This painting has been lingering on my hard drive for a few months now. It was commissioned by 2DArtist Magazine for the current issue (#41) as part of a workshop.

I've never really done anything on this scale regarding scenery, so it was pretty hard for me. The city in the background is not painted, but a photo I took in Rome several years ago, manipulated and partly painted over to work with the rest of the image, as several different techniques had to be incorporated into the afore mentioned article. It was nice for me to try my hand at something I'd never done before.

And yes, I screwed up the perpective of the archways slightly...

I used lots of custom texture brushes, and a personal reference for the pose. The embroidery on the vest took me quite some time, as it's done by hand, stitch by stitch.

And some close-ups:









Hope you like it, and thanks for looking. =]