Lastair
New Member
Hello everyone!
I recently got the sort of general "maker" bug after watching a bunch of videos on YouTube (Adam Savage's Tested stuff, wargaming terrain and train diorama tutorials, etc.) and decided to get started on my own stuff with some fan art of sorts: a diorama of the area around Link's house from one of my all-time favorite games, Zelda: A Link to the Past.
The area captured from the game:
View attachment 849350
I started with the house itself:
View attachment 849349
Started by making a basic digital 3D model and "unfolding" it into patterns in SketchUp, then printed it directly onto 0.5mm recycled cardboard for cutting. Bit of sanding and spackle to smooth things over, then primed with gesso tinted gray and painted with artist's acrylics. The cardboard probably wasn't the best choice since its roughness gets exaggerated at this scale, but I'm pretty happy with the results for a first go and don't mind things looking a little "craftsy" considering the game's cartoony aesthetic. It's also pretty shiny but I'll be applying a matte varnish once everything's properly nailed down.
The scale I'm using is 2 pixels = 1mm, which makes the details very fiddly for a beginner but I figure I'm at least not wasting tons of materials if and when I screw something up, and also want the end result to be reasonably sized for a shelf, it'll end up at 256 mm x 256 mm i.e. very close to 10" by 10".
I've been spending time figuring out how to model all the props like bushes and trees (and to reproduce them with molds so I get some consistency and don't lose my mind hand-sculpting all the 25 bushes etc. since I do want some sense of accurate original detail), and getting supplies and tools and setting up my workspace since all I had to start with were basically the paints and brushes and random scraps of cardboard. But I have most of it figured out now and am getting started on the diorama itself:
The core of the terrain is done (also plopped the house and a prototype tree on top for the photo to get a feel for things), the foamboard will all get covered of course so I could've just made it a cardboard "box" from my 3D model pattern with supports inside etc., but I just felt like going this route for some reason, feels more ... solid and substantive, even if it's all in my head. All my cuts aren't exactly clean but I'll model the actual cliff faces on top and sand/spackle the model sides in the end so it shouldn't really matter.
I'll be posting some progress pics here as I get further along. Feedback, questions and comments welcome!
P.S. I've got a more detailed build log of the house in an imgur gallery that I did before finding(/remembering) this awesome place, would it be poor form to link directly to that or should I format it into a forum post?
I recently got the sort of general "maker" bug after watching a bunch of videos on YouTube (Adam Savage's Tested stuff, wargaming terrain and train diorama tutorials, etc.) and decided to get started on my own stuff with some fan art of sorts: a diorama of the area around Link's house from one of my all-time favorite games, Zelda: A Link to the Past.
The area captured from the game:
View attachment 849350
I started with the house itself:
View attachment 849349
Started by making a basic digital 3D model and "unfolding" it into patterns in SketchUp, then printed it directly onto 0.5mm recycled cardboard for cutting. Bit of sanding and spackle to smooth things over, then primed with gesso tinted gray and painted with artist's acrylics. The cardboard probably wasn't the best choice since its roughness gets exaggerated at this scale, but I'm pretty happy with the results for a first go and don't mind things looking a little "craftsy" considering the game's cartoony aesthetic. It's also pretty shiny but I'll be applying a matte varnish once everything's properly nailed down.
The scale I'm using is 2 pixels = 1mm, which makes the details very fiddly for a beginner but I figure I'm at least not wasting tons of materials if and when I screw something up, and also want the end result to be reasonably sized for a shelf, it'll end up at 256 mm x 256 mm i.e. very close to 10" by 10".
I've been spending time figuring out how to model all the props like bushes and trees (and to reproduce them with molds so I get some consistency and don't lose my mind hand-sculpting all the 25 bushes etc. since I do want some sense of accurate original detail), and getting supplies and tools and setting up my workspace since all I had to start with were basically the paints and brushes and random scraps of cardboard. But I have most of it figured out now and am getting started on the diorama itself:
The core of the terrain is done (also plopped the house and a prototype tree on top for the photo to get a feel for things), the foamboard will all get covered of course so I could've just made it a cardboard "box" from my 3D model pattern with supports inside etc., but I just felt like going this route for some reason, feels more ... solid and substantive, even if it's all in my head. All my cuts aren't exactly clean but I'll model the actual cliff faces on top and sand/spackle the model sides in the end so it shouldn't really matter.
I'll be posting some progress pics here as I get further along. Feedback, questions and comments welcome!
P.S. I've got a more detailed build log of the house in an imgur gallery that I did before finding(/remembering) this awesome place, would it be poor form to link directly to that or should I format it into a forum post?
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