Saturday 31 October 2015

Tau Drone Diorama (Completed)


I had a lot of fun making my first "original" diorama this year, though I wish I had a little more skill with the camera! I achieved my goal of painting the whole diorama in less than three weeks, working on it a couple of nights a week and an afternoon or two on the weekend. Giving myself plenty of non-painting gaps seemed to be the key to maintaining the enthusiasm as I found myself finishing sections and finding them looking much better than I thought the morning after painting with tired eyes.


Adding some pigments to represent dust was the final touch and really helped bring the scene together. I've mixed pigments with fixers to represent rust, soot and dirt before, but never tried the "as is" dusty finish. I'm also very happy with how the new washes worked, you can see some of the reds coming though in the stonework in the photo above, and I kept the palette quite small for the grots rather than making them look too grubby and disheveled. As a "welcome back project" to painting after a few months off I can definitely say I've missed it!




If you want to check the model out in person, it is currently on display at Strategies Games Hobbies on Vancouver as an entry into their Immortal Brush painting competition, held on the 14th of November. I painted this in less than three weeks and there's still two weeks to go, so get painting!!

You can now rate this diorama over at CoolMiniOrNot.


10 comments:

  1. I only wish I could see it in person. It looks good from the photos man.

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    1. I've seen it in person just this last weekend, and it looks awesome. The pics are a little washed out in comparison... I recall seeing a bit more depth and contrast in real life.

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    2. Thanks Rory, Kelly! I look forward to seeing the other entries in person. I have noticed a large difference between a lot of "newer" models and their online or printed photos recently, maybe I am just more attuned to details in person? A lot of recent sculpts and paint jobs look terrible in photos but much better in your hand. Struggling to put this into words :/

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  2. This is a beautiful display. If I had any critique (From a competition standpoint), it would be the burst cannon. Everything is so carefully controlled and executed, then you have that giant join line facing the viewers front. It's very jarring. That single join line could mean the difference between a podium, and a finalist. The composition also points to the drone, so your attention keeps focusing back to it.

    If you submit the piece to comp, see if you can do something to cover that join, either with powders, or some light sanding.

    The piece is lovely, and it would place quite well in comp.

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    1. Cheers Greg, I missed a few of these details during my prep work and I agree this one is the most jarring. I haven't put together any Tau before unlike marines/orks so I should have given it a second look. I also found the dusty rubble very difficult to paint as it crumbled during dry brushing! I will be definitely taking some more time in the assembly stage for my next project :) Thanks for the feedback, we are always learning!

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  3. If there was one thing I could suggest at all, it would be to make the areas near the edges be a slightly darker shade. It would focus the viewer's eye better on the action and central subjects. It would be more reminiscent of what we're used to seeing in a painting or stage play... typically the outside areas are not lit as strongly as the center stage, unless there's a point to it. By having more variation in lighting, you add visual interest, contrast, and depth. By lighting everything so evenly, it has a tendency to make things seem flatter somehow, especially in photos, and overemphasize the square shape of the "frame".

    Since I love Brom, and he does this consistently, here's an example of what I am referring to:

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3d/c2/62/3dc262f8c28e669693052bf887edcb1a.jpg

    Hope the link works. But just about every painting he does works for this, so Google-ing Brom should give you the right idea.

    However, I love the colour selection, the composition, the strong storyline, fantastic blending, and nice crisp lining and edge highlighting. I especially love the placement of the floating drone in the background. It fills in the gap in the horizon beautifully, and makes the diorama seem longer, and with more depth, than it really is.

    As for my own entry for the diorama catagory, I'll be hard pressed to finish it in time, let alone come up with anything near this good. I'm nearing completion of my sci-fi squad and large model, but experiencing some serious setbacks with those (they are NOT going to be some of my better works, by far). That being said, I love competing, and winning anything would just be a bonus. I push myself harder in the lead-up to painting competitions, and come out a much stronger painter after each one. That's good enough for me (most of the time). And I love the Vancouver painting community, as we all seem to push each other to get better too in such a positive manner... can't wait to see all the competition entries in person!

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    1. Some great points I hadn't considered, along with very kind words, thanks! I found my shading a bit harsh on the last couple of models I worked on so I tried to make the whole scene more evenly lit, I guess it's time to work on some tricky light sources from within the diorama (much like the Brom example you gave). Always more to learn!

      I look forward to seeing your models as well as all the other entrants. Message me if you're free earlier in the day I will be on Main St for lunch :)

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  4. Fantastic work Mathew, it has so much great character and story going on. I especially liked the tau muffling the grot in the back, you don't often see GW models actually interacting that closely so great work on them.

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