Creating a Stone Based Diorama, step-by-step
 

Hello

Here is the third in a series of dioramas for your lip-smacking consumption. I had a crap-load of clay left over from the tree-building episode, so I decided to put it all to good use and make some clay/stone-based diorama action.

And I've been getting tons of email (from many other joe sites) on my previous two dioramas that were created by my son and I. Here's the URLs incase you missed them:

Building a Ranger-Shack (includes making a building inside and out, with brick and wood slats):
http://www.joedios.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2086

Building a Rock Wall (includes working with casting plaster, painting, making huge trees and applying foilage):
http://www.joedios.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2178

Now, onto the stone-cold action! Woot!

Now again, what you see here can be done by ANYBODY. I have never really worked with clay before (except maybe in grade 2 ;-) so... I may be doing this all wrong ~ you decide - and feel free to give some pointers, or just heckle me... whatever floats your boat.

Please note, that my kids and wife assisted with the clay sculpting - and it was crazy-fun.

Okay, onto the project!

. . .

Making Stone Bricks
 

Okay,

The first thing we thought of was making a large wall of stone bricks. To do this, we had to craft each and every brick by hand using clay. (we're using air-dry clay here again)...

As you can see in the photos below, we used a wooden block to knead the clay around to give it the general block shape. I purposely gave each brick face a different texture so they all won't look uniform.

Onto the pics!



Motoring right along...



We're almost done ~ about an hour later...



And here we're completely done, letting them air-dry in the beautiful British Columbia sunshine. You'll notice that I made a few half-pieces... this is for the rows that will be offset by half a brick so they're staggered on the wall.



Phew! That's done.

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Making the Stone Wall
 

Here's the wall. We used styrofoam for the floor and for the wall backing. Each level of brick is recessed a little bit from the one below it... so the wall slowly slants backwards as it goes up. Gives it a good look and will be allow a figure to stand on any brick on the wall ;-)

Here's some pics of the progress...



And we finished off the fourth and final row. What's the hole for in the wall you ask? I can't tell you yet, it's top secret and quite possibly will blow your mind hole.




Your thoughts? Suggestions?

Cheers! ~ Paul.

This sucks and you've no talent.




Can't let people think we're got something going on, now can I (looking at YOU haradrel). I wonder what that opening is for.

Impressive as always, my friend. That technique looks like it'll come in handy in the future. Thanks for showing us this!

Sculpting the Snake Head Doorway
 

This was my son's idea - make a snake-head doorway that looks menacing.

This took a bit. Working with clay is interesting... I learned to use vinegar to make a "thick-slip" to adhere pieces together... the entire process took about 2 hours from start to finish.

First, I made the two lower jaws... then the head, then adhered them together. I had to build some clay structure inbehind everything as I went to make it all hold together. Messy!

The green stryofoam block in the mouth was there to hold up the top part while it air-dried. This sucker is heavy. Very heavy. We added the four teeth last.

Here we go!



And more...



And for a finale!




What do you think of the snake-head? Looks like a snake we think. It was a long process of bending and shaping clay to get the mouth to look right... and the general shape of the snout and eyes. (note: you can see in a few pics up that we added scales... this was done by using thick paper curved and imprinting upon the semi-wet clay)

Was fun! Project is coming together!

Cheers! ~ Paul.

OH! A snake-head w/open mouth for an entrance! Shock and awe... :eek: :p

Looks great, and heavy. Are you concerned at all about it shrinking/cracking? I've heard that clay can do that.

Warning! Clay really really shrinks when it dries!!!
 

Ok, so after letting the whole thing sit for a few days, it was quite apparent that the clay was literally shrinking before our eyes as it dried. I knew that clay shrinks upon drying... but not this much. It really really shrunk.

I definetely should have waited until the clay was fully dry before adding it to the wall. My original thinking was to have it semi-dry such that I could mold the bricks together to get a more realistic appeal.

The end result of the shrinking was that the blocks looked really bad with huge spaces between them.

