Bailey03
Well-known member
Thanks, everyone! 10, I agree. The hobbit came together in a way that really worked to get the story across. It didn't hurt that it's referencing the hobbit and lord of the rings, so it's a scene most people immediately recognize. But, even without that, I think it still tells a strong story. That's definitely something I'm striving to do with more of my figures. To a certain extent, you need the right figure and a lot of historicals are just standing there (which makes it more difficult to tell a story). But I'm still trying to do that. Two of the more recent ones are the Saxon and the Northumbrian...
I know they're not as involved as the hobbit piece. However, I'm still trying to put them in a scene that gives the viewer some idea of what's going on. The Saxon has just burst into someones house or a mead hall. There's an overturned chair, a spilled dinner plate is on the ground, etc. Meanwhile, for the Northumbrian I placed foot prints and a blood trail in the snow. Given the horn and the way the character is looking (slightly downward), I'm trying to tell the story that he's hunting someone.
Again, these are pretty static poses so it's hard to do a great deal. But I'm still trying to think about why are they were they are, what might they be up to, and then use the base to bring that across. Figures with more dynamic poses or unique props probably lend themselves to more narrative scenes, so part of this is just picking the right figure.
This is some of what I had in mind when I wrote the post about building the figure along with the base/scene. It's not just a matter of painting the base and figure to the same level, but really putting thought into the scene and getting more of that narrative aspect to the piece.
Anyway, on an unrelated note, this weekend I setup a new displace case for my figures. I used to have an office/hobby room in the apartment where most of my pieces lived. That room is being re-purposed and my figures got evicted, so now I've claimed a corner of the living room as my new hobby area. It's the basic Ikea display case that I know a lot of people have. I took some tips from MassiveVoodoo to make it a little bit fancier. I still want to get another acrylic stand for the top shelf so I can move the figures up closer to the light and create a second tier like the shelf below. But overall I think it's a great display setup for the figures, especially considering that it's not all that expensive.
View attachment 48068
I know they're not as involved as the hobbit piece. However, I'm still trying to put them in a scene that gives the viewer some idea of what's going on. The Saxon has just burst into someones house or a mead hall. There's an overturned chair, a spilled dinner plate is on the ground, etc. Meanwhile, for the Northumbrian I placed foot prints and a blood trail in the snow. Given the horn and the way the character is looking (slightly downward), I'm trying to tell the story that he's hunting someone.
Again, these are pretty static poses so it's hard to do a great deal. But I'm still trying to think about why are they were they are, what might they be up to, and then use the base to bring that across. Figures with more dynamic poses or unique props probably lend themselves to more narrative scenes, so part of this is just picking the right figure.
This is some of what I had in mind when I wrote the post about building the figure along with the base/scene. It's not just a matter of painting the base and figure to the same level, but really putting thought into the scene and getting more of that narrative aspect to the piece.
Anyway, on an unrelated note, this weekend I setup a new displace case for my figures. I used to have an office/hobby room in the apartment where most of my pieces lived. That room is being re-purposed and my figures got evicted, so now I've claimed a corner of the living room as my new hobby area. It's the basic Ikea display case that I know a lot of people have. I took some tips from MassiveVoodoo to make it a little bit fancier. I still want to get another acrylic stand for the top shelf so I can move the figures up closer to the light and create a second tier like the shelf below. But overall I think it's a great display setup for the figures, especially considering that it's not all that expensive.
View attachment 48068
. Now I have the toilet to paint in and I feel grateful for that!
