Menkaure's crown and the stone slab

I worked on Menkaure's crown and the stone slab between him and the goddess Hathor. The stone slab is of dark colour, but I chose to bring out the light more so that I could make the shadows more dramatic - you can call it artistic lisence Also I tried to bring out the slight light variations on the stone slab.

The background

Now it was time to start bringing out the background slab - it gives a more 3D feeling to the statue itself. Also again this was necessary so I could continue with the feet - the light on the slab defines the feet as well.


And even though the stone is very dark, I did not want to leave it totally black. So I added tiny specks of light into the shadows to make it more live.

Next I will return to the feet.

Hathor's feet and hieroglyphs

Now I worked a bit on Hathor's feet. The shadows and lights on this goddess are rather demanding so I had to do the hieroglyphs in front of her at this point - they are amazingly white and give me a reference point (for the light values) when I continue with the shadows of the feet.

Hathor's legs

Worked some more on Hathor's legs. Reached the hemline with the highlights, but the legs are in no way ready yet. The ancient Egyptians loved tight dresses on their goddesses and women also. No idea if they ever had such dresses. (Really - if they did walking must have been just about impossible... But what wouldn't a woman do for beauty...)

(Sorry for the glare on the left side of the photo).

Hathor's torso and right arm

Here I worked some more on Hathor' torso. It isn't quite done yet, but I started on her right arm as well to get a better feel on the lighter parts.

Again this is a photo, not a scan, so the lines appear a bit blurry.

Highlights on Hathor's torso

Worked some more on Hathor's body. The strongest highlights mostly, but I did work a bit on the half-shade parts too. The torso in no where near finished, maybe half way there.

(There are some black smudges on the shoulder and on one side of the body - that is just the scraping residue I forgot to brush off)

Hathor's upper torso

Here I have worked some more on Hathor's upper torso. I did mark some of the coming highlights so that you have an idea of the shape of her body.