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I must say that I LOVE the contrast on your model right there, Dark mechanical tech guy, on a nice warm earthy base really gives him the unnatural look and I like it!

 Rogue Wolves wrote:
I must say that I LOVE the contrast on your model right there, Dark mechanical tech guy, on a nice warm earthy base really gives him the unnatural look and I like it!

"Fall Palette"... I'm still working on a way to make grimdark shrubbery

So an updated list of entrants:

Bruticus
Ramos Asura
Jarl Marius
Two Spartan
Galorn
Dsteingass
Rogue Wolves
Cave_Dweller
GiraffeX (?)

Cool article merlin!

Those are some great ideas meade, resourceful!

My Entry!
I have had the Mines of Moria boxed set for about a year now but hadn't bothered to do anything with it. This has inspired me to model it as dwarven ruins in a forest.
For this competition I will probably only use the columns and door, and make some walls. I am planning to have them separate to keep them modular.

Beginnings of vines:


These are made with garden wire super glued on to the terrain. =)

I really like your idea, meade. A shrubbery-artice would be great!

Btw I fixed the links in my article, they didn't work before. We can update it after every contest and maybe put this in every new contest OP so everyone knows what we're talking about:
[url=http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/The_-%3DL%3D-Terrain_Competitions]The -=]_=- Terrain competitions[/url]

which shows as this and leads to the article.
The -=]_=- Terrain competitions

and someone totally has to do a riveting tutorial!

 Two Spartan wrote:
Cool article merlin!

Those are some great ideas meade, resourceful!

My Entry!
I have had the Mines of Moria boxed set for about a year now but hadn't bothered to do anything with it. This has inspired me to model it as dwarven ruins in a forest.
For this competition I will probably only use the columns and door, and make some walls. I am planning to have them separate to keep them modular.

Beginnings of vines:


These are made with garden wire super glued on to the terrain. =)

cool! Have you decided what kind of forest, or is it more of a jungle?

the jungle style, just search for pics of Angkor Wat, that would require a bit more sculpting of the vine roots themselves.

whereas in temperate locations you see vines forming a carpet on the sides of a tree trunk, or building, usually going for the top sunlight-facing area first (the roots often being visible at the bottom. A lot easier to do with wires, but the tricky part is finding something to model the carpet of vine leaves growing on the side/top.

Yeah I think I'm gonna go for a forest look, with vines like this:


I can't put on that many leaves but I will try to strike a balance between realism practicality and durability =)

you can use anything for the carpet- hell, flocking glued to the wall looks good, but remember to do foliage in layers, building it up to create variations and interest, otherwise it looks flat and unrealistic. Moss will grow on different sides of things based on the hemisphere of your position on the planet and it's orbit too.

 dsteingass wrote:
you can use anything for the carpet- hell, flocking glued to the wall looks good, but remember to do foliage in layers, building it up to create variations and interest, otherwise it looks flat and unrealistic. Moss will grow on different sides of things based on the hemisphere of your position on the planet and it's orbit too.

yeah, the spongy flocking (not the fiber stuff) would definitely work. I'm going to be getting some of the SW miniatures' 'leaf litter' in the mail soon, and I'll review it here, one of the things I want to try is using it for vine leaves.

Another thing to mention is pipe cleaners. They come in different colors and you can bend them around stuff in the shape of a vine... and the bristles look like vegetation. It takes a bit of work to make those look realistic though...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
btw guys, if you find good tutorials, post them here please!

Here is an awesome tut on mushrooms (yes they count as shrubbery for the purposes of this contest-although technically not plantlife), and one on vegetation as well. It covers different kinds of grasses, flowers, lilypads, etc.

http://necrotales.com/necroTutorials/

MrMerlin wrote:Loving the banner, Meade! Added it to my sig!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I just wrote an article about the -=]_=- competitions. What do you think?:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/The_-%3DL%3D-Terrain_Competitions

nice history to the competitions!!!

and meade... the link to making mushrooms is excellent!!!

Yeah mushrooms are great for a forest/swamp/jungle base, and especially if you've got some logs or stumps. And there's more kinds than just the 'toadstool' variety, although something colorful is nice.

