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Well, I haven't quite finished these things yet, but here's the beginning of an alien "tree" or "flower" design tutorial. For me, a lot of the time, it is good to have a basic, but mutable concept in mind of what I want the end product to look like. In this way I can build towards something, but not be locked into what the end result must look like. So I wanted to create a medium, flower-type tree thing. I also wanted to use materials that were relatively cheap. Half my inspiration comes from wandering around a craft store or a yard sale and just looking for things that catch my eye and inspire pictures in my head. Enter these things:

Wire


Dowels


Beads


Also tools


I decided to chop the dowels down to size with my trusty saw.


And considering I had two thicknesses of wire, I needed to cut some lengths of that, too.
"Measuring"


"Action shot of me clipping"

The more I work, the more my fingers begin to take on the role of hands. Like using my forefinger and index finger as left an right holding appendages. I've developed some very articulated digits while making terrain.

After using my thumb to pin one end of the wire to the stick I began wrapping it around each dowel. This picture does not convey the stiffness of the wire or the jerky violence of my wrapping it. Nor the raw redness such action caused to my finger and thumb tips. Forewarning, this is the "dainty" version of what actually goes into this step. You have to hold the wire firmly and wrestle the other end around that stick. It doesn't want to go. Apparently it has other plans - maybe it has a dinner date or intends to go drinking with some friends and you have to convince it that what it really needs to be doing is coiling around this boring dowel. In other words this wire is an unruly teenager and your hands are its disciplinarian step parent. I think I'm getting way off track here.


This is what you should end up with for the thin wire (note you will need more length to fully wrap the dowel with a finer wire than with a thicker one).


And a thick wire wrap.


You're going to end up with a loose end of wire at either end of the dowel "stem".


Just use your clippers (not a GW one because you'll just dent the blade; use a steel clipper from a hardware store) to cut the wire flush.


Then we can go to gluing on those wooden beads. Pour some Elmers glue into the hole like so.


Poke the dowel into the hole as so.


And twist it in so the wire grips the interior of the bead.


The view from above with glue settling in.


Tada! Step One done.


Just lay them down to dry.


And set them aside while you work on something else/go to sleep.


Here I tried to visualize the end product. This is vaguely what I hope they will look like in the end.


And that's roughly step one. Next is texturing and painting.

I use this:


To do this:


With a brush first to the ball head:


And then the stem:


Then I set them upside down to dry like so:


And they are dry, I take my hot glue gun and plug the holes on the tops of the beads:




Once that cools I texture over the tops, too and jam them into a block of styrofoam to dry. Then I prime the ball tops white with craft paint:


And set that to dry, too:


And then you will notice that spiky ball of madness on the end:



And you might think, "What the hell is that thing?" And I will tell you that was my first attempt at figuring out what to do with these wooden beads stuck to the ends of dowels. I clipped down about fifty spiral shells and hot glued them on to the bead like so:




Heck, I even textured it. But honestly, what I realized the most was that thing was top heavy, expensive to produce, and most of all, utterly ridiculous looking. So that's why there's only one them.

Next I primed the stems black with craft paint:


I also managed to prime my fingertips at the same time, so I guess I was multitasking. Next I used red paint to base coat the balls. It required two coats:



Then I stippled some orange paint on while the red was still a little wet:


The orange is really difficult to see:



You'll have to take my word that there's orange over the red. Then I realized I needed a better yellow paint, so this project is on hold for now while I go get some. But essentially that's the end of steps 2.

Next is painting and finishing the stem and head, and then adding some sort of leafy or flowery what not to complete the basic work. C&C always welcome! Thanks for looking!

Okay, got my paint, did some work, took some pictures. I'm heading over to a client's home (the guy for whom I'm building the Shattered City project) today to get some pictures of individual pieces and some group shots. I'll update tomorrow with the results. Stay tuned!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A preview of what;s to come.

Stalking the ruins:

Okay, dry brushed the ball heads yellow:


Yellow again:


And again:


And again, because this damn yellow is thin and needed 4 stupid coats to show up.