Anywho, my son was like "what are we gonna do cause this sucks monkey-butt!"... and I was like "dude - take it easy... we can fix this"... So I basically pulled off most of the bricks (as you can see in the first pic) and re-applied them closer together with a hot-glue gun action. Our diorama is now 1/8th of an inch shorter ;-)

I'm happy to report that everyone is again happy in my household. What a save!


Below you will see the first pics of us applying the paint. This is the first coat... we will do a few more coats of dark grey... then add some color to it to make it look all Laura Croft Tomb Raiderish.... whoo hoo!

Here's the pics!



I'm sorry folks, but I'm looking at this pic and thinkin' "Damn this is sick!" Woot!



And we got a little order from smalljoes.com today ~ four Cobra troopers. We position them on the diorama to take some test shots...




So there you have it... that's where we're at. We'll be workin on the paint for the next day or so... then I have to take a business trip for a few days before we make any more major progress.

Thoughts? Comments?

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Looking fantastic! Love the paint apps. How sturdy is the snake head? Looks pretty solid. My suggestion would be to NOT go on your business trip an attend to what's really important here...making more schweet dios. Only punks and Canadians shirk responsibility like this... :rolleyes:

*Whistles innocently* :D

Awesome project! I just can't figure out how you get time for it all :eek:

That is soooooo cool.

I can hear Destor complaining about the Cobra Commander's "over dramatic" taste in hide outs.

I laughed out loud when I read Sephrons' comments about you having no talent.

For those of you tuning in late to the conversation, that would be sarcasm as Sephron, Haradrel and Fifthconspiracy are showcasing their abilities in set design. I speak for many others in thanking you again for your contributions on the step by step "How-to" create these wonderful sets.

You even had carved in scales on the snake head entrance.

Wow.

Actually, I'm not sure where dio-sets cross over to stand-alone art.

But I believe this qualifies...

Now cancel that business trip so you can install a kiln oven to heat dry your clay at 1100 degrees F.

:D

Take it easy!

FRAK ME!

That looks superb and YOU SUCK! How am I supposed to do this courtyard scene NOW??? I love the clay snake head as the entry way. I'd love to incorporate that in somehow. I get paid next month so then I can start working on it. Very nice! As Brent Spiner (as Doctor Okun) said in 'Independence Day', "Y'know, you're starting to make us look bad."

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]

FRAK ME!

WELL THAT SUMS IT UP :mad:

That was meant in a good way. His sets are just awesome. Now I'll just go into my corner and cry some more. ;)

Painting the Stones! The Stones I Say!!!
 

Before I get to the painting, I would like to thank everyone that's posted on this thread with encouraging comments. I sincerely appreciate your kudos.

I am very glad that the how-to's I've been posting are appreciated... the only thing I ask in return is for all of you to take a stab at either some of my ideas, or more importantly your own ideas... and share them. This is the only way one can truly learn and grow... and prosper creatively.


Ok, onto more painting...

There's 4 stages here:

1. Paint everything dark gray... twice to ensure adequate coverage and a good base color.

2. Dry-brush everything light gray with a large brush, to bring out the texture features of each unique brick.

3. Dry-brush a heavy white onto the top of each brick.

4. Dry-brush an olive green on the top and sides of each brick to make it all jungle-like.



The two coats of dark gray have been applied and now we're dry-brushing on a light gray to bring out the contours and ridges/textures of each stone.



Now stay with me here... I think alot of folks would stop at the above photos and say they're done. More definition is needed to look truly "real". I looked up photos of castles in damp climates like Scotland, and there's a warn look on the top of each brick...

So, I took plain bright white and heavy-dry-brushed it onto each top ledge/surface of every stone (and on the snake head as well). Take a gander below...



But wait... there's more! Yes there is! I didn't stop there... I then took olive green and dry-brushed it fairly heavy on the top and down the right/left sides of each stone. This was to get the damp jungle feeling like in tomb raider, indiana jones etc... It's dramatic and the following pictures don't quite do it justice, mainly because it's night time and I don't have adequate lighting... but you get the idea...





