Hi Adam,
First of all, I apologize for not being more vocal during your construction, but I have followed along, taking notes and watching with interest! To see your beautiful "natural light" photos of the scene just breaths LIFE into it all; outstanding!
To me, the positioning of each figure and the direction their attention is cast tells the story of the scene that's unfolding; every person doesn't see the same scenereo unfolding because like witnesses to a crime, observations differ but they're all generically alike. The ONLY first hand eye witness to what's really happening is the one who carefully and skillfully formed each piece of putty, touched EVERY grain of sand, and modeled each article into it's place. He is the author of this story entitled "Clash in Tunisia", and as such, it is his artistic license that I go with.
I like to paint pictures; a couple years ago an individual challenged me on the shape of two clouds (as if there is a standard shape/texture): they weren't "correct", but to be nice he spoke of them as if they had magically appeared on the canvas with zero input from me! Everyone's eyes see their own version of correct or right, but the only one's that matter are the eyes of the creator and THAT should be respected. As I told them: "Why don't you paint a likness of this painting WITHOUT all the mistakes?" Needless to say, the offer was never accepted! LOL The point being, regardless how much time and attention to detail you invest, someone will ALWAYS see something they would have done differently.... fix it to please them, and someone else will say it's still not right.... and on it goes! Before you know it, you've painted a picture (built a dio) to someone elses specifications and whims; now what fun is that?
Beautiful work, Adam, all the way through!
Frank