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Description
I spent waaaay longer on this than I thought I was going to. I've been researching Keiko pretty much most of today, and I watched a documentary on him on YouTube. I've been wanting to do some proper fanart of him for a while.

His story is so inspiring, and also pretty upsetting aswell. The fact he was taken away from his family when he was a calf for just a couple of thousand dollars, is just sickening. Humans really can be heartless when blinded by money. Also when he was transported from Mexico to Oregon into a new improved home for his health, he had to spend 16 hours in a small box, and yet, he remained calm. Even I wouldn't have remained calm to be honest! When lifting him into and out of the pools, he must have been terrified. And despite everything we did to him, he still loved us and trusted us. He captured the hearts of so many people. Which leads me to believe that Orcas are even more intelligent than we are.

It's a shame that he never found his family when he was released back into the wild. He deserved that at least.

May your beautiful soul rest in peace Keiko
We'll never forget you.

Info
Step by Step GIF [link]
Photoshop CS4
Mouse
18 layers
6 hours
Ref for mountains from Google
A few screenshot refs for Keiko from Youtube videos.

Commission information is here [link]

Description
I spent waaaay longer on this than I thought I was going to. I've been researching Keiko pretty much most of today, and I watched a documentary on him on YouTube. I've been wanting to do some proper fanart of him for a while.

His story is so inspiring, and also pretty upsetting aswell. The fact he was taken away from his family when he was a calf for just a couple of thousand dollars, is just sickening. Humans really can be heartless when blinded by money. Also when he was transported from Mexico to Oregon into a new improved home for his health, he had to spend 16 hours in a small box, and yet, he remained calm. Even I wouldn't have remained calm to be honest! When lifting him into and out of the pools, he must have been terrified. And despite everything we did to him, he still loved us and trusted us. He captured the hearts of so many people. Which leads me to believe that Orcas are even more intelligent than we are.

It's a shame that he never found his family when he was released back into the wild. He deserved that at least.

May your beautiful soul rest in peace Keiko
We'll never forget you.

Info
Step by Step GIF [link]
Photoshop CS4
Mouse
18 layers
6 hours
Ref for mountains from Google
A few screenshot refs for Keiko from Youtube videos.

Commission information is here [link]