I guess it might be pretty rare to have someone in here announce that they just created their first 2 dioramas (well ok I did that ill conceived thing when I was 8 ). But recently at age 38 i decided to get back into 3-D World War 2 collecting and such again. I found I was eager to make a diorama, so I sat down one night and did one in 7 hours or so, then sat down the next evening and did a tad larger one.

Well this is what happened (click thumbnail)












and here is the second











seems I have more patience now.
Oh and all those years of art school might have helped, but you think a landscaping degree would be the key here.

as borat would say: "very nice" . i like ur rocks, are those real or molds? very impressive for 7 hours. u must have had all the supplies with you.
thanks for sharing

preston

Very nice especially for a first shot.

Some improvements for next time:

-Dull down those bright-greens, which stands out as too fluro. Overall, I am very impressed with the groundwork in your first diorama. Good Job.

-Most diorama builders generally build inside a picture frame. This gives the dio a nice crisp border and protects the outer edges from damage.

-With your second diorama, the pebbles on the road look as if they were 'dropped' onto the scene. To make it a bit more natural, I would suggest pushing the pebbles into the ground (as they would be if trampled by vehicles) and scatter these pebbles elsewhere off the track to indicate they are natural to the landscape.

The vehicles can receive a bit more weathering although I can't comment on too much else as I am not an expert on these particular vehicles.

Keep up the good work,

Chas

Hi Cabe. As far as ground work goes ... I think you´ve done a smashing job. In both scenes, the settings are very realistic. Chas has made two points that are worth mentioning further IMO. He has a good point about the bright "fluro" colours of the items used. Some washes and stains over these would give them a much more realistic colours, and they´d look less like the railway items they are.
In the second dio, I cannot agree with the comment, as the scattered rock is very realistic ... as this is a natural occurance, and something Ive seen often in the west coast of Ireland. Dont know where you´re setting is meant to be, but with the camo Im guessing Africa (Italy?) and maybe theres slightly too much growth eventhough there´s no fluro greens. Frames or any other edgeing would add a lot to the presentation and give it a more professional finish.
If these are your first bases, we have something to really look forward to. You have an excellent eye for natural settings and if you use good reference photos for your base, this will only get better.

Cabe, I like what you've done. I kinda agreed with the others on the green. Though after clicking on the 1st dio pics. to see them larger, I noticed they are mixed with a subdued green mixture to go with the brighter ones. I actually like the contrast.
Early Spring ? everything is bright green then before high Summer comes around and dulls the colors.
Either way they look very good as groundwork.
Glenn

Hi Cabe

Well I'm going to have to disagree and agree with most of what's been said already.

First I agree these are both excellent scenes, very well executed with a great eye for detail, certainly on the "landscaping". It would benefit from some form of edging to hide the raw edge and create a base to finish it off nicely.

I disagree however that the greens are too bright. Looking closely you have mixed together different shades of green to create the different kinds of plants one would find in reality.


Some are indeed bright green as you will know from your landscaping experience and mine from being keen on gardening. Not everything is grass green or just different heights of grass in reality. Hundreds of plants co exist and some of the brightest and colourful are alpine varieties growing in well drained rocky conditions.

I'd be very happy and proud if my first efforts turn out anywhere near as good as these.


I think the vehicles and figures are good but agree they would benefit from more detailed finishing etc.

All in all a great start, welcome to Amorama and look forward to your next additions.

Let's see, one a night, so this time next week you should be adding another five or six scenes

Happy modelling

Alan

very strange. i made a very long response (somewhat) and it disappears when I post it, that's 2 times now in 24hours.

But here is the condensed version,Thanks to all for critique and compliments and those are rock molds, bright green scares me too.