BASMACHI FIGHTER! (studies)

One of my first projects this semester involves developing portraits portraying a protagonist and an antagonist from SOME story, element of history, etc. For the protagonist character, I decided to illustrate the somewhat tragic figure of a Basmachi fighter - the muslim rebels, backed by the western powers, that fought to keep Central Asia free from Soviet 'liberation' between 1917 and 1931.
(The soviet conquest of central Asia is especially interesting from a cinematic perspective as it birthed the 'eastern' genre some thirty years later - a russian variation on the western, using many of the same tropes as the western, only with Soviet soldiers and muslim rebels replacing the cowboys, bandits, mexicans, indians, etc,)

Here are a few studies for said portrait.





Next week - the final.