In the first part of this series, I showed you how to make the diorama base out of styrofoam insulation board, glue and paint. The fun continues here with the addition of the trees…
Insulation foam is a great material for dioramas because it is so easy to work with. After doing a little yard work the other day, I saved a pile of branches that would look like scale-sized trees on the diorama. Drilling holes is a simple process, and if the hole is slightly smaller than the branch diameter, you won’t even need any glue.
One tree does not make a forest.
That’s better. I lined two sides with a thick growth of trees and left the front two sides fairly open. Since the trees are not glued into the holes, I will be able to remove them if needed for a specific photograph.
Hey, it looks like a forest! I could add some scenery moss or dirt, but for now, I’m going to see how things work without it.
So let’s see what we can do with some better lighting…
Not bad. In the next post, I’ll show you some other photos taken in my fake little forest.
Forest looks good! I need to build one for three Star Wars Walkers I just cpompleted. I’m an artist who took up modeling dioramas a few years ago. Not always up-to-date, but my blog at http://www.surf-the-arts.com may be of interest! Also m y Flickr model pics – lots of Japanese Sci-Fi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfthearts/collections/72157626511106317/
Regards Murray, aka surfthearts
Amazing work Murray! I really like that Buck Rogers Marauder ship you built!
Fantastic work!
WOW!Just the terrain alone was doing it for me but the addition of the trees puts this over the top!I like the fact that it’s universal and pretty much any line of figures will look great with it.
The next post I put up shows this exactly–I have photos with small scale figures as well as large scale, and the backdrop seems to work well with both.
Lighting makes all the difference, as seen in your pics . Great work.
Thanks. Lighting really does make a world of difference.