien on the Normandy! I mean, He's so alien, yet easy on the eyes.
I love how my previous romanticized vision of the Protheans got completely shattered into a million pieces by him. The last Prothean is a huge prick. It's brilliant! The people who designed him should get all kinds of medals. The only bad things about Javik is that he's DLC, and that he's not an LI.
/rant
Background sucks because I suck. Might change it if I get a sudden stroke of genius.
Photoshop + Wacom tablet. Screenshots used for reference. Made it in one sitting (a few hours, didn't keep track).
Edit: Wasn't planning on painting default FemShep at first, never used her and never planned to. She just kind of ended up that way in the sketching stage, so I decided to roll with it.
UPDATE: Re-painted Shepard's face so she looks less like a potato and more like a person.
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Comments: 56
Uh, well he has a few options there, doesn't he? Assuming he can blink with just one eye at a time. If Protheans even have such a thing as winking...
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I guess he can blink two at a time...hahaha just picture it for a moment
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I'm kinda curious he mentioned it was hard to have a staring contest with an AI.
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Ah, that's true. Staring contests must've been a big thing in the Prothean empire.
Though that makes it sound like he actually tried it out at some point, lol.
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Lol that maybe why he doesn't like Edi XD
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Oh my gosh. Asdfghjkl I love this. <3 Not only is it a bit funny, it's done beautifully as well. How in the world do you draw lineless? I've been trying to for ages! And good gosh, your shading and everything is just gorgeous. I would kill to have talent like this. D':
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Aaww stahp it youuu!
Err, spoiler: I keep the lines on a separate layer on top of the paint layers. Sometimes I lower the opacity as I go. Not sure that's very helpful or what you were even asking for, haha sorry I'm dumb
Anyway thank you so much for the kind words! <3
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But it's troooooooo. c:
That actually is helpful! 
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Hmm, well once I've drawn all the lines, I start throwing colours in there. And don't panic if it looks awful at first. It always does. Then I just "block" in the colours so I have a flat base first (example: plain skin colour for Shepard's face, red for the hair etc.), without worrying about shading.
That's where the fun part begins, the whole painting/shading part. I try to mix in different colours so they aren't as glaringly pure (example: using dark blue for the shadows on Javik's collar).
Light skin colours are lot more tricky, as the skin's actually transparent. Here's a very, very, lifesavingly handy palette for skin colours! [link] Studying your own face (or someone else's) does wonders for your face-colouring skills.
What else...? Brushes. Try looking around for brushes on the 'net. I used to rely on the smudge tool quite a bit before. I've now abandoned it, as I don't really like the look of smudged colours. I personally almost always stick to hard brushes, then vary the opacity to do the soft parts.
Oh, and patience. I have a lot of patience.
But yeah, maybe one of the most crucial points here is shading with a different colour instead of just a darker/lighter version of the one you're using. I don't know if this particular painting is the best example as it's been several months and I now kind of think it looks a bit crappy. I might go back and redo Shepard's face.
I hope that helps... even a little bit. Thanks for commenting! :3
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I typed up some dialogue to accompany this scene. This is my interpretation.
Javik: "I do not see the point in this activity, Commander."
Shepard: "It's an old Earth tradition. Now just keep staring."
Javik: "It is a pity we did not attempt to correct your inclination toward foolish time wasting."
Shepard: "Eh, it's part of our charm."
Javik: "A small part, Commander."
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It makes me happy to hear I inspired you (at least in part, right?.
I can totally hear that in their voices. My only, tiny, little nitpick is that Javik himself mentions having staring contests with his fellow protheans. He may have been joking, though. You never know with his deadpan attitude.
But err, I enjoyed reading regardless, cheers. :>
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Sorry for the extremely long delay in replying; my life is chaotic at the best of times, and I don't always keep up with everything as well I should. Thanks for writing back, though.
Your "tiny little nitpick" is perfectly correct. 
Anyway, you did provide inspiration, and thank you for that.
Nick
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The Prothean military must've been a hoot. ;>
Don't worry about slow responses! I'm kind of good at those myself...
I'm glad that you took the time to respond again at all, I appreciate it.
Thanks, and good luck to you too! :3
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Oh yes: I bet they had a grand old time. Fight, eat, stare, sleep, rinse, repeat. The Protheans were a species that were in desperate need of a board game.
It was my pleasure to respond, and to be responded to.
Regards,
Nick.
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You got four eyes Javik ever had four black eyes lol
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*Then Cerberus pops up* "Holy shit its a prothean! We must disect it!"
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Javik is such a dick, it's great XD The one Prothean to come back has to be him.
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Haha, yeah! They couldn't have picked a better Prothean.
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Again, much love for your amazing face, LOVE this, so perfection on a stick!
~love~
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Cheers! Glad you like it. :>
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Love it! Was my desktop background for a whole day! (if you haven't seen my other reply yet, an image staying on my desktop for more than 5 minutes is a monumental feat)
Much awesome love for your face!
~love~
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I did read it. A very fine compliment (well, both of them)! :3
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I must ask - do you do commissions? I'm looking for cover art for a fan fic I'm reading, [link]
Oh and you're welcome again! ^.^
~love~
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Ah, very interesting...
However I'm a tad busy at the moment (just moved to a different town), and I'm iffy about making any kind of commitments that I may end up breaking in the end. I absolutely don't want to let anyone down like that.
However, I suppose it's not completely out of the question, but I can't promise anything.
Thanks for the link, though. I'll look at it when I have a moment!
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Wow, I actually typed that I was READING my own fanfic in my last post? What is wrong with me???? v.v
I'm WRITING it. blaaaahhhh.....
And sure, just let me know, I'm in no rush, and there's lots more chapters yet to write, so you have some time
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Hehe, I kind of figured it was a typo.
And sure, I'll let you know if I'm up to the challenge later!
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the description: so true! amazing desing, it's such a shame he became the main victim of EA's "artistic integrity"
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You said it, damned shame. Screw day-one-DLC, Javik should be available for everyone. Just imagine what could've been...
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Javik is so great. Makes me sad that he's dlc, everyone should have a healthy dose of Prothy.
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Great work! I really like this and i cant say im a huge Javik fan.
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He has four eyes. I'd say that ups your chances of winning.
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One would think so. Then again, it IS Commander Shepard.
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Hmm, after some thought, it seems like they're both on equal ground. They can both decipher prothean stuff, they've both "died" in a sense and they're both determined to take out the Reapers regardless of what odds and support they have.
It's kind of like kindred spirits. 
This comment is kinda off subject. Moving on. . .
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Hah, I appreciate your comment regardless. Thanks.
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No prob. I had a staring contest point in there somewhere, but I guess I buried it.
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I really like the intricate detail you put into Jarvik's face here! And the way you manage to get done something of this level of quality in such a short time just beats me!
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Yeah I dunno, I'm just really driven I guess. Maybe it's the fact that his face is just so damned fun to figure out that I didn't stop until it was done.
Thank you for the comment!
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Thank you! I'm far from finished with him, heheh.
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Agree with everything.... and double agree on the love for the design XD
Love your art btw!
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Thanks, I love your art as well!
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Agreed on all points on Javik. Femshep got the short end of the stick in terms of romances in ME3, he should have been an option. That said, great piece. I like your style. Will you be doing more of these two?
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