The Dark Side of the Winter (my first completed project)

[osiskars]

Please check out my latest work. I am pretty proud of it and it took me a while to make . My project of 3 imperial guard soldiers in deep snow and a tau pathfinder . The soldiers have been trough a lot of conversation . The hand of the first and second soldier are completely green stuff. I sculpted them myself, and of course the cloaks are completely from green stuff. he Idea is that there is a heavy wind blowing from the right side with harsh snow, but I had no idea of how to make snow in air like if it looked like it is actually snowing , only maybe photoshop , but didn't want to use that( so if you have any idea please share in comments.

The only big problem that I had to encounter was that the color on the green stuff after drying was splitting and cracking ???? I actually have no idea why that happened, and as I was putting more layers on the more it cracked? Why could that be? Maybe that was because I was covering the green stuff after modeling whit olive oil . Maybe that made it crack. Finally I resolved the problem by overlaying the cracking parts with much glue

So what do you think?

 

[cyberakuma]

encase it in a really big snow globe? not sure how else you could really get a snow effect but cool work all the same

 

[skraaal]

Lovely scene, captures a nice little story

As for the GS issue, I'm not 100% sure as I've not done it myself, but I've heard that using some gloss varnish with a brush (Ard Coat) on the GS area before applying the paint helps make painting on it easier.

Nice Scene though, any chance for a smaller pic so we can see the whole thing from a zoomed out view too?

I could be wrong though.

 

[PegaZus]

Put some grasses, trees, and bushes, all bent away from the wind. In addition, you could build up the snow effects on the side that the wind is blowing.

Maybe some water effects mixed with the snow that are slightly "dripping" away from the wind. Not sure how that'd look. Something really pointy so it looks like some little blowing streams of snow off the rocks.

 

[freakinacage]

looks great. sounds like it could be the oil that's making it crack as it may be preventing it form adhering to the previous layer. only thing i can think of though

 

[Chrome]

If the green stuff hasn't cured properly(perhaps an effect from the surface being covered with oils ore something similar) The paint tend to crack on it, I've made that mistake many times when I've been in a bit of a rush and haven't let the green stuff cure properly.

I actually had to look at the pictures a second time when I read that you wanted a snow storm effect, I thought you already had one going and it wasn't until you mentioned it that my brain stopped adding a snow storm on it's own in there.

But something you could do is add snow to the vertical areas that are exposed to the wind, especially on the uniforms of the guardsmen, snow is wet and it sticks absolutely everywhere, especially on clothes that are kinda warm.

 

[osiskars]

If the green stuff hasn't cured properly(perhaps an effect from the surface being covered with oils ore something similar) The paint tend to crack on it, I've made that mistake many times when I've been in a bit of a rush and haven't let the green stuff cure properly.

I actually had to look at the pictures a second time when I read that you wanted a snow storm effect, I thought you already had one going and it wasn't until you mentioned it that my brain stopped adding a snow storm on it's own in there.

But something you could do is add snow to the vertical areas that are exposed to the wind, especially on the uniforms of the guardsmen, snow is wet and it sticks absolutely everywhere, especially on clothes that are kinda warm.

OK I will remove the question about the snow . I tried different things but nothing seem to be as good as it is. The trees would only make the scene more crouded. I wanted to make the scene as cold as possible and adding trees would make it only warmer.

About the wet snow , it is not ment to be wet snow but cold harsh wind mixed with icy small sharp snow...

 

[osiskars]

Nice Scene though, any chance for a smaller pic so we can see the whole thing from a zoomed out view too?

you mean more distant pictures so that the edge of the diorama can be seen?
But then the personal feeling and band to the characters could disappear.
this is hard place to post pictures -it takes a while, but I have a gallery on http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?dq=osiskars.

 

[osiskars]

Put some grasses, trees, and bushes, all bent away from the wind. In addition, you could build up the snow effects on the side that the wind is blowing.

the only tree with a "leaves" in winter is Yule tree but they don't bend a lot. but maybe , I should have addes some branches.. But in all I am finished this piece and won't convert it or add something to it. I am working on a new project already..