Dude- That site is killer for terrain tutorials!

Merlin, Great Article man!
I motion that MrMerlin be named -=]_=- Remembrancer General.

 dsteingass wrote:
Merlin, Great Article man!
I motion that MrMerlin be named -=]_=- Remembrancer General.

I second that motion!

Sorry no pics yet today but I got another supply dump, including more woodland scenics stuff like tall grasses and more spongy material, plus the SW mini's leaf litter.

All good stuff, and the more variety the better. Then I had a thought, why not raid the pantry?

So I went and grabbed a container of oregano (there were like three hanging around) and honestly, I don't see a difference between that and the leaf litters you can buy... it has a nice tan-green color to it and would be great to glue on for fallen leaves or vines, or small bushes. Actually, a lot of the dried spices seem to work rather well for different kinds of plants, then only downside is that some of them might be a tad brittle and require some sealing with matte medium (I also use modge podge matte finish).

Also, as a side bonus, YOUR MINIATURES SMELL AND TASTE NICE. Anybody tried this or know about this? I'd like to hear.

Being the Italian I am, I love oregano so much... And have tons, so I'll give this a try

Let us know how it goes RW

And now I'd like to announce... a secondary prize!



A spider servo skull! (the figure is just shown for scale, not included in the prize) Lovingly built and painted by me.

Base is not included, you are free to do whatever you want with it. Good for any army, chaos or loyalist.

**WARNING** you might get creeped out by this servo skull. Like in those cartoons where the eyes in the painting follow you around and the painting seems to always be looking at you... is the same way I feel about this servo skull.

The secondary prize will be for participation and support. The more WIP's you post, tips and advice for modelling shrubbery, moral support, etc. You can have a final entry and still win the secondary prize (but you can't win both prizes), but also if for some reason you may have posted a lot of WIP's but can't finish the contest you are still eligible. You are also still eligible if you don't 'officially' enter the contest (such as judges ), so obviously the prize will be given by myself alone.

my project for the fourth competition... as i am helping out with the panel of judges ... this object will be of some sort of keeping in with the spirit of the comp...

well and this will be the starting base from which i will build my "shrubbery"...








it is from a pet shop... aquarioum decoration... probably resin stuff... plan is to add some vines and make it look way better that the current paining
i had an odd shaped "ball" of plant in my hand too... which looked like this



but i didn´t bought it yet... figuring that hehe...oregano might help me too out in this project



well... so much for now...


cheers, vik


Automatically Appended Next Post:
oh ... and that servo skull is so cool looking...!!!!

Oh my god that spider servo skull is adorable. How did you make the little legs? It really reminds me of an especially gross manga called Gyo where things scuttle around on legs like that, horrifying. (Warning: reading Gyo might scar you for life).

Good idea about the WIP thing, I have to admit to not wanting to post much in the way of WIP in case it gave the game away too much, but will do now.

And for my contribution to the technique thing I will show this site: http://www.elladan.de/Index.htm - he has a method for synthetic fur grass that I think looks amazing, I had planned to make a full board using that method one day...

 Bruticus wrote:
Oh my god that spider servo skull is adorable. How did you make the little legs? It really reminds me of an especially gross manga called Gyo where things scuttle around on legs like that, horrifying. (Warning: reading Gyo might scar you for life).

DON'T CALL IT CUTE!!! (It does not think of itself that way).

The little legs are just a thin copper wire, btw. In my days of crafting jewellery I got pretty good at manipulating wire.

Good idea about the WIP thing, I have to admit to not wanting to post much in the way of WIP in case it gave the game away too much, but will do now.

And for my contribution to the technique thing I will show this site: http://www.elladan.de/Index.htm - he has a method for synthetic fur grass that I think looks amazing, I had planned to make a full board using that method one day...

There is no real requirement to post WIP's as long as you have them to post at the end, as some bit of proof that you built the entry yourself. But this prize is to provide a bit of incentive to post for everyone... which I feel would benefit the contest in general... so it's a mixed bag. You can always post little teasers and not reveal the final package till the end .

