Hello everyone, this is Daniel from Uncharted Ways
and today we’re building some dessertic terrain.
As always the first thing that I like
to do is the design. Its not just about having some measures written down, its about
figuring out the concept before moving on. For example I chose not to put a wooden roof
over the well –or to simúlate any Wood structure- because being in a very arid area it would feel
a bit out of place. I know that this is obvious, but the more details I imagine and i put
down, the more I realize what fits for me.
We’re gonna start with the well. For
doing the circular shape of the well im just carving it out of XPS foam. I honestly
was going to do it out of cardbox and clay… but foam ts just sooo much easier and rewarding. Im using the cap of a bottle
to have a circular shape, but of course, this is one of those times
that if you kept your compass from high-school go grab, this totally justifies
being in your drawer for 10+ years. For the stones on top of the well you can carve
another out of foam, but remember that because we are gonna cut it in small pieces and separate them
a bit, the diameter is gonna be slightly bigger, giving the impression that the Stone ring
on top of the well stands out a bit from its structure.While White glue is doing its work
I switched to the pilars next to the well.
This cannot be any more straight forward: Cut them of the size that you want and make sure
that their size make sense next to the well. XPS foam is very easy to work with, so regardless
of the type of columns or shapes that you wanna make, a pencil or a hobby knife will allow you to
carve those shapes by gently pressing the foam. In this case we want to simúlate bricks
because it fits better the diorama, but a wooden structure can be as easily made.
The next thing that we’re gonna do is to apply
gesso on the columns. Why are we doing this? The effect that we want to simúlate could be summarize
in one Word: “forgotten”. This is a very old well, built no one remembers when, in an area where
almost no one will wander… As I said, forgotten. So how do we insert that vibe into the terrain?
We use the gesso to simúlate the lining of the columns because of the effect that it makes next
to the areas where it faded showing the bricks below. Then we’re gonna basecoated the bricks with
a vibrant red not caring too much of going over the gesso as we will give it another layer when
this is done. Black on the Stone ring on top of the well and then we’re gonna apply a very light
black wash so the paint gets to the recesses.
Guys, we need to stop for a second. Im
sorry but I forgot to introduce you to yet one of our most important
tools in this channel: the aluminium foil ball.
Yes, this might come as a surprise, but Im not joking, one of the handiest unexpensive
tools that we can use for giving texture to rocks is a ball of aluminium foil, just check
how it looks already… and for those of you running low on faith, wait
for when we highligh it.
I realized the top of the columns didn’t look
as broken, so I went on and with the help of a hobby knife I carved some bricks
out taking care of not over doing it and yes… i repeated the basecoat and wash
process on those areas later on. Before moving on to highlighting we’re gonna do yet another
layer of gesso to cover some of those mistakes.
For the final touches I applied a very thinned
down ochre wash, because I dont want the bricks to be of such a vibrant red, and once it was dry
i moved on to highlighting. I was a bit hesitant on how to make the bricks look old and dusty but
without being too dull, so I decided to use one of my favourite colors for highlights, Vallejo
ice yellow. I went very lightly over both the bricks and the White lining and… you can judge
the outcome. This color never disappoints me.
Time for the… wait, how’s
it called? Let me check.
After completing a degree in wells I decided
to go for pulley system, sounds pro enough.
Alright. So in order to do the Pulley system we’re
gonna cut a stick that already has the circular shape. And with the help of a drill we’re gonna
make very narrow holes for inserting the wire. Use superglue, otherwise this could take
forever. If you like to hold things as much as I do while they dry, use gum or anything at
your disposal so you can go on with your life.
Once the wire was dry I primed the
wooden part with a thinned down black and then put a layer of watered down
Brown to give it fast some texture. We need a bucket and to put the rope around the
pulley system, so because the rope is very simple let me just show you quickly the bucket: we’re
making the shape that we want out of XPS foam and then carving a hole in the centre with the help of
my hot wire cutter, then Im putting some cardbox around to simúlate the Wood planks and some more
cardbox for the metallic rings of the bucket.
