Iron Chef III: Triple Threat

[gauss_storm]

This is just great, you pulled off the tile effect very well.

[Triple Threat]

Painting part 2: Also, I have a question. Is the mud on the floor too much? Should I make it much less, or does it look fine as it is. I am open to any suggestions, as this is the first piece of scenery I have made. Thanks.

Without mud:





With mud:







On a side note, do you think I should put finer sand/gavel on the "sidewalk" part, or paint it black or gray, or anything else?

[Magus_Arts]

From the two pictures I think it looks better without mud. But you might be able to work on the mud effect to make it look more convincing. If the ruins have been rained on and caked with mud, then none of the floor would have that crisp grey look. Try dry brushing all over the floor with your mod color until not much of the grey is showing. There are too many clean spots right now.

Adding to the mud effect might help tie the floor in with the walls. Right now they don't quite look like they're part of the same building. I do think the floor looks quite striking, so you may want to try doing something to the walls to help them match the floor.

... just my two bits. Your piece looks awesome for your first piece of terrain!

[Andusciassus]

I'm with Magus_Arts on the mud-thing.
It seems like you need to spend some time with reference-pics to make the mud more beliviable. It looks quite a lot like something from someones first piece of scenery...the rest however does not.
It's a great looking piece you've got going there. The floor is fantastic and the gravel at the blasted part makes it close to perfect.
A few words of advice though.
First it's really important to hide the fact you are using plain cardboard. On the shots from above, where the top of the walls are showing, it becomes mighty obvious and I assure you, no matter how good your model will ever be that cardboard edge will always be a certain doom. It'll ruin your ruin so to say.
Get some glue and small gravel to the top of the walls, on the horisontal little edge, not all over. If you have any woodfiller or such it's even better.

Second advice is about the windows.
They look just like cut out holes at the moment. If you add some 3D effects around them like frames and tills. It'll make a huge differance. It's also a great way to fix any uneven edges and to hide the cardboardy-look I mentioned earlier.

Third is on the mud.
If your model has been sealed with a good base colour or PVA just go ahead and use many different colours. Vary the Drybrushing and Washes techniques and don't be afraid to make mistakes. You can always hide them with more paint. Go gentle in each go however and use a piece of cloth, a sponge or even your fingers to spread the (thin) paint.
THen make sure you give the mud a direction or movement. Who dragged it in there and how did they move?
I can imagine they went mostly from the door to the blown out corner. Make sure this movement is readable in your model.

Next, fifth, comes detailing. Add some minor hightech bits and pieces in places where they appear to serve som purpouse. A few consoles and a light. Some wires and such. It'll add to the feeling of scale and general 40K-iness.

Lastly is the small scenario-like traces. An empty helmet and a gun standing next to a window. Maybe an empty waterbottle. Something that gives the observer a picture of this model being a part of something bigger, it'll take it from a piece of scenery to becoming a piece of narrative, a setting.

Sorry for the somewhat lengthy post, but I have not been posting in a while and got a bit carried away I guess. It would never have happend if your model didn't have the potential it has however. It's a very promising piece of scenery and for being a first-time thing, it's simply amazing.

Good luck and keep up the good work.

[Triple Threat]

Well I added some more mud, as well as ledges on the windows. I also added some sand around the edge for the "sidewalk/road". What do you think? I am open to any suggestions. Any ideas for how to cover up the cardboard telltale part where you can see the inside wavy part would be much appreciated. Also, I am not yet nearly done, as I still have to add the extra details, as per Andusciassus.

[gauss_storm]

Wow.

[Shonuff]

indeed. impressive.
I agree. The first attempt at mud...D-.. your final work to date? A solid. the mud looked bad at first because you didn't have ENOUGH, and now it looks fine.


Good job T-threat.

Sho: out.

[Maelstrom]

you really nailed the mud with this attempt. With your first attempt at mud, i was going to comment that it was too sporadic, yet uniform adn symmetrical (if you understand what I'm trying to say). With your more recent attempt, the more consistent coating of a thin layer of mud over the thicker clumps make the floor look brilliant, as well as the slight aestetic details you added. As for the carboard tops, i would recommend the wood filler that has been previously suggested.

[Triple Threat]

Thanks to everyone for the comments and advice. I decided to top off the cardboard with cereal boxes, like so:



I then added pillar-y things under the ledges:



Then on goes the paint black first, followed by drybrushed light brown

[omgitsduane]

I think what would of been cool for the mud is find some spare legs of a marine and paint his boot and simply stamp him around the place, so the mud didn't make its way up there on its own.