 

[SkelettetS]

the imperial soldiers are great, really believable poses :good:

ive judged dioramas and there are a few important things to think of when planing a dio. first of all, think lines. in your dio, the imperial guards walk in a straight line on the ground "in the middle" of the dio. straight up, a tau is shooting from above. this way, the whole scene easily becomes a bit "uninterresting".

first of all, lets see if i can describe this in understandable english lol, i would add more free space in front of the first guardman in the way they are heading, its enhancing the feeling that they are actually going somewhere. second think diagonal "lines".
some examples; The tau, shooting from one side above to the bottom corner of the opposite side will make a line across the scene
The guardsmen walking diagonal across the scene would hot it up, perhaps even diagonal and up/downwards so the line if you look at the dio straight ahead is diagonal. hope you get a clue what i am takling about.

 

[supervike]

Very cool...I mean cold....I mean...ah you know what I mean.

 

[uberdark]

a well executed piece. particularly the gloved hand. you really feel it holding back from the movement of the wind. im reminded of lord of the rings and climbing the mountains in the wintery wind.

 

[osiskars]

Reply to SkelettetS


I understand very well what you mean , BUT first I did the walking in a straight line because I thought like this: how would soldiers advance in a deep snow ? They would probably walk in each others footsteps so the enemy cant count the number of them advancing . In moving behind each other they are sure they will leave only a little of a trace and snow will fast again cover they footsteps. However the story shows that this didn't work out for them cuz the Tau pathfinder still found them. => I am probably over thinking here and dioramas is not the place for logical and most realistic thinking.

But I totally agrre about the tau positioning, only excuse I have is that I added the Tau after I had done the whole scene. And it was actually very tough to find a good, no not good ,just a steady place where I could put him, and add more snow for the deep snow effect. And the reason why he is aiming for the last one is because It wouldn't be logical to shoot the first in that way giving the others a chance to kill him. again thinking

Finally the space before the first soldier- also agree that it would create a feeling that they still have a long way to fight trough, and it seems now a bit that they are already trough the hard snow.

It really was a thing I thought about- the liniear positioning but that wasn't my priority as this was my first diorama of this kind. But I sure did learn a lot . Thanks!

 

[Chrome]

OK I will remove the question about the snow . I tried different things but nothing seem to be as good as it is. The trees would only make the scene more crouded. I wanted to make the scene as cold as possible and adding trees would make it only warmer.

About the wet snow , it is not ment to be wet snow but cold harsh wind mixed with icy small sharp snow...

Well, having been in a very similar situation(walking with my military mates in a snow storm at -30 centigrade, I also walked home from work in similar weather just a few weeks ago, dragging my bike with me because the snow was too deep to do anything but walk through it) I can tell you that that snow is not going to stay snowy. It sticks to your clothes, particularly around the neck and forehead, where your breath slams back at you in the wind and the snow is exposed to your body and the heat constantly leaking from it, your chest and stomach area will have thick blankets of snow covering the jacket since the first snow that goes there will melt and create an icy layer for more snow to attach itself to. The knees and thighs will be frosty but they won't be very snowy since you're walking.

Do note that I'm not telling you to do this, it was just a suggestion, the piece is already quite awesome in my eyes.

Cheers!

 

[SkelettetS]

I understand very well what you mean , BUT first I did the walking in a straight line because I thought like this: how would soldiers advance in a deep snow ? They would probably walk in each others footsteps so the enemy cant count the number of them advancing . In moving behind each other they are sure they will leave only a little of a trace and snow will fast again cover they footsteps. However the story shows that this didn't work out for them cuz the Tau pathfinder still found them. => I am probably over thinking here and dioramas is not the place for logical and most realistic thinking.

But I totally agrre about the tau positioning, only excuse I have is that I added the Tau after I had done the whole scene. And it was actually very tough to find a good, no not good ,just a steady place where I could put him, and add more snow for the deep snow effect. And the reason why he is aiming for the last one is because It wouldn't be logical to shoot the first in that way giving the others a chance to kill him. again thinking

Finally the space before the first soldier- also agree that it would create a feeling that they still have a long way to fight trough, and it seems now a bit that they are already trough the hard snow.

It really was a thing I thought about- the liniear positioning but that wasn't my priority as this was my first diorama of this kind. But I sure did learn a lot . Thanks!

nothing wrong with having the guards walking in line after another, that was not what i meant. its the fact that in the limited space of the diorama, youll need to make it as interresting as possible by working with angles. that meant, that if you look at the dio straight ahead, it might be more interrestin if you see the men not positioning in a line in front of you... gah i probably need to draw a picture...

this is just suggestions though, i also think its cool the way it is now

 

[splitpeamaster]

real cool man i like it