KAPOW!
That's right - the following image just happened. It looks all moist and has that jungle atmosphere. Now we're cooking with fire!

We're planning on a dirt ground covering and leaves hanging everywhere... I think we'll also look for something to use as vines.





So! I really really can't wait to take some action photos with this diorama. I'm quite happy with the progress so far. I stare at it for minutes on end in my kitchen.

So far, I have clocked 7 hours on this project since Saturday afternoon, so it's not too time-consuming as you might think.

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Love the color choices you made here. And I'll be darned if it doesn't truly have that damp, jungle feeling! Great how you pulled that off. I'll look tight with the foliage and ground covering, too.

I can just see a small Joe force attacking a platoon of Cobra troops exiting the base... Yeah, action shots are definitely needed, and STAT!

I haven't made anything yet :confused: (just the painting how-to).
But I promise to live up to the kudos! (or die trying :cool: )

Next you need to add vines and some small shrub/jungle growth!

There are some excellent shrubs/small bushes that looks very "jungely" at hobbystores, I'll see if I can find mine and show you what I mean.

The painting on this is just divine awesomeness, very inspiring to follow the progress!

So more Kudos to you! Keep going! Let's see how this bad boy turns out when its finished

wow this look amazing and it has giving me as solution to doing bricks for my brick house too.

Are you plaining to do any more painting on the snake head? i think the eyes would look great if you paint them with jeweling effect. :)

Eat DirT!!!
 

It is that time again... adding ground cover to the diorama.

We decided to use the copious amounts of woodland scenics ballast we currently have leftover from the previous diorama and apply it generously.

Below you will see the application process (the initial glue and sprinkle!). My son and I did the whole surface in about 10 minutes.



Here's some shots of figures standing on the dirt. It's dirty and they like it that way.




Claytastrophe! Again, I thought the clay was dry when I reapplied it the second time to the wall. I go away on business for a few days, come back and BAM! It shrank yet again. Next time I will let the clay dry for AT LEAST 1 WEEK prior to even doing anything with it. So now I have bigger cracks inbetween the stone blocks and in some of the above photos you'll see the sunshine glowing through the styrofoam support wall between the bricks. My plan is to cover up the back with black cardboard, to completely eliminate any light from getting in behind the diorama.

Here's a nice parting shot:




We've now sprayed the entire surface with our glue/water mixture, so it should be dry by late tomorrow.

Thanks again for your FRAK'n comments. Mucho appreciato!

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Whatever...I've seen better. :p

It's great to see the process for the ground cover, as I'll have to tackle that in the near future. Seems like working with clay isn't something I'm going to be looking forward to! However, it's looking frakkin' awesome!

Your work is fantastic....but now the question that plagues me with my collection;

Where do you store it all???? :o

Frank

I gotta mirror Frank here too. I think most of us don't have a lot of space to store these things so we stay away from big sets that we can't break down easily. Or if you are like Frank, you're moving every couple of years. I have no idea where I'll even BUILD that courtyard set yet! :eek:

Thanks Frank!

Where do I store it? I happen to have a large house... so I don't really have a problem with storage. A few years ago in my 3-level townhome... now that would've been difficult.

I think that if I do end up making any more dios, and my son gets bored with the current ones (and I've taken all the photos I desire) I'll just stick them in a box and mail them to some of the people on this board who have expressed interest. That will be awhile tho I assume, cause my son is having a blast with the playsets we create.

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Hey paul,
Great work! I'm glad to see you finished this work of art.
Also glad to hear that you are a fellow Canuck! I'm in ALberta.
RJ

Edit: oh and by the way CHALLENGE! who ever builds 100 dio scenes by the end of the year wins!

Thanks RJ! I'm loving your projects! I would highly enthusiastically encourage you to post some progress shots.

As a fellow Canuck I have no choice but to accept your challenge but let's play for keeps... housing titles, wives and vehicle pink slips.

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Shazamola! Woohooo!
 

