Uruk-Hai
PlanetFigure Supporter
"The kingdom is Lost" diorama article. (Im posting this on behalf of Mike Blank.)
For many years I have had a huge interest in the crusades, both in the Holy land and the Baltic. The military orders such as the Templars, Hospitalliers and the Teutonic continue to give me inspiration for creating figures, Vignettes and dioramas. (no suprises there I guess!).
One very important and fatal battle that I had not created a scene from was the battke of Hattin, fought in 1187. Here on the horns of Hattin the entire kingdom of Jerusalem was smashed by the Saracens led by Saladin.
I had always wanted to create a scene showing the desperate last stand of the Templars at the end of this battle, tired, desperate and without any hope... . In other words a tight, dramatic and monochrome scene!
Just the way I like ´em!
As with all the Vignettes and dioramas I create I Always start with a mental planning. What do I want to tell with this scene? The emotions? The carachters? The story?
This phase is without a doubt the most important, and also the most time consuming part of a new Project.
The sculpting and painting is the easy part!
To have a well planned, composed scene that tells a story is the bottomline for building Vignettes and dioramas, otherwise it will only be a scene with several figures that do not interact and simply happens to be on the same base...
I am the first to admit that everything that I know about creating these scenes I have borrowed, copied and stolen from other peoples ideas! Remember; the more people you copy from, the more orginial you will be!
All scenes should have one "lead actor" that is the focus of the scene, the rest should be like supporting actors. In this diorama I choose to have a Templar Knight without his helmet and ringmail. His bared head would help to focus to Viewer, and his blondish hair would also help to focus this figure. His bodylanguage and facial expression tells the story of a desperate Knight making a last stand, full of despair and with no hope...
All the figures where sculpted with Magic Sculp putty, the ringmail was done with a mix of MS and Duro.
Some of you guys might know I still like to to paint White dressed figures, and here it was like Chistmas to me!
Seven dudes all in White with White Shields! (well, six actually, as I wanted to have some variation. so the dead figure in the foreground was painted in a dark faded grey colour, as I wanted him to a sergeant rather than brother kinght )
My aim was to have a warmer shade of White as to show the condition of the climate, and also to have a more cloth like feel. The base colour for the tunics where a warm mid grey mix, the higlights where several mixes of White, flesh ochre, etc. For shading I used dark blue, brownish red and burnt umber. I weathered the figures as I a paint with, dirt, grime, blodd etc to achieve an worn look, rather than something that has been painted after, like and aftertought.
It should be noted that although we have six figures dressed in White, there is no pure White colour anywhere.
For my final highlght when painting White I use a linen shade shade with a touch of pure White and a touch of flesh. This will add Life and value to the White. (pure White when used will give a chalky and lifeless colour).
For the Shields, which were painted, I wanted a cooler shade of White, so I added slightly more blue to the basemix.
And also the shading and highlighting where done with cooler shades, which gives a nice contrast to the warmer tunics made from fabric.
All the paitning was done using Scale 75, Vallejo, Andrea and Reaper Paints.
And talking about painting, I am now planning and working on a new book about how I paint these Days!
The book will be published by Scale 75, and will feature all new work by yours truly!
(no old sins painted in Humbrols!)
I was very happy and honoured to win the Best of Show at the Euro Miniature Expo with this scene.
All the best and happy sculpting, painting and planning of those new Vignettes and dioramas!
Mike
For many years I have had a huge interest in the crusades, both in the Holy land and the Baltic. The military orders such as the Templars, Hospitalliers and the Teutonic continue to give me inspiration for creating figures, Vignettes and dioramas. (no suprises there I guess!).
One very important and fatal battle that I had not created a scene from was the battke of Hattin, fought in 1187. Here on the horns of Hattin the entire kingdom of Jerusalem was smashed by the Saracens led by Saladin.
I had always wanted to create a scene showing the desperate last stand of the Templars at the end of this battle, tired, desperate and without any hope... . In other words a tight, dramatic and monochrome scene!
Just the way I like ´em!
As with all the Vignettes and dioramas I create I Always start with a mental planning. What do I want to tell with this scene? The emotions? The carachters? The story?
This phase is without a doubt the most important, and also the most time consuming part of a new Project.
The sculpting and painting is the easy part!
To have a well planned, composed scene that tells a story is the bottomline for building Vignettes and dioramas, otherwise it will only be a scene with several figures that do not interact and simply happens to be on the same base...
I am the first to admit that everything that I know about creating these scenes I have borrowed, copied and stolen from other peoples ideas! Remember; the more people you copy from, the more orginial you will be!
All scenes should have one "lead actor" that is the focus of the scene, the rest should be like supporting actors. In this diorama I choose to have a Templar Knight without his helmet and ringmail. His bared head would help to focus to Viewer, and his blondish hair would also help to focus this figure. His bodylanguage and facial expression tells the story of a desperate Knight making a last stand, full of despair and with no hope...
All the figures where sculpted with Magic Sculp putty, the ringmail was done with a mix of MS and Duro.
Some of you guys might know I still like to to paint White dressed figures, and here it was like Chistmas to me!
Seven dudes all in White with White Shields! (well, six actually, as I wanted to have some variation. so the dead figure in the foreground was painted in a dark faded grey colour, as I wanted him to a sergeant rather than brother kinght )
My aim was to have a warmer shade of White as to show the condition of the climate, and also to have a more cloth like feel. The base colour for the tunics where a warm mid grey mix, the higlights where several mixes of White, flesh ochre, etc. For shading I used dark blue, brownish red and burnt umber. I weathered the figures as I a paint with, dirt, grime, blodd etc to achieve an worn look, rather than something that has been painted after, like and aftertought.
It should be noted that although we have six figures dressed in White, there is no pure White colour anywhere.
For my final highlght when painting White I use a linen shade shade with a touch of pure White and a touch of flesh. This will add Life and value to the White. (pure White when used will give a chalky and lifeless colour).
For the Shields, which were painted, I wanted a cooler shade of White, so I added slightly more blue to the basemix.
And also the shading and highlighting where done with cooler shades, which gives a nice contrast to the warmer tunics made from fabric.
All the paitning was done using Scale 75, Vallejo, Andrea and Reaper Paints.
And talking about painting, I am now planning and working on a new book about how I paint these Days!
The book will be published by Scale 75, and will feature all new work by yours truly!
(no old sins painted in Humbrols!)
I was very happy and honoured to win the Best of Show at the Euro Miniature Expo with this scene.
All the best and happy sculpting, painting and planning of those new Vignettes and dioramas!
Mike
