Hot LZ

[Johnny Tip]

Hello everyone, 

 

"Get to da choppa!" would have been the obvious title, but Arnold isn't part of this team. 

The background is a photo of some jungle, with a huey edited into it, and worked over with layers of matte clear to create a depth effect - discovered by accident on a botched first attempt

Master Box' fantastic figures were a breeze to build. 

Those three fit together perfectly (unlike their pair of WWII paras - but they were early work of course). 

The grenadier is carrying the wounded man's pack and AK and his own weapon, therefore he drew his prize Tokarev for self defense... 

The scout. He probably chieu hoi-ed and brought his own gun.

The trooper returning fire in the back is modeled to be one Lt. Magnum, hawaiian private eye-to-be, including moustache and odd-looking beret, but it's very hard to get his face on picture😔

 

Let me know if you like it (or not), 

 

Johnny Tip

[Badder]

An excellent dio, with nicely posed figures, wearing very effective camo and great grass.  The composition of the diorama is faultless.

Then there's the  backdrop. For displaying on a shelf, it's fine. But it's proved by your photographs that it's not tall or wide enough. Why?

 

Well, faces are always a nightmare to paint, in my opinion. They have to be painted meticulously and perfectly in order to stand up to the camera lens. For those of us who produce large dioramas or dioramas where the vehicles or buildings and general scenery are the main subjects, we can get away with 'so so' faces.  In dioramas such as yours, you cannot.  Your figures' faces aren't horrendous. I've seen far worse, some done by my own hand. The problem is the magnification, made worse by transferring to a screen. Even double magnification can bring out issues with faces, but what I am seeing right now are some of your faces 10x their actual size.

 

So, my advice would be to make your backdrop taller and wider and take your photographs from further back, or zoomed out. That way we will see the whole group of figures, or a few of them, and all with that wider and taller backdrop, so their faces won't be an issue at all.

 

Do have a look at some instructional 'face-painting' vids, elsewhere, or 'how to's' in BM. You'll find even the most basic method(s) can produce really effective results.

With just a few days practice I really do think you'll be producing top notch figures.

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

[Johnny Tip]

Thank you Badder for your many words. I don't just show my work to get pats on my shoulder, but also deserved criticism and hints - which is exactly what I got from you. 

5 hours ago, Badder said:

For displaying on a shelf, it's fine. But it's proved by your photographs that it's not tall or wide enough. Why?

Exactly the reason you gave... It'll sit on a shelf. At least until we get a bigger home - and I my own room (I still doubt that).

5 hours ago, Badder said:

Well, faces are always a nightmare to paint

Q.E.D. 😁

 

I will certainly have a look into the How to-section... It's not like I haven't the time right now🙂 

Thanks again for taking the time to offer some advice! Maybe I'll present an update later.

[Nev]

Very cool little scene, and the backdrop works great.  

 

What's up with the guy on the left though, he looks like he's wearing lipstick?

[Johnny Tip]

On 11/04/2020 at 10:28, Nev said:

What's up with the guy on the left though, he looks like he's wearing lipstick?

Another case of "why the heck didn't I see that?"🤦🏼‍♂️ 

[Parabat]

Very cool dio, I remember the Magnum P.I. episode where he is cutting about in tigerstripe cammies!

One note as well for camouflage uniforms for the future (very effevtive tigerstripe effect btw) is to take into account the pattern may not always line up - think seams between sleeve and body, map pockets on the thighs and even just the two seperate trouser legs.

Great little attention to detail pieces though, like the summer Nomex pilot gloves with the green and grey delineation. Great idea and execution.

[Johnny Tip]

4 minutes ago, Parabat said:

One note as well for camouflage uniforms for the future (very effevtive tigerstripe effect btw) is to take into account the pattern may not always line up - think seams between sleeve and body, map pockets on the thighs and even just the two seperate trouser legs.

Thank you very much. 

I looked at pics of the tigerstripe camo and it seened to me as if it actually - and surprisingly - lined up with pockets, pant legs and even the front of the field jacket. I thought they might be printed after being finished - which of course opens the question (right now) why there aren't any recognizable seams in the camo at all, not even where "front" and "back" are joined... every time when you think you thought about everything...😬