Post #688055 by tigertail777 on Wed, Jul 31, 2013 6:08 AM

Thanks Mike! Appreciate you stopping by, the cannibal piece was both fun and painful but I am fairly happy how it turned out. :wink:

Well I got up my steam and could not stop again, just NOW got in from the studio and will head to bed soon as I post this so I can get some rest before work. I gotta say I am really having fun with this painting now that I have entered into the part I like doing the most: light and shadows.

First off, I needed to clear up skipped spots and clarify all of those crazy shapes in the background of the organ loft. So I got a darker black (lamp black) and went to town. One side is mostly done in this photo the other is not touched yet to show you the difference.

Then it was time to black out the harp middle and restring it. I had to redo it a couple of times because I wanted the exact number of strings the theater actually has (14) and also needed it to have a slightly forced perspective so the right side strings would be closer together and thinner as they receded from view, and the left side would be farther spaced and wider. Plus they are slightly thinner at the top again as they go away from view. This all gives it that "large" sort of towering over you feel.

This photo shows the penciled lines before I painted them.

Then I used painters tape to make straight lines when painting. I used this trick a lot when I painted theatrical backdrops. Painters tape is sticky, but comes right off without leaving any residue.

Thickening the lines and blocking in the shapes more.

Starting to add a bit of shadow and highlights.

And where I got to tonight with most of the shadow and lighting done. I will need to add a bit more golden highlights it feels a bit dark right now, but I think it does capture the reflective feel of a movie being played in a dark room. I am very happy with the shadows in particular, and managed to capture the "flicker" feel to the movie light.

I did finally manage to find a photo of good enough resolution to blow up, and discovered those are indeed double snake head canopic jars. I have never seen a picture of such a thing, it may exist but I kind of doubt it. Usually only a single snake head was used to represent Uraeus (rearing cobra figure representive of the Patroness Wadjet, protector of lower egypt). The reason only one snake is because there were two main "cults" that ruled Egypt: one ruled the upper (god Nekhbet represented by a vulture) the other lower Egypt. They were fiercely competitive in their religious following, and with many followers. There were other religious cults like this not as strong that would become consolodated into the main religions later, but these two were so strong they could not be. The pharaoh usually only wore the Uraeus to represent his right as ruler, but by the time of Tutankhamen they had to incorporate both to appease both cults into a kind of peace. That is why the golden death mask of Tutankhamen has the snake and vulture together on the crown. Some historians have theorized this may be partially why he was killed: someone from one or both of the cults were angry about them being "put" together as they were and having to "share" the power.

Until next we meet the curse of the mummy my tiki friends! :)