Ruined Dice Tower Diorama

hello everyone my name is alian and in this video i will be showing you how i've made this tie star starting with toilet paper rolls [Music] [Music] normally i start by making some sketches of what i want to build but this time i thought i'd take another approach instead i used plasticine to create a three-dimensional sketch which i used to plan the scene and to do a proof of concept on the way the dice will roll my idea was to create a lakeside tower with a crumbling base where the dice would roll out of onto the lake before committing to this design i used the proof of concept to see if it would actually work the proof of concept showed that my id could work so i started to create the rocky terrain with tin foil i crumbled up some tin foil and glued it to the base with super glue before starting with a layer of clay i made sure that there would be enough space for the dice at this stage it's still easy to change the shape of the terrain but when the clay comes out of the oven it becomes a lot harder after that i started to add modelling clay i'm using sculpey firm because i like how it keeps its shape well but i think working with sculpey soft would have its positives as well it might stick better to the tin foil but that's something i would have to try in the future i also added some metal wires to mark the placement of the tower at the same time this acts as a way to make the entire sculpture more rigid so that the tower won't break off during this build i continue to test the dice tower whenever possible i do this because it's fun but mostly to see if everything still works here you can see that the dies roll off of the base so i added some rocks to keep the dice in place the next part is something i really enjoy i find it really difficult to create a realistic rocky texture so i use a rock to do it it is a fast and easy process and it makes a big difference i use this technique on other projects as well i uploaded some more videos if you want to see more just check out my channel if you are interested now it was time to create the riverbed i wanted it to be rocky but i had never attempted this before i watched some great videos by luke tawan where he describes in great detail how he makes them i'll be sure to put a link in to his channel in the description so you can check it out his videos really helped me out on this project i will explain the steps i took to arrive at my riverbed first i covered everything in a slightly diluted wood glue i hear a lot of people use mod podge but i can't seem to find it where i live both of the glues are pva clues so the result would be similar at least after that i sprinkle on the rocks i found these in a park near me and i let them dry it completely before using them most of the rocks will stick to the glue but not all of them and to make sure all of the rocks remain in place i covered everything with isopropyl alcohol followed by a layer of diluted pva glue without the alcohol the glue will form beads on top of the rocks the alcohol helps the glue to seep in between the rocks firmly fixing them in place to finish the terrain i used some wall filler and sandpaper to smooth out the edges i'm using a wall filler that doesn't shrink and this really speeds up the process because you only need to apply one layer next up is the tower itself i used a pencil to mark where i had to cut the base of the toilet paper roll so that it would fit nicely onto the ground this doesn't have to be exact but it's a lot easier to sculpt all the bricks with some support of the cardboard i then drew the hole for the dice and cut it out i made sure to make it irregular so that it would look collapsed instead of looking like a big gate i wanted to add some platforms inside of the dice tower so that the dice will tumble through instead of directly falling down i drew the placement of these platforms cut out the slot and glued in a piece of cardboard after the glue had set i trimmed them to match the outside wall of the tower the cardboard roll is a great base to start with but it's also kind of boring to make it more interesting i wanted to add another tower and a balcony i cut another toilet paper roll along its length and rolled it up a little so that the diameter became smaller this makes sense architecturally because high buildings are almost always lighter on top changing the diameter also adds some variation to the building which makes it look more real i then marked where i wanted the additional tower to go and cut slots into the smaller piece the slots create extra gluing surface which makes the bond stronger the balcony could have been a nice visual addition to the building but i wanted to create an extra place to roll your dice one hole to roll your dice is enough but two creates double the surprise when somebody sees it for the first time i marked out the hole on the tower and on the balcony and cut them out i used leftover pieces of toilet paper roll to create the walls for the roof i cut two pieces of cardboard into the same shape and cut a slot into both of them one piece with a slot on top and the other on the bottom like this they slide onto each other and together with a cardboard ring and some glue they form the basic structure of the roof for some extra strength i added a metal wire to the structure the roof will be removable so i wanted to make sure that the point is extra strong i wanted to make the roof partially collapsed so when filling the spaces with tin foil i kept one part empty i used some balsa wood strips to make a wooden floor and some structural beams on the wall after that i put on a layer of sculpey modelling clay and baked it in the oven i really liked the details of the wooden beams but i felt like the walls were a little bit flat so i decided to add more planks for this i used a two-part epoxy clay that hardens by mixing the two parts for this i used epoxy sculpt up next are the shingles on the roof to make them i took some thick paper and cut a lot of strips i then cut the strips into small pieces that i could glue onto the roof with pva glue because it is a collapsed tower i didn't really worry about the layout i glued them on in random directions and angles to imitate an old worn down roof when all the shingles were in place i fixed them all with some pva glue i added some black paint to the glue to make it easier to paint in between all the shingles later on now it was time to start sculpting the walls of the tower i started by sketching the layout on the cardboard and this helps me to keep the sculpt straight and to plan on where i would want windows or other details i started sculpting with sculpey but i had some difficulties with making the clay adhere to the cardboard i wanted to use sculpty because it remained soft until i put it in the oven this gives me an unlimited time to sculpt the bricks which is really useful and a new sculpey sells a clay softener which would definitely help at this time but i feel like it's very expensive for a very small bottle and i figured it had to be some kind of alcohol because it basically dissolves the clay a little bit so i took some isopropyl alcohol and softened the clay this worked incredibly well so i was able to make the clay adhere to the cardboard from here on i put a layer of clay on one part of the wall and after that i would draw on the bricks with sculpting tools the sketches i made helped me keep all the windows more or less level with each other and i made sure the bricks would line up with each other as well higher up the tower i wanted to change the brick texture a little bit so i used same balsa wood strips as before to create wooden beams