A hero will rise. Gladiator was one of the first films I saw multiple times in the theater. I loved everything about it; the story, the acting, the visuals. I created this piece as a tribute on the film's 15th anniversary.

 

I placed a defiant Maximus in the center of a panoramic 'journey' scene beginning with his discovery of his murdered family and his reunion with them in Elysium. The wheat is also very important and serves as a perfect termination to the figure.

The figure was created from scratch, beginning as a sketch in Photoshop. From there, I filled out the shading with three grays, later transitioning them to my chosen 'Tuscan' color scheme in Illustrator. The armor took me quite some time, but as it is one of the most iconic parts of the film, I knew it had to be JUST right.