As I get back into the hobby after years and years away, I've been looking around at a great many photos of various models and dioramas. I'm continually stunned by the amount of amazing work out there.

But as a formally educated designer, one crucial design principle has struck me as I look at dioramas: white space.

I surprisingly large percentage of the time I see a diorama, it looks like the base is 20-40% too small. I'm not talking about the dioramas where part of the model or background is falling off the side as a specific design choice. I'm talking about the fact that the edge of the model feels like it's shoved against the edge of the base, for no other reason than the modeler didn't have a base that fit properly.

If I can be so bold as to offer some feedback: think about the whitespace when you design your diorama. White space (the "padding" between the end of the content and the edge of the base) is what helps connect the content design to the environment you're establishing. When the content seems shoved to the edge, it breaks the sense of reality and reminds the viewer that this is just a "model on a piece of wood". Rather than having the tail of your plane reach the edge of your wood base, give an extra inch or two to let it breathe. I'm positive you'll like the results!

Now back to drooling over the amazing work you people do...

I think that you have disregarded the "pedestal" effect. This tends to focus the vignette on one spot. If you don't like the work involved in dioramas, this is a great way to display your build.

Actually there are several strong points to argue either way because the reasons/issues behind choosing a diorama's base size are multifactorial. It's the same concept as the different painting styles that have risen and fallen in popularity over the centuries, but with added dimensions and criteria for available space in which to display the finished art piece.

Whichever route you prefer, the important thing is to exhibit mastery of the technique/school that you have chosen to follow.

Multifactorial? Jeremy is that even a word? If it isn't, and I don't have time to look it up in the Oxford, then it should be. A great word indeed! Although it reminds me alot of Math 20 in which I did not fair well.... but I digress.

Jake, there are many factors that would normally be considered when building a diorama.

Perhaps one of the main reasons for a proximity alert clanging in the head of most builders when they set about building even a small scale dio is that viewing all the details we put into a piece or pieces becomes much more difficult the farther away subjects are placed from the edge of the base they reside on.

Now if you don't mind that your viewers, who are sometimes judges in a competition cannot get a good look at your build because they can't get close enough to it because you planted a tree near the edge but buried your Tiger in the middle of street in the middle of your frame then go ahead.

This I know however from experience. Now that I am on the backside of forty it is VERY hard for me to see all my hard work when I build a diorama if I do not keep the models out to the edge of the perimeter of the base. Just saying.

In fact I try to do just the opposite and reach past the "Arbitrary" border and extend the scene into the dimension of the unknown so to speak to help viewers be able to place themselves in the picture and to break up the monotony of the "same old, same old" picture frame diorama.

Just some thoughts on the matter for your thought process to ponder. I look forward to seeing some of your builds as you get back into the hobby! Good luck in whichever route you take on your next diorama.

Take care, Dave

Nah, not disregarding anything. Like I said, I understand that there are reasons to do just about anything. But like I said, after having consumed a metric ton of content lately, I've noticed that there's a common thread where (IMHO) too many builders aren't choosing an artistic choice, but instead just not thinking about the value of space.

Not meaning to stir up negativity - my observation was absolutely meant in a constructive, positive frame.

Hey Jake, good point to a point. There are some who build close to the edge for a number of reasons. Space does factor in when you only have so much display area in a cabnit or a shelf. Sometimes we find a base that just fits the picture so to speak and a bit of craming is nessesary. But for me, like Dave, we want to extend the picture to an unknown point where the veiwer calls the story. I do glass painting also and find that a border around a painting is nice but when I extend a tree branch into the border it seems to stretch the imagination to follow where ever and what ever direction your mind is taking you. If the viewer continues with the story, you are succesful. I do mainly vignetts and having a tree or part of a vehical or figure stick out past the base groundwork draws the veiwer past the present and into their minds what if, because it is not there, their imagination comes into play. Kind of like a figure pointing into the distance past the border, and you wonder what it is that the figure is pointing at. An enemy, help on the horison or what. It helps stimulate imagination, when done on purpose. Another reason is space restrictions in reality. While most can't build a diorama at a specific shooting distances, say 300 yards apart or what, how big would a diorama be, huge. So cutting corners is an acceptable means by placing things on the edge or over the base edge. Now as a designer for say interiors of building, you have basicly a set of applied rules that work for that situation, but to apply them to a realistic situation in a diorama just would not work most of the time. Dioramas of ships dueling it out on the high seas allways seem too close thought they are on the edge of a water design base, but it can't be helped. So we live with the restrictions imposed by available space at times. But back to your statement, yes. Sometimes a builder does not always think things through (including myself) and ends up with what I call, displaced vision. It happens, but as we continue to build in this hobby, we grow aware of our mistakes and progress to a higher level, we hope. Hope this helps you understand the border incidents and welcome back to the hobby. Always have fun, #1 rule.

Dave: Lol, I am using it quite loosely in this instance. It is a term that applies more to mathematics as you've stated as well as the medical field.

Jake: You're getting a lot of good talk going on here, and some really good insight into people's decisions when creating dioramas. You are not wrong in what you are saying about people not using fundamental artistic principles in their approach, and this is a common situation for most model builders at least at some point. There are reasons that balance is one of the prominent reoccurring features in diorama books and tutorials. Perhaps it should be stressed more?

Jeremy & Bob have again touched on some of the "issues" that are often involved during the initial planning stages of a diorama, space and balance.

I remember vividly looking at dioramas by Shep Paine and reading his commentaries on how he would plan out his work so that he achieved balance in both subject and form.

He always seemed to have a "border" around his subjects and would "frame" his models in such a way as to invite viewers to move in close to see all there was to see. In this way he used your white space principle well.

Bob mentioned the one major key that Shep always tried to drum across and that many of us, myself included quite often forget to do enough of...planning. In order to strike a good balance in your diorama you really need to plan ahead and sketch things out to ensure that your efforts will produce a good return.

Many of us suffer the consequences of our lack of planning in the lack of a clear story being told or an unbalanced finished product.

Jeremy is correct when he says that we may have lost sight of time honored principles like balance in favor of techniques or effects but thi like life in general may just be the season we are in. Only time will tell.

The one thing I have heard over and over again though is the reason we all build, because we love to create things and enjoy the challenge of the process. Above all we need to keep this in mind when we build.

Take care everyone and keep on modeling!

Dave