Cleopatra: Rough Drawings, Final Composition

Final rough drawing of Cleopatra

These two rough drawings of Cleopatra show the final composition ~ except that, in the finished illustration (coming up in the next post), I would have to compress the image a little further, still having trouble fitting it into a square to allow for the page header, title, and text.

Rough drawing of Cleopatra

 Here, the headdress, costume, and features of Cleopatra have been worked out and are close to the final design. I still have the sphinx in the background. Pyramids would turn out to be a better, more symmetrical choice. The sides of the background would have to be expanded, and the figure of Cleopatra compressed: the height here is still a little too much. I had done the drawings without benefit of the page layout, which were sent to me later by the author; the final fit was very tight, even with all of our discussion and planning.