The I started on the stems with red:


Then a dry brush of grey, starting with darkest, to less dark, to least dark::




And then light and then lighter grey (which actually turned out to be white). I can't tell which of these pictures is light grey and which one is white, so they are arranged arbitrarily:



And finally, I glued the flower "collar" around the bottom of the beads:


And inverted them to dry:


Now I have to figure out what to do about their bases. Any suggestions more than welcome. As always, C&C encouraged. Thanks for looking!

Interested to see how these look in situ.

You should do some smaller versions as plants are rarely all the same size in nature.
Also, mix in some other plant life to make the base look more natural.

Keep at it.

Thanks, Dr H! Yeah, I did make them all different heights. You think I should make a couple of bases with these and other plants mixed in?

A large base for groups, and the individual plants/groups (1-3 per) on their own bases with their own base details-- smaller plants like Dr. H said. That way you can mix and match to build up good sized pieces, and still keep them playable.

I'm wondering how using a heavy gauge wire for the trunks would work.You could curve the trunks, instead of having them all straight. And there are those mats of plastic plants that you can actually thread onto dowel or wire to create nice clumps.

When working with plastic plants, sometimes it helps to paint or ink or wash them, to give them a more 'natural' look. Seems counter-intuitive I know, but in some cases it works really well.

It would look more natural to have a mixture of plants.
Unless they are something like yew trees and prevent other plants from growing nearby.

 Red Harvest wrote:
A large base for groups, and the individual plants/groups (1-3 per) on their own bases with their own base details-- smaller plants like Dr. H said. That way you can mix and match to build up good sized pieces, and still keep them playable.

I'm wondering how using a heavy gauge wire for the trunks would work.You could curve the trunks, instead of having them all straight. And there are those mats of plastic plants that you can actually thread onto dowel or wire to create nice clumps.

When working with plastic plants, sometimes it helps to paint or ink or wash them, to give them a more 'natural' look. Seems counter-intuitive I know, but in some cases it works really well.

Interesting idea, Red Harvest. I'll have to try that.

 Dr H wrote:
It would look more natural to have a mixture of plants.
Unless they are something like yew trees and prevent other plants from growing nearby.

Yeah, I totally get this idea, Dr H.

Thanks for the feedback, fellas! I really appreciate it.

In the meantime, here's some action shots of the terrain I built for a client. This represents about a third of the stuff I'm making for him.

Here is the finished Plinth. Not my best work ever, but he seemed impressed by it.







Here it is with the ruined buildings:


And here's a whole bunch of shots with the buildings in various configurations:












And some close ups, detail, etc:











Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome. Have a great day!

Some really cool pieces there mate!!

and i REALLY love some of those camera angles..... the real eye level views... with the in focus mid ground and slightly blurred foreground (Oh dear.... showing my pitiful camera knowledge..... Macro setting?!)..... but hey... looks great!

Nice work. The ruins look great.

Awesome work war boss! Really creative use for plants and bits!

BB

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Yeah, MagosBiff90, it's the Macro setting on my Nikon P7700. I wish I had like a canvas backdrop painted up like a war zone sky, though. Something with clouds underlit by distant fires. But I do like how the mounds if rubble mesh from piece to piece; I'm satisfied with how that came out. There's still more pieces to go with this set. At least 2 more huge pieces and another medium one. And then a bunch of less fancy pieces. Thanks for the encouragement all! It really helps to keep me motivated.

More soon. Cheers!

I can't believe it's been 4 months since I last posted. I've been commissioned to build some terrain for a local wargaming store and I'm in the process of doing just that. It's a slow process and I'm working at the store with only the store's materials on hand. I've been asked to make 2 tables, 1 for 40k and 1 for fantasy, and I'm starting with the one for 40k. However, I've noticed they have a lot of Malifaux players, too, and I asked these gents what kind of terrain, if they had an opportunity to have the perfect set up, they would want for their games. I'm trying to use their feedback to create terrain that would work for both 40k and the more skirmish-style games like the previously mentioned Malifaux and Infinity. Anyway, the theme I have in mind for this table was originally rocky/mountainous forgeworld, but it's quickly becoming desert/mesa imperial colony. The store has a LOT of insulation foam, so I am taking advantage of that. I started with a flat with a ramp that I am making deliberately large so that smaller terrain pieces will fit on top of it creating new battlefield dynamics or just leaving it as a large, flat elevated position. I don't seem to have a great picture of this piece, but here are a few bad pictures of it.