Need another Judge?

 Briancj wrote:
Need another Judge?

Nah I think three is plenty for this contest... but whoever wins it next can decide for themselves

Green dried oregano will turn brown if you don't seal it with a clear-coat, but it takes awhile to turn.

It's a shame I cannot compete. Some people might enjoy the tip of using green scrubbies, I got a box of these things from work once and it has been supplying me for years.

 dsteingass wrote:
Green dried oregano will turn brown if you don't seal it with a clear-coat, but it takes awhile to turn.

That's good to know... I tried working with it today and sealed it with the modge podge (it's a sealer so I assume it will be alright). I wonder if its the same with all plant products (for example the one from secret weapon minis?). But it must go for several years before it starts turning brown...

I've come to the conclusion that just airbrushing and painting the vegetation after I'm done with it adds so much. It looks better that way anyway. Doesn't hurt to be generous with the spray sealer as well.

Very cool servo skull, have you ever done a tutorial on how you make glowing eyes?.. because you should...

If I can leave my new fetish for fallout 3 (thanx dave and Vik) long enough alone i'll dig op my jungle dioramas and do some tuttitrials here. I'm probably not entering the competition though... I have no need for shrubbery in my necro-pocalypse city...

But since i used to build Vietnam dioramas i got shrubbery covered... Jungle plants, trees, etc...

Fallout has plenty of dead shrubbery!

The products you buy are dyed artificially, that is what gives you the permanent color. If you paint it, it does the same job of sealing it.

 MauS wrote:
If I can leave my new fetish for fallout 3 (thanx dave and Vik) long enough alone i'll dig op my jungle dioramas and do some tuttitrials here. I'm probably not entering the competition though... I have no need for shrubbery in my necro-pocalypse city...

But since i used to build Vietnam dioramas i got shrubbery covered... Jungle plants, trees, etc...

Indeed, dead trees and grasses really add flavor, its challenging as well. Being obsessed with fallout 3 is no excuse! But some jungle stuff would be cool as well!




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 Rogue Wolves wrote:
Very cool servo skull, have you ever done a tutorial on how you make glowing eyes?.. because you should...

well possibly, there's been a few requests but... it's rather simple. airbrush, I stuff the eyes with spheres of something or other so no natural shadows form, then a white undercoat, then i carefully spray the airbrush to get the glow effect, i use VMA scarlet red. It's an awesome paint because it is extremely transparent. And if I really want a neat effect I'll go back with another coat of white after spraying and then another handbrushed scarlet red + light red.

jabbakahut wrote:It's a shame I cannot compete. Some people might enjoy the tip of using green scrubbies, I got a box of these things from work once and it has been supplying me for years.

what the hell is

scrubbies

???

MauS wrote:If I can leave my new fetish for fallout 3 (thanx dave and Vik) long enough alone i'll dig op my jungle dioramas and do some tuttitrials here. I'm probably not entering the competition though... I have no need for shrubbery in my necro-pocalypse city...

But since i used to build Vietnam dioramas i got shrubbery covered... Jungle plants, trees, etc...

who said your plants have to be alive? plant life should be convincing... not really said anywhere how the living status should be... even alien shrubberies would be good!

and sorry for the lack of social interaction caused by us watering your mouth with FO gibberish ... enter at your own risk

 Viktor von Domm wrote:

jabbakahut wrote:It's a shame I cannot compete. Some people might enjoy the tip of using green scrubbies, I got a box of these things from work once and it has been supplying me for years.

what the hell is

scrubbies

???

Ha, sorry. More accurately, green scouring pads.



You can cut them, glue them, burn them, paint them... Useful texture additions.

I'm not sure If I'm in or not

I was just having a think of what I could do and came up with an Aegis Defence Line made out of cut down logs and trees for my Dark Wolves which are based in a forest setting.

If I have time I'll do something.

My plants on my bases are made from the wire you buy for making necklaces I then cut leaves out of paper and then super glue them on and then paint them, my trees and logs I make from Sculpey. I pay a lot of attention to terraformers blogs