Forced Perspective

[MattMcK.]

Hello all-
My town is having an art contest to celebrate our 200th anniversary. I want to do a piece incorporating miniatures, but there are a couple of rules: the work must fit on an 11 x 14 illustration board to be displayed on a wall. and must be unframed. My idea, which I've started on, is to build outward from the board with layers of foam to create the image of our mountains (folks in truly mountainous regions would call them hills, but they're big enough for us!) and then use multiple scales of figures to create depth- 54mm in the lower left, then working down to some N scale train figures all the way on the upper right, if you you get my drift. Has anyone done this kind of thing before? Can any one point me to images of other's work that might provide inspiration?
Thanks,
Matt

 

[Ray]

Matt,
Look for anything about John Allen's model rail roading, he did a lot of the kind of thing you are talking about. Kalmbach published a book documenting his work about twenty years ago, but I doubt one would be readily availible or economical even if you could find one. Some libraries do have this book, so check with them.


Ray

 

[pmacko]

Sheperd Paine wrote a great book on building dioramas. In it, there is a chapter on using forced persepctive to create the illusion of depth. Hope this helps.

Amazon page for book

 

[MattMcK.]

Thanks guys!
I'll look for the Allen book. Paine's book is like a Bible for me (and I'll bet many of us!), so that one's always within arm's reach.
Matt