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Alene — Mouse

Published: 2010-03-14 16:27:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 1324; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 0
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Description This is part of the new design for my website, which is progressing very slowly because when it comes to web design I have not a clue. So I'm not having much fun! I don't think Dreamweaver likes me at all....
But I like my mouse, and it's an age since I uploaded anything, so here it is. I hope y'all aren't scared of mousies!

Why a mouse, you ask? Well, I like mice, and a mouse is part of my personal branding. Which is why this mouse has such large ears and such an unwieldy curly tail.

I used about 20 references for this, including a bunch of my own photographs, but I should credit *dreamweaver69stock as well, for his lovely mouse photos.

Time Taken: No idea
Programme: Adobe Photoshop CS4 with an Intuos3 tablet.
Textures: My own

Enjoy!
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Comments: 46

marihikari [2018-03-29 00:09:51 +0000 UTC]

Cute  
nice work :3
 

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Alene In reply to marihikari [2018-03-30 04:18:27 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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marihikari In reply to Alene [2018-05-07 01:34:41 +0000 UTC]

you're welcome~ 

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ChatonRose [2010-04-21 13:59:13 +0000 UTC]

It's definitely adorable!

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Alene In reply to ChatonRose [2010-04-21 16:45:55 +0000 UTC]

Oh, thankyou! I'm glad you think so!

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dibbuns [2010-04-20 11:23:01 +0000 UTC]

He's lovely :3 I love the semi-realistic shape and fur, with the spiral designs built-in to the ears to give it a bit more whimsy. It reminds me a little of Disney's Hercules in that way!

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Alene In reply to dibbuns [2010-04-20 16:55:57 +0000 UTC]

Oh, thankyou (and thanks for the )
I like painting things that are sort of realistic, but not quite. And, of course, that's easier when you don't want to stick to a single photo-reference. And it lets me have more of my own style, which you can't have so much if you're just drawing things than look completely real.

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dibbuns In reply to Alene [2010-04-21 15:11:24 +0000 UTC]

It is good I agree, to have more of a personal style sometimes instead of just painting straight from one photo ref. It's a lot more challenging though! Which is a good thing :3

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Alene In reply to dibbuns [2010-04-21 16:25:26 +0000 UTC]

Yes, it can be more challenging, but I think it's a lot more fun, really. There's a challenge when you're trying to completely match a reference, of course, but I think there's more satisfaction when it's your own picture, in your own style.

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dibbuns In reply to Alene [2010-04-22 10:06:09 +0000 UTC]

I agree, that's why I stopped just painting from photographs - which did look so much better than the personal based work I have on DA, but just were... a little meaningless. Really helpful for starting out, but not proper work. You have to think about proportions more if you're not straight copying :3 so I guess both are good!

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Alene In reply to dibbuns [2010-04-25 06:37:03 +0000 UTC]

I often look at a lot of photos while I'm working, but create something completely different. I like being able to draw exactly what I see in my head, instead of having to alter my image to fit the references that I can find.
People still like to see me do straight portraits from photographs, though, so I keep that up a bit to keep everyone happy.

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Majnouna [2010-03-29 14:03:53 +0000 UTC]

It's adorable!!!

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Alene In reply to Majnouna [2010-03-30 15:35:22 +0000 UTC]

Oh thankyou! I like drawing cute fat furry things. I'm on splendid fairy wrens at the moment, and having an equal amount of fun.

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Queenie97 [2010-03-17 06:03:44 +0000 UTC]

wow very realistic I like it. I really like how you did the ears and the eyes

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Alene In reply to Queenie97 [2010-03-17 06:54:23 +0000 UTC]

Thankyou, and thanks for the too! I'm glad you like it!

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olde-fashioned [2010-03-15 07:24:10 +0000 UTC]

OMG is this supposed to be Ralph S. Mouse?!?!

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Alene In reply to olde-fashioned [2010-03-15 07:43:59 +0000 UTC]

Ralph S Mouse! Oh, the memories!
But no, this is just my mouse - I fought to keep my mouse all through uni, and I'm not about to give it up now - only as well as just being a logo, it's now all over my website, mainly in little ink drawings

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olde-fashioned In reply to Alene [2010-03-16 15:05:17 +0000 UTC]

I loved Ralph, and still have a soft-spot for him! The reason your mouse reminded me so forcibly of Ralph is because of the purple footmarks...if I'm not mistaken, there's a scene in the book "Ralph S. Mouse" where he walks over an inkpad that is also purple (I seem to recall him saying something about "purple feet")!

