Happy new year all UnicornPostbox blog followers! My latest blog post is 27 progression photos of an A2 size amateur art drawing of Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe from ‘Gladiator’, the iconic 2000 Ridley Scott film. Hope you enjoy! 🙂 🙂

And below is the finished drawing 🙂 🙂

[SPOILER ALERT] Ridley Scott’s 2000 ‘Gladiator’ is one of my all time favourite films. It tells the story of Maximus, a brave and moral man, a respected General who is enslaved as a result of the deceitful Commodus’ chicanery. Reluctantly at first, Maximus fights as a gladiator to the Roman crowds and at the Colosseum; to win his freedom, and ultimately seek vengeance on him who has wronged him;

‘The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an empire’ (Commodus quote – IMBD)

I shall not spoil more of the plot for you in case you have not seen it but ‘Gladiator’ a brilliant and superb film in my opinion, and I would highly recommend viewing!

I have drawn using Derwent sketching and Boldmere colouring pencils. I positioned both subjects Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) and Maximus (Russell Crowe) facing one another with a famous quote from the film arching overhead;

‘What we do in life echoes in eternity’ (Maximus quote – IMDB)

This is to emphasise my interpretation of the meaning behind the quote; that the choices we make and actions we take in our life not only define us as people but have a lasting impact on the world even when we die – our choices and actions do matter. Obviously in the film, Commodus and Maximus are arch-enemies, who completely contrast one another in personalities and integrity – I wanted this to be visually symbolised in my amateur art drawing.

For future drawings, I think I would like to keep to the film theme at the moment and draw other characters from my other favourite films – possibly Jack and Rose from ‘Titanic’ and Baby and Johnny from ‘Dirty Dancing’ 🙂 🙂

Thank you very much for taking the time to read/view my latest UnicornPostbox blog post. Please do keep a look out for future drawings 🙂 🙂

…I would also however like to take the opportunity to wish all my followers well. I understand how difficult life is at the moment with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I myself am caring for my mum who is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s so I know how hard the current restrictions imposed on us all are. Please do stay safe and take care…

Much love, Lauren xx

More information:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/ [Accessed 06th January 2021]

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© 2021 Lauren Parr / https://unicornpostbox.com