Wednesday, October 23, 2013

"Cemetery Gates" Miniature

Because I love making trees.

the first task that I've set out on for Michelle's project has been putting together the set for a really really wide shot of Dracula's House. I wrote a bit about it before, but this will consist of 3 panels. The front panel is going to be the most detailed as it takes up most of the screen. 

Michelle had a pretty solid idea of what this shot would be, along with all the props needed. I wanted to have a personal idea the angle and scale of everything, so I tried to draw out a final arrangement for the two focal points (the gate, and the house on the cliff). The initial one I threw together for this was pretty rough, though I wanted to make sure the gateway had a lot of screen presence. The final shot/composite will be framed much better than this portrayal... but this is just one of those things not meant to look particularly pretty to anyone but the person using it as directions.

(Michelle has some much better concept work for it)

Anyways, My first step was making that gateway. It is the first point of interest, and I wanted to have a good idea for the overall scale by making something relative to the characters. The sides are made with carved/painted foam, and rest with a combination of mat-board and wires.


The lantern on top has a wire running down the chain so that it can be animated swinging. The doors are also attached via hinges, and can be opened. 


After the gate was completed, Michelle cut a large wooden board for me to use that would be ample space to make this set. I think the entire thing is around 2 feet wide and a little over 1 foot deep. I worked a bit on making an interesting/slightly inclined terrain out of chicken wire and plaster wrap. I have a photo where you can see the under side of the ground, with all those layers in place. Some painted papier-mâché did well for the dirt ground. There is a better view of that, along with the start of a brick path (again, made with foam) that breaks up as it nears the gate. 


Up next were the trees. These were pretty tough because I wanted them to be really gnarled, thick pieces. To make the roots convincing enough, I decided to collect a bunch of sticks, also used for the branches. I used real bark as well, and to meld everything together I used some plaster-y material. Here's a photo of all of that with the bare plaster:



After that had dried, I painted the plaster parts, and tried to replicate that texture/color pattern. Things here are starting to come together some more. Trees starting to look like trees haha.



The last bit I was able to work on was just putting down some moss to start fleshing out the grass patterns. I also added Michelle's miniature vespa, so you can have an idea how large the character will be in the scope of all this. Keep in mind, the gate is still not attached, just placed in there so you can have an idea.



So this is where the miniature is at right now; this panel is pretty near completion. I still need to work on some wispy foliage for the trees, more blending with the grass/plants, and the fence. The next panel behind this one will be a really wide piece with just open, not-super-detailed hills. The final panel will have the cliff, and a small version of Dracula's house to create a sort of forced perspective.

I'll post some more on this soon! this is really the only animation-related thing I'm working on at the moment, so I'm trying to be pretty gung-ho about it. Again, check out Michelle's side of things along with some awesome interior miniatures here: http://bts-roommatessuck.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!