So you actually own the little darling depicted here?

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Alene In reply to olde-fashioned [2010-03-16 15:54:17 +0000 UTC]

I don't remember that – I'll have to dig out the book again, obviously! Essentially, the footprints were there because this mouse is on an 'artist's desk' and I chose purple because it went best with the browns. But maybe there was something going on in my subconscious as well, who knows!
I don't have pet mice any more () but I used to. I designed my mouse logo at a school sports carnival (yes, I was enthused about athletics ) when I was 15 (I think). When it came to giving ourselves a personal branding in third year uni, at first I wasn't allowed my mouse, as I'd used it already in another project (where we had to sign our name, so I'd signed with my name and the mouse, as I do sometimes) and it was quite a battle to keep it. (I especially didn't want to give it up as people had been associating it with me for a good seven years by then!) Eventually I redesigned it as a stamp on brown paper (and I have two actual stamps of it too, which I use on packaging and the back of handmade cards ). But when designing my site, I decided that rather than just the stamp, I wanted a furry mouse as well.... and ink drawings of mice... Hopefully that will help my site to stick in people's minds.

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olde-fashioned In reply to Alene [2010-03-17 06:14:43 +0000 UTC]

Aha! I found it! (Thank goodness for Google!) [link] Read page 126.

Aww, that's such a darling way to distinguish yourself! I didn't know that you used a mouse logo at all (where have *I* been?!). It's so charming, and fits very well with your children's book illustrations!

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Alene In reply to olde-fashioned [2010-03-17 06:57:52 +0000 UTC]

Oh yes! Maybe that was in my subconscious when I was trying out colour combinations!

Well, I do try and make my watermarks unobtrusive, so my logo isn't terribly noticeable around here. It goes on all my receipts and stuff though. I am very fond of my little mouse. ^.^

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olde-fashioned In reply to Alene [2010-03-19 04:21:43 +0000 UTC]

It's fascinating how things get stuck in our subconscious sometimes. For instance, I hadn't thought of that particular scene in that particular book for literally years, but when I went to Google the reference and make sure I hadn't misremembered, the name Melissa suddenly popped into my mind as the name of the character who was to blame for the purple feet in the first place. Freaky, huh?

Now I want to see your little mouse logo!

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Alene In reply to olde-fashioned [2010-03-19 06:25:38 +0000 UTC]

It is, isn't it?
You're reminding us of Ralph has resulted in my getting out out of the depths of my bookshelf and my mother seeing it – and now she's reading it to her year three class.

You can see my logo in the watermark on this image, or in the watermark in a number of others. So far it isn't on my website, but once I get the new one up and running, it will be!

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dreamweaver69stock [2010-03-14 21:33:42 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful work love the detail
Jeep

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Alene In reply to dreamweaver69stock [2010-03-15 04:31:37 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much, and thanks for the too!

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RoseDaughter [2010-03-14 18:33:34 +0000 UTC]

Aww, what an adorable little mouse! It makes me want to pick it up and hug it to death!

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-15 04:32:01 +0000 UTC]

Thankyou, I'm glad you like it!

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-15 06:00:13 +0000 UTC]

Weirdly enough, I always found mice cute. Although some people in my family simply can't stand them.

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-15 14:49:51 +0000 UTC]

I used to have pet mice – I haven't had any for years now (much to the relief of my father, who just doesn't see the attraction ), but I've always loved them.

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-15 18:10:05 +0000 UTC]

I kind of like them better than rats. A friend of mine has pet rats, and I never really saw the attraction in those!

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-16 15:57:31 +0000 UTC]

I had a friend with pet rats – but I agree, I like mice better. They're smaller and cuter and softer (but easier to loose )

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-16 23:06:25 +0000 UTC]

I'm sorry--when I think of rats, I think of those critters that crawl around the cupboards and the garage. When I think of mice, I think of cute little furry animals that squeak and curl up in my hand.

