The Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople – Movie Poster
March 12th, 2013
Pen, Photoshop CS2 and CS6

To you, O Invincible Leader,
Supreme in battle, victorious General,
do we your servants and your City,
dedicate a feast of victory and thanksgiving
as ones rescued from sufferings, O Theotokos.
As you have invincible, unassailable might,
free and delver us from all dangers
so that we may cry to you:
Rejoice O Bride Unwedded!
- Kontakion I to the Mother of God (www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrMExg…

And here’s my next Photoshop project! I’m sure I’ve said this a number of times here before (either on my journal entries or scattered about somewhere on random drawings), but for a long time I’ve been wanting to write a play about the Fall of Constantinople. I had wanted to make a cover for a very long time, and when I learned that we could make a movie poster of a subject of our choice I thought, “Hey, why not give this a shot, since I want to make it anyway?” So here it is. It’s still a bit cartoony for my tastes, and there are other things about it that bother me, but for the most part I’m satisfied with it (I just wish I was better with Photoshop!). Essentially I just drew an image on a plain piece of paper, inked it, scanned it, and colored it in Photoshop. It was definitely a good experience, and I learned a lot, though I’d really like to figure out what brushes people use when they’re painting so that it doesn’t look super soft and smooth (in a bad way). Maybe I need to look at more Photoshop tutorials or something. But I also was able to download Photoshop CS 2 from Adobe (for free! And legally!) so now that I have Photoshop I can download brushes and see what else I can come up with. Still all with a mouse though—no luck finding a good (and relatively cheap) tablet. Enjoy!

For those unfamiliar with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, this image is essentially a collage of the ideas and symbols I associate with the culmination of its fall and all of the rich history that it represents as the first Christian city. At the bottom of the image are the three-tiered walls of Constantinople being bombarded by Turkish cannons. The Emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus (the last Emperor of the Byzantine Empire—and in their minds, the last Emperor of Rome) bows his head in the center. I wanted to picture him calm, and yet weary; resigned, and yet peaceful; and sad, with the sadness of ages. Byzantine Emperors were often depicted with halos, and since Constantine XI is actually considered blessed, and since throughout the preparations and during the siege and even until his sad and violent death he conducted himself with tremendous heroic dignity, I thought it appropriate to incorporate that into the imagery. Behind the lettering is the two-headed eagle symbol of the Byzantine Empire (one can also see it incorporated into Russian heraldry, because after the Fall of Constantinople the Russians claimed that they were the New, Third Rome). Behind the Emperor Constantine is a mosaic of the Theotokos, in the iconographic depiction as protectress and intercessor. She is holding up her hands in the prayerful orans position with a veil in her hands (in Greek and in some Slavic languages, the word used means both “veil” and “protection”) to shield her children from all dangers. The Theotokos was considered the special patroness of Constantinople, especially under her title as the Virgin of Blachernae, and it was due to her intercession that the City was spared from war and plagues and famines on numerous occasions. Several people have asked me already why I decided to place her in such a way that the page cuts off below her face. The reason is both symbolic and compositional. One, I think it works compositionally since Constantine is supposed to be the focus of the picture (he’s the main character in the play) and another face would distract from that, I think. Secondly, it works with the symbolism of the piece, highlighting the decay and fall of the city, but I think that’d be more evident form the tone I would want to give the play (if I ever end up writing it).

For the sky background I used this: resurgere.deviantart.com/art/P…
And for the mosaic texture I used this: carlbert.deviantart.com/art/mo…