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Description
Executed in Photoshop & Painter - I chose to use several photographic references that I sourced to create a scene from the American Civil War. I always liked the uniforms of the period and originally composed it with the mounted Sergeant in the distant rear with the kneeling soldiers (visible in the background) right up near the viewer. But the composition was poor and I felt that the horse rider should command the picture so I shuffled everything around before painting. I added a muzzleflash to the digital smoke and painted the details and colour in slowly to allow for a better blending. I had hoped to achieve something more akin to a Norman Rockwell painting and it was executed to match the title as the theme. I didn't actually paint a mustache on the Sergeant, I simply smudged some of the sky across his top lip and it then read as if it were a grey mustache.

Adding the legs to the horse was the only tricky part since the animal is almost in profile so anything I painted looked really artificial. The hills in the background were just shapes and colour so I was not trying to recreate any particular historical event. Heck, I don't even live in the United States so I hope I didn't mess things up too badly.

Description
Executed in Photoshop & Painter - I chose to use several photographic references that I sourced to create a scene from the American Civil War. I always liked the uniforms of the period and originally composed it with the mounted Sergeant in the distant rear with the kneeling soldiers (visible in the background) right up near the viewer. But the composition was poor and I felt that the horse rider should command the picture so I shuffled everything around before painting. I added a muzzleflash to the digital smoke and painted the details and colour in slowly to allow for a better blending. I had hoped to achieve something more akin to a Norman Rockwell painting and it was executed to match the title as the theme. I didn't actually paint a mustache on the Sergeant, I simply smudged some of the sky across his top lip and it then read as if it were a grey mustache.

Adding the legs to the horse was the only tricky part since the animal is almost in profile so anything I painted looked really artificial. The hills in the background were just shapes and colour so I was not trying to recreate any particular historical event. Heck, I don't even live in the United States so I hope I didn't mess things up too badly.