Top down view of the ramp (that later gets a clay road bed).

And a sneak peak of another piece that will include a modular building attached to it.

The building will go in this nice big building-shaped spot here.


Thanks for looking! More updates tomorrow.

Excellent stuff Waaazag- that should look pretty nice when it's finished

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Thanks for the feedback, guys! Yeah, MagosBiff90, it's the Macro setting on my Nikon P7700. I wish I had like a canvas backdrop painted up like a war zone sky, though. Something with clouds underlit by distant fires. But I do like how the mounds if rubble mesh from piece to piece; I'm satisfied with how that came out. There's still more pieces to go with this set. At least 2 more huge pieces and another medium one. And then a bunch of less fancy pieces. Thanks for the encouragement all! It really helps to keep me motivated.

More soon. Cheers!

Try using a poster, if you can find one. Or have something printed? Or, just 'shop' a background into the scene?

So, after contemplating what to do next with an oversized piece of foamcore, I decided to cut it all down and texture the exterior with some really oddly appropriate wallpaper they had laying around.

Here is the boring rear wall. Notice the grooves I cut in the ends to hide the joins.

And the right facing wall.

And the "front" wall.

And for no reason I have no WIP pic of the left facing wall with the doorway in it. I very roughly measured on the window opening with a flimsy metal ruler and then used an enormously heavy right-angled level as a straight edge to cut along my penciled "dotted lines".
Then I cut rough strips out of the wallpaper and penciled the cut line for the heights of the walls. Hey look! My door frame wall!

Measure once, cut twice...or some such.

This is my glue mixture which is roughly a 1:1:1 mix of water, terrible old glue that looks like semen and smells like cleaning fluid but is somehow "nontoxic", and black craft paint. I used an old brush to apply it to the exterior of the whole piece (it's important to note that I had to test fit all the pieces and literally write "inside" and "outside" on all the facings so I would not mess this up).

And then placed the sheet on top of the glued facing. Tada!

And then flip the pieces over and do the superfluous step of marking the frames with pencil.

This is a pointless step because the textured sheet is already glued in place and I'm about to just use a knife to cut the area I've wasted my pencil lead on.

Tada!


Next step, detailing the interior walls with wooden coffee stirrer sticks I just so happened to have 20 of in my pocket at the time.

Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome!

Okay, so I decided to detail the interior of this building with wood panelling. I just so happened to have a pile of wooden coffee stirrer sticks in my pocket. I pick up a bunch at the coffee shop whenever I go and break off the rounded ends, then snap them in half before jamming them in the same pocket as my keys and loose change. The battering they receive in there distresses them in a believable and natural way. (I apologize for some of these blurry photos, all I had on hand was the wife's cellphone).

So I clipped the snapped ends off and started gluing them on to the interior of the "front" wall.

Yes, some of them completely covered my windows.

I also did the rearmost wall (where you may be getting the impression I intend to build a staircase).

Once glued in place (using the same glue, water, and craft paint mixture as for the exterior texture), but before waiting for it to dry...because I am impatient...I first test fit the walls to get an idea of what it will look like done (an also to make sure the walls still came together well...and also to show off my progress to the store's manager) and then I started to cut out the window blockers and clip the "boards" flush with the top of the wall.






And then I began (but haven't finished, yet) to measure, clip, and glue in the window frames.

Note the running board at the base/bottom of the wall to cover/hide the bottoms of the wood panelling).


More updates tomorrow or Tuesday. Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome.

Can't believe not been here. Looks great dude. Subbed now.

Like the wood panelling.