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-17 06:53:56 +0000 UTC]

If you have critters in your cupboards, they're probably mice, in my experience. We get rats in the ceiling, and they made a dreadful noise – usually while I'm trying to sleep. There's a lot of demolishing and building going on round us at the moment, so we're expecting rats again. They like our garden.

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-18 02:30:38 +0000 UTC]

No, they are rats, not mice. Mice rarely ever (or never) attack. Those are huge rats that scurry on the rafters of our garage. Yuck. It's not pleasant to step into the garage and suddenly see something fly from one end of the rafter to the other.
Why do the rats like your garden?

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-18 04:34:25 +0000 UTC]

Rats in the garage, definitely. But usually mice in the kitchen cupboards, because they're smaller. I can't say I've ever been attacked by a rat in our garden. Usually they just freak me out by appearing suddenly and then running away very fast, and making me jump.
But they like our garden because it's big with lots of good places to hide. And we have an old house, and they like those too. So when other old houses with nice gardens get pulled down, they all move in here, and we end up with a rat problem again. *sigh*

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-19 06:40:42 +0000 UTC]

Hmmm. I need to write a story about a rat attack. I'm not sure that would be better than a cockroach attack, though!
Oh, dear. I think you seem to have a perpetual rat problem. *shakes head*

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-20 18:51:00 +0000 UTC]

From my point of view, a rat attack would definitely be better. I'm scared of cockroaches. *shudder*
And yes, we found another one in the shed today. It was making itself useful and eating lots of snails, though, apparently (I don't go into the shed, on account of the aforementioned roaches )

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-20 19:23:04 +0000 UTC]

I remember my father telling me that when he was growing up, there were lethal cockroaches on the kitchen floor. If he went to get a drink of water at night, he'd have to battle the cockroaches. They hated light, so they would cluster at his shadow when the light was turned on, and when he first entered the kitchen they would literally jump up and fly at his face.
Now that I think of it, a rat attack is better than a cockroach attack. Not so scary. But I still don't like rats. Ugh. *shudder*
Let's just agree that mice are the cutest.

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-23 15:26:38 +0000 UTC]

*shudder*
Mice are indeed the cutest, especially when you bring roaches into the mix!

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-28 01:08:23 +0000 UTC]

Yes, indeed! Roaches are horrid.
I wonder, did you ever have to do a self-portrait in your art classes? We're doing one right now, and I can tell you it's extremely difficult to be objective of your own features.

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-28 03:45:43 +0000 UTC]

Oh yes, we did lots of self-portraits at school, in just about every media you could think of. After a while you find it gets easier to be objective.

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-28 07:15:24 +0000 UTC]

XD Well, this is yet my...second self-portrait (at least, recently. I did one in fifth grade, but that doesn't count). I realized I'd made various features a little too much like how I perceived them.

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-03-30 15:37:43 +0000 UTC]

Are you working from a photo or the mirror? Working from photos can be a bit confusing, because of course generally one sees oneself reversed, in a mirror, so reconciling that with what you look like in a photo can be tricky.

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-03-30 22:38:30 +0000 UTC]

Oh, from a photo. I mostly have to battle with how I think I look like (i.e., a huge chin, disproportionately wide-set eyes, for an example), versus reality (not-so-huge chin, medium-set eyes, etc.).
I just hate drawing the knit scarf in the photo. I have NO idea how to draw that, so I'm hoping the teacher won't noticed I half BS'd the scarf.

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Alene In reply to RoseDaughter [2010-04-02 03:52:06 +0000 UTC]

Just draw what you see, and forget that it's you.
I find knitted things can sometimes be made easier if I do all of the midtone, all over the area, and then put in a few darker bits for shadows caused by the stitching (and ordinary shadows, of course) and then lift highlights on the stitches out with a kneadable eraser. Or, years ago, I used to just do a lot of messy crosshatching like in [link]
If you can fudge a bit, do!

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RoseDaughter In reply to Alene [2010-04-02 06:45:07 +0000 UTC]

LOL. I ended up fudging half the scarf. Well, the right side of the scarf looks more 3-D and knitted. Hope the teacher doesn't notice the discrepancy. But well, I highly doubt the teacher will, since I think the face was done quite well. And darn it, the blacks just won't stick and I don't have fixative on hand! Argh.
Hm. Maybe I should practice more with knitted things.

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