graypaw.com - diorama fantastica - Works

Title: Animals
Date created: September, 2015
Description:
Inspired by the album, Animals, by Pink Floyd, this diorama has three levels. The lowest level is occupied by the sheep. The middle level is occupied by dogs, which are there to keep the sheep in line and to protect the pigs. The whole thing is being controller from the top by the pigs through the use of organized religion.

This is the largest diorama I have created. This one is 24.2 cm x 24.2 cm x 24.2 cm (9.5" x 9.5" x 9.5"). The display case used was designed for displaying a basketball.

Starting at the bottom, some of the features include a lake for the sheep and a small prairie with yellow flowers. There is also a tree with one sheep resting underneath it and there are a couple of large boulders in the field.

Overall, the lowest level is a fairly nice place to spend one's time. Fresh grass and plenty of water, although you may notice that the lake is a little bit dirty. This is because it is important to make the sheep feel comfortable but at the same time withold certain luxuries in order to maintain them as the working class. After all, if the working class stopped working, there could be no upper class.

Also note the soft earth bank that rises up from the lowest tier to the second tier. While it is soft and warm, it is also more or less unbreachable by the sheep.

There are several interesting boulders and rock formations on the second tier with the dogs. The predominant color of this tier is gray and there is a stark and empty feeling here - almost devoid of life.

This is where the dogs rule and you don't want to be caught on this tier unaware. While it is a harsh life for the dogs, they mostly bring it on themselves by virtue of being true predators. (If you've ever owned a dog you may have noticed how hard they can be on your yard, tearing up grass and general wear and tear).

The bank that rises from the second tier to the top is a bit chaotic, with lots of roots and other parts of the earth exposed. This demonstrates, in part, the difficulty in managing the predators. While the bank for the sheep is easy to maintain, the area ruled by the dogs is very difficult to manage. The pigs allow a certain degree of chaos on this tier because they need the services the dogs provide when it comes to keeping the sheep in line.

At the top there are several features. First and foremost, perhaps, is the church. While this is a "Christian" church, it is not my intention to single out Christianity in this diorama. The church merely represents any organized religion and its part in governing the masses. Notice there is a large pig in front of the church. Perhaps he is waiting for the paritioners. (The dogs escort the sheep to church weekly through some avenue not displayed in order that the pigs may collect tithing while reinforcing the doctorine of the time.)

There are two very clean pools of water available to the pigs. Each one has steps leading up to it. They may choose to swim or drink the water. The pools represent luxuries that the pigs may enjoy at their leisure.

There are two well landscaped trees that provide beauty and shade for the pigs' enjoyment. There is also a little stone bench between one of the pools and a tree that may be used for resting or lounging.

Below are some images taken throughout the process of creating this diorama.

This is one of the first layouts I put together in an attempt to frame the concept. You can see the prevailing theme of the top and bottom tier being green and the middle tier being dark and colorless. Of course, the animals are present as well, from the bottom up: sheep, dogs and pigs.

In the next image you can see I have added the church, a water feature on the lowest level and a couple of trees. This is mostly the way these dioramas finally get created. There is an overall plan but the details are worked out through playing around with placement during the build process.

The next two images show the base of the diorama. In the first you can see it is just styrofoam. There are three pieces of styrofoam glued together. I used a hot knife to cut and shape the styrofoam, then I glued the pieces together. I also sliced out the lake on the lowest level in advance, knowing that I wanted a pretty deep water feature there.

Oddly I don't have pictures of this, but I then covered all of the styrofoam with a thin layer (about a 1/3" thick) of air drying clay. I let the clay harden (two days), then painted the levels with some simple acrylic paint. Notice the colors are remaining true to the tiers (green, gray, green). Only the top was covered in clay. The sides of the base are raw styrofoam painted black. You can also see from the image that the lake received a black base.

In the next picture you can see that I have added some more landscaping (the pools for the pigs) as well as the necessary painting to prepare for the water pour. The color of the base of the pools and lake is critical to how the water looks after it is poured and dried. I wanted the pigs' pools to look clear and blue and I wanted the sheeps' lake to look a little dirty. Paiting the bottom of the pools blue makes the water look blue after the pour. Just as having a dirtier base color makes the water look dirty.

Here's a pic taken after the water was poured and dried. As you can see, I also added some of the roots coming out the bank on the dogs' level, some landscaped trees on the pigs' level and some boulders on the middle and lower levels.

I wasn't sure how to go about finishing this one. Should I start at the top and work down or start at the bottom and work up? I decided to start at the top and work down. My logic was that if I worked from the bottom up I would be more likely to accidentaly knock something over that had already been glude down because 1. it would be in the way and 2. I would be hyper-focused on the level I was working on and not paying attention to the surrounding levels.

The top-down approach worked out well. Here's a shot after the initial landscaping was completed on the top. Notice that the church has some bushes painted onto the sides. In later pics you'll see that I added real bushes to the sides of the church as well as some moss climbing the back and front walls.

Here you can see that I added the bushes along the sides of the church and I built up the ground around the front patio. I ran some moss across the base of the front steps, and along "cracks" in the patio and added a curved bench to the patio for parishioners to rest on when visiting the church.

This is almost the completed diorama sans the animals. The only thing missing are some minor updates and the little tree on the sheep's level.

Here's a good shot from the sheep level. This was not the final placement for the dogs but it's almost done.

Here's the final version in its display cube:

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