Wrap-up PHOTODUMP

The final diorama photoset is happily chillin in my project description. The previous post has my take-aways and things learned from this project. This post is all going to be all vanity shots of the individual things I painted. Enjoy, please take note of the piece of pottery painted in the closest thing I could get to FFA71A yellow because it’s good for branding: All miniatures pictured in this post are from Vae Victis Miniatures.

End Week 4 - We’re calling this one completed

I think it’s time to close this one out. I might still post a couple big photo updates, near the end of this week/on the weekend to better recap the separate things I painted. This week was an absolute nuts work-week for me and there just wasn’t much room for extra hobby time and expanding on what I’ve already done. As per my last post, I completed everything I wanted to do in terms of this project. There are lots of little pieces I’m still looking forward to paint, but that’s always the case with miniature painting.

My big take-aways

This project really helped me confirm a good weekly planning style and I’m excited to apply that in my future projects.

I also have found that my big push last week to get so many things done really exhausted my hobbying stamina and actually made me break my painting/hobby streak in a major way this week. There’s the real-life work and stress factor at play here too but I really felt like I had done so much painting that I needed a break! I’ve never felt that before, I’m so happy to have figured that out; now I know that I can’t do a huge push like that “for fun” and have it still feel fun in the end.

My first project helped me figure out that a 20 min minimum (about 4-5 days a week) was helpful for relieving stress and keeping up with small hobbying goals (painting things for DnD games). This time I’ve found that several hours 7 days a week is too much, and no longer a stress relief. Realistically, if I painted half of the sceneries and miniatures I did as apart of this project I still would have come out with something awesome and exciting.

Week 4 - Diorama completed?!?!

I am thrilled with how this turned out, but I’m not going to mark this project as completed just yet. I’m going to use the remainder of this week and maybe even a little bit of a 5th week to continue to paint and photograph and play around a little more.

Week 4 - Test photos for final composition

Mostly messing around here, these are some practice shots without good lighting. Brain storming and testing composition. Testing out using some vinyl game mats for the ground instead of something crafted. I like this sand/grass combo. Makes for an ocean-side town vibe.

Week 3 - End of week summary

Missed this week’s day knights crafting hangout on discord but still snuck in some good painting time.

• Completed: painting clothing and textiles market stall (some pieces need touching up)
• Nearly completed: painting two generic towns folk (some touch ups needed)
• Haven’t started: Bonus task of painting firbolg selling pretzels
• Bonus bonus: Painted a vase in a familiar yellow and freehanded a IX on it because it’s good for branding

Progress shots of all of the above:

Clothing and textiles market stall, also the Day9 vase

Father/son townsfolk duo

They still need some touch ups (see the green paint I splattered on the father’s sleeve)

To do’s for Week 4

• Touch up townfolk
• Touch up some textiles, nails on market stall
• Arrange scene and take photos
• Edit and post photos
• BONUS: Finish painting more minis to fill scene (pretzel girl, woman to go behind textiles stall)

Week 3 - Mid-week progress check-in

Participated in the Saturday crafting hangout on discord with some other folks and it was super fun and chill to just chat and listen to what other people were working on while painting. Will be doing that again for suuure!!

• All week 1 tasks complete
• All week 2 tasks complete
• In-progress: painting last market stall (clothing/textiles)
• In-progress: painting two generic towns folk to fill in the scene for the diorama
• Complete: Backdrop painting done, did some extra touch-ups from last post
• Haven’t started: Bonus task of painting firbolg selling pretzels

Progress shots of all of the above:

Touch ups on the backdrop (added moss and more highlights) In-progress townsfolk In-progress market stall (clothing and textiles) Firbolg selling pretzels that I probably won’t have time to paint (single tear)

Week 2 - Backdrop 1 piece completion

First section of the backdrop is complete. Heck yes!! I’m very very happy with it! I’ve never made something like this before. It was full of experimentation and was super enjoyable to just wing it and see what happened. I might not need to make a second section of backdrop houses for this project and may just leave that for another time. Lots more to paint and the scenery ground is prooving to be a difficult things to make.

Progress shots of the backdrop houses:

Primed and ready to be painted Base coats of paint and some dry brushing, attached wooden and stone windows both backed with semi-transparent acetate sheets stained an orange brownish colour (might add lighting effects if time permits) Used plaster paris to fill in walls, made it pretty watery to have an easier time filling in corners etc. Dried plaster with scratches and weathering marks added, added door and wooden staircase After applying some acrylic based washed to the plaster, adding more highlights and details to door and stone pieces Test staging with some minis

Week 1 progress recap

• On track: printed all miniatures needed for diorama
• Ahead of schedule: painted a bunch of minis - this is actually very exciting as I am hopeful I’ll get to complete my week three bonus goal of painting my firbolg pretzel girl
• On track: planned out backdrop, cut pieces out, AND assembled one section of backdrop (row of stores/houses)
• Ahead of schedule: backdrop assembly, primed and have begun painting
• On track: Testing and planning ground materials - foam and sand tests, used foam with paper on it which curled when the glue dried, need to test some more options
• Behind schedule: Planning actual arrangement for photograph

And now for some progress shots:

Primed first section of backdrop (will make another section only if time permits)

Gluing sand on foam board (shortly after taking this picture I will recall that the paper on the foam will make this entire piece curl when it dries - this thing is sitting under a giant stack of rpg rule books and will be investigated tomorrow to see if it’s usable).

Some 3D printed bits to add to the backdrop and ground.

A few more painted pieces for the market scene.

Finished painting a mini for another project but realized he’d be perfect for a traveling merchant from far away (I’m going for a classic medieval fantasy town vibe). And some merchandise that he sells (might paint some more stuff like this): Next on the list of things is to:

• finish planning the backdrop scene and maybe even start assembling early
• figure out how the heck to make ground (cobble stone or sandy or or or)

Mid-week 1 Update

• All main miniatures wanted for market scene are printed and primed
• Just a few more pieces to print for the backdrop
• Lots of mini painting progress!!
• Most other materials together for creating backdrop
• Going to start cutting more structural backdrop pieces

Mini-painting progress shots:

Apples and tomatoes Weapons merchant and wares CHEESE Bread stall with a fat elf milk maid (I love her so much) Backdrop storefronts planning progress:

I got really excited about my week 2 idea of kit bashing some other 3D bits together to make a new market stall… and so I did it at lunch today. I can’t be stopped. My 3D-printing-kit-bashing-fury has no bounds. Behold: The folks that sculpted these miniatures made the market table top a removable piece which is so handy for painting and in a pinch I have a bunch of regular tables.

I started early, I’m too excited about it. A few market stalls are printed and primed with some minis to go along. Might not paint all of them as I have lots of other miniatures I can use for stand-ins. Market stalls I definitely want to finish painting by week 2 are: 1. cheese stall, 2. weapons stall, 3. apple stand OR baked goods. Week 3 bonus goal mini pictured in the lower right corner (firbolg pretzel girl)