Concept: No Place to Retreat

The very first real Diorama

Now we come to a project that is very special to me. My first diorama - the joy to build something from scratch or with rough building blocks.

This has become my most beloved discipline of the hobby because of that project.

The Starting point

First a big shoutout to Thorixx_painting . He Organized a challenge at the GMPC to build and paint a diorama within 2 Months. The topic is Zombie Apocalypse. And hell yeah! That’s my business as a huge zombie fan!

The clue: He sent packages with stuff that could be used as starting point:

• 2 Zombie Minis
• a random Mini from Hasslefree 
• Kork, wood, plastic card and profiles, Mesh, metal rods 
• Brick stones, sand bags, concrete walls and plates from juweela

My survivor was “Felicity” - and with all that set, it was time to plan.

How to start that? 

Since the minis were a random pick, I took some time to think about Felicity ( spoiler pic - I didn’t take a shot of her unpainted ) and the zombies

• What does Felicities pose tell?
• More of a prepared waiting pose
• Or a “finished” pose after some zombie smashing action
• She is definitely not in action
• How can that match to my zombies? 
• The box contained a running one 
• And a standing one  

The zombies were just too different to put both in a scene. One was full of power and dynamics, the other not ( but he seems to hide somewhere in nearly every picture ). So I decided to go for one.

Picture puzzles

Well, can you get what this represents? Probably not - if you didn’t check newer posts or my IG (-:

However, it is my very first sketch in the hobby from a phone app called - wait for it - Sketchbook.

Ok then - with a scribble on the phone, a picture in the head, I started some layouting on wood, and drawing barriers with a pencil.

Sketch with basic elements

And after that, with a few brics and indication of a second level, the idea becomes visible.

Ok - sketch is clear, but how shall that ever fit on the small wooden block that was part of the package? Believe me, that question hits me in every project. The key is to use space wise. Don’t provide too much empty space if there is no message justifying it. The viewer doesn’t want to search for the main actors like easter eggs.

Since the beautiful parts box contained a wooden plinth, I just had to find the right side and angle keeping in mind that the zombie and felicity require a minimum distance in between to indicate that the zombie is approaching but felicity might be able to react in an adequate fashion.

Fortunately all fitted well when setup diagonal - which gives the whole scene a nice twist of two main view points - another sketch for that layout. 

Then everything got transfered to the wooden block and crosschecked again:

And with that, project was on the right track to be build.