Sorry about the quality of the pics but I should have better ones soon. This pic is of the back of the Albatros hangar diorama "Some Say He Walked Away." It is an aviation expression meaning any landing is a good landing as long as you can walk away.
I'm unfamiliar with "storyboard dioramas" but they sound intriguing. Is there a website that explains them in greater detail, preferably with picture? Aurelio
On this latest diorama that I have been working on,I have only now just completed the story.The rest of the story was already worked out but the backyard of the grandparents was only finally figured out yesterday. The time of year depicted is early spring .I thought of a Victorian gazebo of some kind but it was just too big and fancy and would have drawn too much attention away for the main storyline,the airman and his airplane.I then thought of a tool shed with a rake laying around ,a typical springtime chore in this part of the world.Then a few starter plants under a small glass box to add a little color.But I needed a little something extra for viewer interest.After much thinking about it I decided to use the gazebo roof that I had already underway before I changed my mind.I cut it in half and made two completely different things out of it ,a bird bath and a fishpond which I am working on now.The garden shed is also underway.Just these three items will take over a week to do working everyday but my personal guide has always been to put as much thought and work into the small everyday objects as the big fancy cars or airplanes.So here goes... Hope you enjoy watching these items take shape.This backyard has been one of the most difficult things to get right,to tell an interesting story but not distract from the main storyline. I work this way with only a basic plan at the beginning and just let the story develop over time.This gives me the maximum of opportunity to changed things and also keeps it interesting for me right up until the end of the project.
I have found a cheap source of scale plywood as well as some preformed shapes that could be used for modeling.The largest pieces of plywood that I have found so far is the size of a standard tissue box.It is first quality clear wood about the color and consistency of basswood and It is available from about 1/64 to 1/4",some is quite stiff and some really pliable .Some shapes such as small bird houses or boxes make good starting points for scratch building or can be torn down for sheet plywood.I have also found some pretty nice dowels but no actual scale lumber yet. Cheers!
This is the latest addition to the diorama ,a bird bath and a fish pond.Their grandsons made them for letting them use half of their backyard for storing and selling wood. The bird bath is obvious but I will tack a No Fishing sign to the tree for the fish pond.You can see that these are scratch built as they are not perfectly round etc.. but neither would they be in full scale ,when cast in cement by amateurs.It will also require a little building up of the landscaping and some leafing up around the edges when it is finally installed.I left a slight cupping in the center to indicate greater depth below.
"Storyboard dioramas are full-blown,highly detailed dioramas whose sole purpose is to tell a story ,with or without a vehicle as a focal point.This type of diorama uses any combination of structures,scenic techniques,vehicles,and other peripheral details to deliver the point.Overall composition and visual impact play a key role in the storyboard diorama.This is the Unlimited class of diorama building." Ken Hamilton. In my research I have found that this is the first use of the term Storyboard Dioramas .Ken coined it way back in 2001 in chapter one of his great book " How to Build Creative Dioramas."
