Post #691467 by tigertail777 on Mon, Aug 26, 2013 6:23 AM

Thanks again for stopping by and commenting Wendy. :) I have to say I am learning so many things from painting this, not just techniques but also about myself. I really had major doubts I was going to be able to pull off this level of detail with all the crazy angles and everything, and really have never considered myself to actually be in the class of a fine artist painter of any sort. I felt like I was just dabbling, and still do feel I am not up to a professional level. However I begin to see that I could actually reach that level given more time and practice. Or maybe I just have too high of standards and self criticize too much... I dunno. :wink:

The good news is that the theatre has already reached enough of the money goal through the very hard efforts and timeless work of their volunteers to begin steps towards starting the restoration. So even if they don't need my painting for the current phase, they still have plans for further phases to bring back the original appearance even more which they will also need to do fund raising for.

And what did I say about learning through this painting? I think I have wearied the poor volunteers with all my questions about the history, and now see I went a little overboard in my zeal. So, I will go by the info I have now and do my best guess on where things went, and only bug them when I am really stumped. Plus I sort of drove myself a little nuts with figuring all this out to the point that I couldn't even paint for a while... so kinda counterproductive.

Now, let us travel back to the tomb of the pharaohs for another glimpse into the Kapu tiki-less Tutankhamen tale...

First, I used that outlining technique I learned about earlier in this thread...

Then I started filling in the gaps so my eyes would not go cross-eyed anymore...

Things started to get "fleshed out"...

I went back and defined/outlined the hieroglyphics a bit more, including adding two tiny cartouches on the ends.

Fixed the "torch" lighting and shadows, particularly where the hieroglyphs are.

Since this is in a darkened theater, I deepened the shadows behind the upper pillar divider, and also increased the light bounce from the theater screen to the front organ screen. I also made the decorative painted elements on that same pillar divider more distinct and in deeper shadow.

And our journey ends there for now. The iron bars on the far side bottom are a heat vent (I know, I had to ask too... seems a little bizarre in a way). Despite the frustration at the intricacy, I have been really enjoying working on this though I never anticipated it would take so long, and I am growing weary of it. I need to get this done soon so I can get some paying work done. I have a possible commission for a painting based on Adventureland at Walt Disney World right after this, so perhaps we will be getting back into the tiki groove very soon. :)