in between the bricks this little change adds some detail to the texture that otherwise might have been monotonous at this point i switched from working with sculpey to working with epoxy sculpt i was baking the tower in between sculpts for a few minutes at the time this is a technique i like to use because it hardens the clay just enough so that it doesn't change shape anymore when i accidentally accidentally touch it however the sculpt was very thin and i noticed it started to crack in some places and i didn't want to risk losing all of this work so i continued with apoxie sculpt this was the first time i used this two-part epoxy clay and i was very pleased with how it handled it doesn't stick to my tools as much as green stuff or procreate and it is still very soft and easy to sculpt i will have to see if i can buy this somewhere in europe because i won this through an instagram contest sculpting all the bricks took me quite a while i kind of underestimated the amount of time it would take to do all of them however i'm very happy with the results as you can see here i drew in the horizontal lines first and after that i did the vertical lines i made sure not to make them too regular because i wanted our the tower to look old and made with randomly shaped stones i wanted to make sure that the removable pieces the balcony on the roof wouldn't fall off of the building so i added magnets to them here you can see i glued in some metal pieces inside the building i then placed a piece of tin foil over the building and put the magnets in place i put some clay over the magnets and along the wall and pressed the floor of the balcony onto it i left this to cure and now i had a piece that perfectly fits over the hole i also sculpted the balcony walls with the tin foil still in place like this i could make some very fine details that perfectly fit onto the building this makes it easier to put the cover back in the right spot and now it was time to start painting instead of making the tower plain gray with a brown roof i decided to challenge myself and to paint it as if it was nighttime with soft moonlight shining onto the tower and the lake to do this i started out with a dark blue base coat that i washed with different colors a blue wash for the stones a green wash for the grass and a reddish brown wash for the roof the underlying blue shines through each of the washes a little bit creating the effect of a moonlit knight for some further detailing i added a little dry brushing with a very pale light blue with a big part of the painting done i wanted to focus on the lake i used a clear resin for this and this is always a very stressful part of a build once you start pouring there's no turning back so i made sure i was well prepared i dammed in the lake and i filled the gaps with a clear drying thick acrylic medium i would normally do this with an acrylic silicone but i didn't have any so i used this it is very important to take your time to do this well because if there's a leak it can end very poorly when you are casting resin be sure to read the instructions of the product you are using it states the ratio of the two parts that you should mix in my case it's a one to two ratio but in others it can be anything from one to one or one to one hundred also be sure to wear gloves and to work in a well ventilated area because it's not good for your health when mixing the resin you should mix it well but don't be too rough if you mix it too roughly you introduce bubbles that will be visible when the resin is cured on the other hand if you don't mix it enough the resin will not cure well and remain sticky the resin i'm using has a working time of half an hour so i had plenty of time to gently mix the resin and then i was ready for pouring i'm using the bottom of a plastic milk bottle that i can squeeze into a point like this i can gently pour the resin don't be too quick because you might trap air bubbles you can also see that i place the model in a plastic container i do this to prevent major spills when there is a leak in such a case i can bend the plastic container to pop out the resin when it is cured otherwise it would be permanently glued to the table and my girlfriend will not be pleased here you can see a little close-up just after i poured the resin at this point you can still pop some of the bubbles on the surface with a toothpick for example the resin i use had a curing time of 24 hours after that i could remove the cardboard dams and clean up the sides i already painted the sides of the diorama before the pouring but as you can see this had to be done again i should have known this would be the case of course but fortunately it's not a lot of work to do again now that the resin was done i could focus on the finishing touches first i wanted to make it look like there was light coming from within the tower this technique is called object source lighting and i never tried this before just as with the rocky riverbed i watched some videos on youtube on the matter and tried it for myself i specifically learned a lot from the videos by maniac and had a good laugh at the same time i will link his channel in the description as well i wanted to create a warm yellow glow from the windows but yellow is a very difficult color to paint over a dark base coat this is why i started out with several transparent layers of white to make a gradient in each window and on the balcony where the light would shine this technique is called glazing and i have to be honest and say that this is new for me as well basically i started out with a transparent layer on all the parts where i wanted it to be light and each layer after that would cover less of that surface focusing the most white paint closer to the source of the light after the white glaze i used the same technique but with yellow as you can see the white paint still shines through the yellow making it look a lot more vibrant the yellow i used still seemed a little bit cold to me so i put on a layer of red wash on top this really makes it seem like there is candlelight coming from within however the red wash did diminish the intensity of the light a little bit so i highlighted all the windows with some very light yellow as a final touch i added some window frames with a nice contrasting black paint i'm really happy with how this turned out especially considering the size of each window the last thing i did was creating some waves on the surface of the lake i used this golden heavy gel which i bought in an art supply store this is a clear drying paste that i can apply to the lake and create some waves with i made sure to make the waves a little bigger on the edges of the lake while still keeping the surface flat enough for the dice to lay flat on the gel had dried i used a glossy white paint to dry brush the tips of the waves thank you so much for watching this video i hope you enjoyed watching this video just as much as i enjoyed making this dice tower this project took me a lot longer than i had expected mostly because i kept adding details but also because i had to move during this project anyway i'm very pleased with the outcome and let me know what you think in the comments leave a like and subscribe if you want to see more and hopefully i can finish the next project a little bit quicker thanks again for watching and see you next time bye [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Atelier AG

Views: 5,127

Rating: 4.9728813 out of 5

Keywords: Dungeons&Dragons, DnD, Dice Tower, Sculpting, Miniature, diorama, resin, miniaturepainting

Id: rt1CYGYfqXY

Length: 23min 32sec (1412 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 13 2020