Turian Breakfast

Sometimes I really wonder, what strange things my mind produces. If I didnt know any better, I'd think Leonardo DiCaprio was messing with my dreams, because honestly, sometimes I have no idea how I came up with some concepts.

I think the basic thought behind this particular picture was, that I wondered how a relationship of my Shepard character from Mass Effect, with Garrus, would be. Would he be a kind and caring partner, that goes through the effort of learning the habits and techniques of human cuisine, just to surprise you with a simple breakfast? Well, I think so!

Being a huge Mass Effect fanboi, I've been wanting to draw more pictures of Garrus, but had no luck so far, since they always required a lot of time and effort.
My main problem was always his body structure. Thats why I asked one of the masters of asskicking turian fanart: (ChillChell on FurAffinity)

She provided a very helpful reference for basic human anatomy, aswell as some tips on how to start with drawing a turian body. It was really a big relief for me, since I always had trouble on how to start with their bodies.
So when I began sketching, I had the idea of Garrus from behind, turning his head to face the viewer. That basic concept was good enough on its own, but it added the neat little twist to it, that I didnt have to worry about drawing his front plates and other stuff.
But when I decided to add an apron, I cursed this idea. I had already sketched it out well enough, that I didnt want to go back. So when I thought that I could have showed Garrus facing the viewer, featuring an apron that said something clever like "Kiss the turian", I hated myself for missing such a good opportunity for a joke. But oh well, better luck next time I guess.

As the picture was developing I knew that this, again, would be a lot of work. Not only is Garrus himself very detailed, but I also wanted to create a believable environment.
I had the idea of adding human cuisine cooking books from the very start, so I would also need a suitable kitchen with a lot of details.
Thankfully in the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2, you visit Liaras apartment, that features a fully equipped kitchen. That way I was able to get some reference for basically everything I needed and I could retort any criticism that says "Why would an alien use a frying pan? D:" with "Don't ask me, it's in the game"

When I was in the middle of doing the shading on Garrus , I realised that I would need to do something about his backside.
With basic shading it looked too bland and uninteresting. It needed a texture.
I tried coming up with something myself, but it looked horrible and I was really frustrated, because it put the picture on hold.

Thankfully I knew a site (www.bittbox.com/category/freebies) that features free to use textures of all types of grunge, noise and other materials. I found a very helpful photograph of human skin from a handpalm, that worked perfectly with Garrus' shell. So all those little cracks you can see there, that is actually the skin of someones hand.

After that, all I needed to do was add all the details, the shading, the lighting and all the good stuff to the picture, which took more time than I had anticipated. However I am every happy how everything turned out, so at the end of this long ass description, all thats left for me to say is: Enjoy!