Here's some action shots that should get you all fired up and ready...


Snake Eyes pulls some ninjostic maneuvers, dodging bullets as he dispatches the Cobra Troopers at the cave entrance. Frapowzer!





And another schweet-like-jam angle...



Woot!

Check out the background action in these above shots, lots of goodies for everyone!

Cheers! ~ Paul.

'BOUT TIME SUCKA! :cool:

There better be some full shots of this!!

Looks amazing, thus far, duder.

Cobra Defends the Secret Cave Entrance
 

Here it is... the secret back-door to the Cobra Terrordrome.
That's right folks, this is the entrance that the Cobra Employee of the month uses with glee...


Troopers fire aimlessly into the air, hoping to hit the lion, the witch and the wardrobe... but to no avail.
Bullets wiz by like bees on crank.




Cobra defends the overly stylish doorway... maybe this isn't the back door to the Cobra Terrordrome...
maybe it's to the Cobra female washroom! You decide!!

You will never take me alive Silent Master!!! Never! Cooooooobbbraaaaaaa!




This dio project turned out schweet. My kids dig it deeply and that makes me happy.

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Tight, my friend. TIIIIIIGHT!

I was hoping your kids would hate it. Then, I could drive to Canananadia and pick this baby up and play with it myself. I mean, admire it...yeah...not play with it... :rolleyes: Great action shots and photography, as well.

Beachhead NinjaBrick! Woot!
 

Here's some smooth ninjabrick moves for your feasting occulation...


Swift as a brick, loud as a ninja - guns blaring like barking spiders.




Beauty defined... like a hairless flying ninja squirrel at midnight...




Was fooling around with a simple blurring effect for the smoking gun barrel... worked out ok, no?

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Smoking gun barrel came out beautifully.

Full Wide Shot
 

Here's the scene setup on my kitchen table.

Again, I'm using two $1 Cheapo LED flashlights from Costco, with a $2 more high-powered flashlight behing the snake head to light it up a bit. When I take the photos, the room is completely pitch-black dark with the exception of my LED lighting.

Also using dark-gray thread to suspend the figures in their ninjostic poses.

I remove the thread lines from the photos in Photoshop CS3, using the clone stamp tool to use the background to cover it up... basically you can't see at all that there's anything suspending the figures in the photos, and that's coolio in my book. Action shots are a blast!




Cheers! ~ Paul.

Mmm-mmm-mmmmmmmmmmm, tasty!

You're doing wonders man. Keep up the great work!

This came out terrificly. Awesome work

this are awesome shots!!!

Short Film using this dio set...
 

I posted in the Dioramas section, a short film which was created using images from this diorama.

Link:

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho...php?i=12409&c=6





Enjoy!

Cheers! ~ Paul.

It was "meh". Don't believe the hype. :p

Allow me to give you a play-by-play of how my pants ended up being soinked with urine.

1. Short (incredibly short) film by my good bud fifthconspiracy?! No way! WAY!
2. Whoa, a dedication to moi?! In the immortal words of Weezer, say it ain't so! Flattery will get you everywhere with me, my good man!
3. The superb dio set. You know my feelings about it, so nuff said.
4. I loved it when Beachhead would talk, and then the camera pans to Snake Eyes. Just, like, 5 seconds of a shot of him. No dialogue, nothing, just silence. That is when I started to pee myself with laughter.
5. A teleradiologist convention, huh? More laughter, loudly...more pee...
6. The sound effects were off the hook yo! Great job there!
7. Yup, soundtrack kicked it! I blasted it and kept on laughing. I just had a great time watching SE kill that stupid Trooper. Very cool. I was expecting some blood gushing out, though, ala "Kill Bill".
8. Another shot of SE, just staring. And then a reference to The Matrix, if I'm not mistaken? Very cool.

And thus, we have me, sitting in a pee-puddle, not caring, still laughing. That was hella cool man! I loved every second of it. You guys did an awesome job. I'll be honest, I now expect more of these short (incredibly short) films. LOVED IT!

--Skot