Post #699929 by tigertail777 on Tue, Nov 19, 2013 10:47 PM

Well, kids you read the title right... this is our last trip across the shifting sands of Egypt. I pulled an all nighter this past weekend and finally finished!

But first before we get underway...

Thanks for stopping by Clarita and Wendy, and the encouraging words. Always appreciated.

The biggest thing to finish off was the crowd. I had to black out nearly half the crowd a few times to get it right, because the seating was horribly out of line and not lined up like theater seats should be. The seats however are in a half circle sort of configuration so the sight lines are tricky particularly if I wanted most of the actions of them recognizable and not hidden by each other.

Wiping out parts of the crowd...

I worked hard to make this not just a crowd watching a movie. I wanted to have little vignettes that each told a little story within the crowd, just like you would find in looking around a real theater during a movie. Of course back then so many people wore hats it was hard to enforce a "no hats" rule, let alone people wearing them in the theatre.

A few more citizens in the crowd are added...

I currently lack internet connection in the studio (let alone a laptop or anything... going to save up for a kindle or ipad) so when I need reference I have to use my big convex mirror and a camera. In this case I needed the look of someone tipped back asleep in their seat and snoring. It's a little blurry but it worked for my purpose. :wink:

After that, I added more to the "snoring story" with a livid wife hunched over and clutching her purse next to the old snoring man. Then next to the wife is the daughter covering her face with her hand to avoid confrontation with her neighbor about the loudness of the snoring. Behind the snorer is a young couple much amused at the old man, with the young man using a feather plucked from the young ladies hat to tickle the poor snoring man. I can hear the daughter "Mother! He PROMISED he wouldn't fall asleep again! This is EMBARRASSING!"

Remember the two twin girls by the exit door with their daddy? I added to the story of why the one twin is so annoyed with the other. You'll note the one turned around is talking to a young man I can hear her saying "She's doing it AGAIN DADDY! Do something!" Meanwhile an older man in glasses behind the talkative young man is tapping him on the shoulder about the noise he is making.

Now... pay special attention to the man guffawing with laughter at the antics of Charlie Chaplin, we will come back to him in a moment.

There is an annoyed couple in the front row looking daggers at that guffawing man, they are the kind who think everything they do smells like roses and seem entitled to wear big lavish hats which are blocking the view of the poor couple behind them who are craning necks to see the film.

Adding a little flesh tone around the areas of the exit and faux torch lights, and more light projection from above because the invisible projector beam is above the crowd.

A splash of color to the front row people which is from the bounced light off the screen in front.

I didn't think the pillar felt "rounded" enough so I added some more light reflection and a little more light behind it to help form the shape.

The stage needed some footlights so I added some art deco polished brass ones.

Oh those curtains! I decided it may have been possible considering the color scheme that they may have been gold color after all and added an upper ruffle of them. I left it to the viewer to decide if there might be some full length stage curtains hidden behind the pillar or not, which is possible at the angle I chose. At this point I finished the first wings motif on the arch, which I had finally figured out was done in relief: explaining why they had not been painted over with the other hieroglyphs I am certain were on the arch. It would have a) looked off to see a relief in a single color, b) it would have taken a lot to paint all those nooks and crannies, it could not be half assed too look okay and everything points to the fact that the arch was a hasty and sloppy paint over job so the easiest thing to do was to paint around the relief parts. The winged motif above here is not quite painted fully yet, I finally realized it too was relief so I had to paint lighting and shadows over it from the house lights directly below the striped area.

The screen needed a bit more "bright blur" so I fixed Chaplin more and called that done.

One the end of the seating aisles that are closest to the wall lights I added a fuzzy blur of light to the crowd to make them seem more optically distant, and have a bit more romantic moody lighting.

At long last it was time to add my signature to the piece. I've had problems explaining my signature in the past to people (it looks like a mushroom inside a triangle, but is composed of the initials to my first, middle, and last name: JDG) so I decided to make it a little more "user friendly" and added a very clear "GUIHER" underneath and then to tidy it up I added another rectangle around it... looks kind of art deco, which is cool that is one of my favorite art styles. I also defined the "J" in color so it reads as "J GUIHER".

And now what you have all been waiting for... the final reveal... the last trip to the tomb...one more desert crossing...

Some parting shot details as we wave goodbyes to the camel caravan...

The only thing left is to seal it, and then figure out the logistics of scanning and getting it printed. Thanks to everyone who dropped into the tomb of the pharohs and said "hi" and commented on the work. Don't cry, there are more trips planned to other exotic locales ahead, stay tuned!