Next Up by Lionus (2003)

The moment of truth arrives and the next gladiator is called out onto the sands of the arena.

A simple picture on the surface of it. But doing it took a lot of time, especially the entrance with its bars and shadows. And the stone work ... woof. I felt as though I were actually building the place. :) The tigermorph, who will be up next, was fun to do. I wish I could have brought him out into the sunshine. Tigers are so pretty. But I suppose if I were facing him in the area I might not have thought so.

The seeds of this artwork lay in my long-time fascination with Ancient Rome and my pleasure in seeing the recent motion picture "Gladiator" (DreamWorks Studio). In particular, the scene from the movie where the main character steps from the dark cavernous interior of the Colloseum out into the bright sunlight of the arena and is met by the excited roar of over 50,000 Romans. Gee, I still get goosepimples thinking about the vicarious thrill I received when the camera brought me out onto the sands along with him in that moment.

Pencil to PhotoShop.
30MAR03 - Along with some very minor touches, a silly goof in the picture has been fixed thanks to Kuma Chan's sharp eyes. Thanks Kuma.