Raiders of the Lost 'Raiders' painting

I thought I had lost it for good. Accidentally thrown out and gone the way of the landfill. But I was wrong. Right before I went back home for Thanksgiving, my mom and daughter found it. It was hiding underneath the dark, treacherous and claustrophobic cavern simply known as "under the bed." The long lost object that I had desired and thought to be gone was my "Raiders of the Lost Ark" painting that I had started my freshmen year in college but abandoned because of the lack of time to finish it. I found out very quickly how little spare time I would have while earning a BFA and ended up using it to concentrate on my portfolios for school. After school, life continued to be busy and I kinda forgot about it. When I remembered it  several years later, it couldn't be found. Mainly because we were looking for it in the wrong places. The whole time it was sitting underneath my old bed in my old bedroom, which is now occupied by my daughter when she visits and has dubbed it the "Princess Room."


Anyway, the painting:
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is by far my favorite film and not having a Raiders poster, I decided I would just paint one. I wanted to do it in a bit of an homage to Drew Struzan, but add my own touch to it. I started it with gesso on illustration board (24" x 36") and then used acrylic for the rest. Here's how the painting is today, unfinished.

Indy looks kinda freaky with just the one eye painted there, doesn't he?
Here is the painting with the "Raiders" title card that I redrew and planned on using it as a template:

Here is a detail pic of what is the "most finished" portion of the paining:

I do plan on finally finishing it, now that I've found it. With time permitting, I plan on finishing it next year for "Raiders" 30th anniversary. Looking at it now, there's a lot of changes I want to make to it, like stuff to add to the background and also I found a pic of Indy I like better for it. So yeah, I'll be completely repainting him. While photorealistic portraits aren't a constant part of my style I can still do it, and I had forgotten just how much fun I have doing it. Finding this lost piece has given me some new inspiration, and new ideas for more Indy or "Raiders" paintings I'm jonesin' (*snicker) to do in the new year.