Nice work. Good use of textured paper and the stirrers.

Why is it that you add the paint to the glue?

So that wallpaper has a textured surface to it? Interesting. I like the interior detailing. The floor?

May I offer a suggestion about the windows? you need to extend the lintels (the wood piece that runs across the top) so that it is supported by the side pieces. The way you have it looks awkward IMHO.

Writing on terrain WIPs is something I do all the time. Witness posts they're called. Or witness marks if it is just an 'x'. Sorry if it is TMI.

I always appreciate feedback, thank you very much guys!

 Dr H wrote:
Nice work. Good use of textured paper and the stirrers.

Why is it that you add the paint to the glue?

I add paint because it thins the glue as well as water and also adds a layer of "priming". Also, especially when I'm using white glue on a white material like foam core, it's easier to see where I've put the glue and where I've missed.

Red Harvest wrote:May I offer a suggestion about the windows? you need to extend the lintels (the wood piece that runs across the top) so that it is supported by the side pieces. The way you have it looks awkward IMHO.

Extend the lintel at the top? Or the bottom to create a sill? The exterior is still going to have more work done to it yet, to hide the crude ends where it meets the openings for the windows.

Red Harvest wrote:So that wallpaper has a textured surface to it? Interesting. I like the interior detailing. The floor?

Yeah, the texture is not very pronounced, but the project's caveat is that I use only what's on hand at the store. I haven't really decided what I'm going to do with the floor. I might make it a dirt floor or concrete on the ground level and wooden floors with carpeting or something on the second and subsequent floors. I don't know. In either case the floor will likely be a separate layer added to the bottom and might bring the whole structure up about a half inch. Still working on ideas. I go back to do more work tomorrow.

Everything looks great, and the ground level shots are ace!

Late to the party, regarding the plants you made some time ago. Have you tried, as Red H. suggested, using a large gauge wire for the stems instead of the wood dovels? Or maybe either a few wires, twisted around for thickness? That would allow for some flexibility in the stems/trunks, and maybe a more "natural" look for an organic shape.

(Or some thickish cable, a cut off of network UPT cable, for example? Thick as the dovels, give or take, bendable, and, it would keep the given shape with the outside wire-coil holding it)

Current project is looking good, like the panelling, and it will surely look great once tinted.

Hard to explain. so here the lintel rests atop the jambs. But if you put a frame over it, it won't be visible, and it will be a non-issue, since it is certainly not load bearing.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Hard to explain. so here the lintel rests atop the jambs. But if you put a frame over it, it won't be visible, and it will be a non-issue, since it is certainly not load bearing.

I think I see what you are saying. Make the top cross piece wider than the side supports, right? Almost as if I were to turn the current setup on its side. Because at the moment it looks as though nothing is stopping that top cross piece from just falling down, out of the window frame. But give the impression that it extends into the wall to the left and right, then it becomes a load bearing structure and the window frame takes on a look more realistic and true. Is this interpretation correct, Red?

Right. The top piece rests on the sides (jambs) which are the legs that support it.

 Littletower wrote:
Everything looks great, and the ground level shots are ace!

Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback!

Late to the party, regarding the plants you made some time ago. Have you tried, as Red H. suggested, using a large gauge wire for the stems instead of the wood dovels? Or maybe either a few wires, twisted around for thickness? That would allow for some flexibility in the stems/trunks, and maybe a more "natural" look for an organic shape.

(Or some thickish cable, a cut off of network UPT cable, for example? Thick as the dovels, give or take, bendable, and, it would keep the given shape with the outside wire-coil holding it)

I'm taking this advice with another project I'm concurrently working on. I'm making some alien jungle trees using Styrofoam pumpkins and some wire in an effort to create exactly what you're talking about here - a more organic looking shape. I'll post pictures in a day or two.

Wow.... i have missed out on a lot... that new piece looks the business! really cool! I like the building built into the side of the rock! Nice detail! And the timebr boarding on the interior is cool!!

Thanks for the feedback, MagosBiff90! More pics up on Wednesday. A million projects...give or take.