I didnt like the handle of the pulley system, so
I changed it for a wooden one… using some milliput and sticks. For those of you that don’t know,
milliput is a epoxy: so it’s also made out of tow components that react together for making
a hard structure, but this type its not liquid but similar in its consistency to clay,
allowing you to shape it however you want… or in my case, however you can,
i hope you like how it looks.
The well is done and I like how it looks. I
think we managed to give it a nice desertic vibe, so we need to get hands on the tent
or haima, however you prefer.
The first thing that we need to do is making
the structure, so with the help of our friend the popsicle and some hot glue we’re gonna
set the foundations that we need for the cloth. Hot glue is fast but anyway, give it a
couple of minutes to be 100% sure its solid.
OK so now that the hot glue is dry what we are
going to do is to use some unexpensive materials like napkins to cover the structure of the tent.
In order to do that what were going to do is to use some White glue, in this case Im gonna
use modpodge but honestly you can use White glue. And what were going to do is to put a
mix of 50 50 modpodge wáter in the plate and while its still wet we’re gonna cover
the structure and we’re gonna let it dry.
If you dont have a spare plate, or you dont
like the taste of White glue in your spaguetti, try to use a surface where you can easily lye
your napkin. You dont need a lot of modpge, just put a bit and start adding wáter
and stirring until is fully mixed.
Grab the tissue by the corners and submerged
it fully in the mix. I warn you already that the paper does not like to remain extended but
rather tries to go over itself again and again, leaking White glue on your hands in the process.
It’s ok, it can be extended again, it’s just that while you extend one corner, the opposite will
try to go over itself, so harness some patience before doing this. By the way, if you thought you
could be smarter that White glue… you’re wrong, dont leave the napking on the plate. It sounds
like a good idea because you dont risk the napkin going over itself… Not so fast, if you do that
napkin will take revenge and wont retract towards one angle but rather everywhere, and before you
know it your napkin will look like a dry grape… and that will be much more
complicated to smooth later on.
The wet napkin is not extremely delicate,
but because our sticks have a Sharp end if you pull from one side… you might end up
breaking the wet tissue. After you have put it over your structure I recommend you to
go adjusting every corner Little by Little, leaving the fold on the corners and in the centre,
to simúlate later on the entrance for the tent. 2 napkins on top of each other is the correct
amount I think. You can wait for the first napkin to dry a bit as it makes it easier with the
second, but its not necessary, and I didnt do it. Just a small bit of advice
about the drying process… Your napkin will leak, so be
careful where do u put it, and second, if the edges get dry over something…
remember that its White glue what you put… change the position of the tent couple of
times before it fully dries on your table.
Ok guys, so… the napkin is
dry and as you can see.. it is completely solid. It is hard already,
and it has more or less the shape that we want but anyway i did few more tries with different
shapes and so on to see wheteher it would be better one type or another, this one for
instance it’s with just one napkin which i think it’s not good, too traslucent. So what
we’re going to do with our final tent is to cut here to simúlate the entrance of
the tent, were going to cut this edges and we’re going to paint it.
Im going to use an airbrush to paint because it will really simplify the process allowing
me to make smooth transitions effortlessly. Im gonna prime it with a leather Brown,
and then a tan earth and a tan yellow will work for the gradients. While for
basecoating we want to cover the whole tent, for giving the lights we want to use every time
a more perpendicular angle because this way we will be leaving with a darker Brown those areas
that would be more hidden from direct light. I will use my ice yellow to give the
biggest highlights on the edges.
And that’s it, our well and tent are ready and
we just need to place them somewhere they fit… yeah, exactly this is already
better than plain EPS foam… but wait, go back, that’s next weeks’ diorama.
If you dont wanna miss where are we putting this tent and well make sure you click
that subscribe button, I’ll show next Thursday. That’s all for today, but remember it
wasnt just a napkin, it was also a tent.
