Welcome to the new followers of my blog! I wanted to give a heads up about an article I wrote about creating a diorama of the King Kong spider pit and its denizens. It appears in the current issue (# 101 ) of The Prehistoric Times : http://www.prehistorictimes.com/
I'm in the process of designing a new creature that will be residing in the pit shortly. Check back for updates!
Here is a full view of the ravine.
A detail view of the right wall.
View of the top of the left wall.
The lizard creature slithering out of the cave in the ravine.
The lizard attacking one of the convicts.
The crab snatching one of the survivors up into its claws.
The lizard and the crab fighting over one of the convicts.
The spider polishing off a victim.
Convicts being menaced by the spider.
A view of the ravine shot through the cave opening.
The tentacle creature on the attack.
The inhabitants of the pit waiting for something else to fall into their lair.
It is one of the creatures that inhabits the spider pit diorama I'm creating.
I had just got the eyes installed when a friend called to tell me a whale had washed ashore in the next town.
I grabbed my camera and decided to take a walk along the shoreline. Atlantic Beach is a private beach but I figured they wouldn't mind.
When I got about a 1/4 block away I could smell the carcass.
The biologist at the scene said it is a Finback whale. It is estimated it is between 35 - 40 feet long. I guess they have to haul it out to sea and let nature take its course.
A few readers have emailed me asking how I learned to make dioramas. Well most of what I do has come about by and trial and error. I'm also always on the lookout for books or articles on techniques and new materials that can help take my work to a new level.
One such book is The Art of The Diorama by Ray Anderson : Amazon.com: The Art of The Diorama (9780890240922): Ray Anderson, Roland Patterson: Books
To say Ray Anderson is a master craftsman is an understatement! His attention to detail is amazing! If your a fan of miniatures and dioramas you can see some examples of his work here: Model Makers—Ray Anderson
Another book I have found useful in my work is Terrain Modelling by Richard Windrow. Just the section on building trees was worth the purchase price to me!
While on the subject of dioramas I thought I'd share a few pictures with you. I've made some progress on my Skull Island spider pit diorama this week.
Here is a wire mesh frame stapled to a wood base. It is going to be a cave in the ravine cliff face.
Using sections of burlap impregnated with mache I covered the wire frame.
After the cave dried overnight in front of an electric fan I primed it and painted the interior. Then I installed the cave into the frame that will form one of the ravine walls.
I added burlap and wood putty around the cave entrance and left it to dry. Tomorrow I hope to get the entire frame covered in a first coat of burlap/wood putty!
Here I am drilling a hole in the Apoxie Sculpt clay "bark" of the tree.
After drilling the holes I glued in my roots which were coat hanger wire covered in foil and then wrapped with floral wire. The floral wire helps the clay stay in place as you model it.
This is the first layer of clay. After it cures a second layer of clay will be applied which I'll texture to match the bark on the rest of the log.
Here is the snapped off top section of the log which I made by hot gluing Styrofoam over a cardboard tube. You can see the finished trunk section of the log primed grey in the background.
After using a rasp to shape the Styrofoam I coated it in wood putty.
The smaller roots of the log trunk were formed using aluminum and floral wire.
Here is the root nearing completion. It is covered in cotton and tinted liquid latex.
Next post I'll show the roots added to the log and go about painting and detailing it.
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