WIP - Stone Circle - Finished 7/12/09

[DFlynSqrl]

Started working on a terrain piece I plan to use in a .45 Adventure in the near future.  I'm not much of a terrain builder, but got kinda excited with how the first phase turned out.  I definitely picked up a few things reading this forum.





Next step will be to get the columns to sit a little smoother on the ground and then add some weather damage to them.  Then it will be time to start painting.  I've thought about making a large "seal" in the center... because...well... bad things always happen when there's a seal in the center of a large circle.   

Rod

[Wirelizard]

Looks great so far.

The word 'eldritch' comes to mind... it usually does when things Lovecraftian get mentioned! 

[Doomhippie]

Looking good so far. I agree that this forumis really inspiring. Hm, I might just coy your design. 

[Captain Blood]

Nice.

I'd give the whole lot a generous coat of PVA/sand gloop-mix to soften the edges and inscribed detail, and to provide a bit of nice stony texture ahead of painting... 

[opa wuttke]

Great idea and well done. I like the rune covered stones...they do not look that bizzare but "realistic", just like real archetypes...

I do not know the particular usage of the stone circle, but I think it would look much better without the floor...how to use floor made of ractangular flagstone (as far as I´m concerned) ?

greeets

Opa/Grandpa

[DFlynSqrl]

I'd give the whole lot a generous coat of PVA/sand gloop-mix to soften the edges and inscribed detail, and to provide a bit of nice stony texture ahead of painting... 

Thanks, I didn't think about mixing sand in with the PVA.  I'll give it a shot.

[Gluteus Maximus]

That's a great start and those runes do look pretty creepy. Lots of different gaming uses for this in many periods, so it should see plenty of use.

The Captain's suggestion should help make it look fantastic once finished.

[Hitman]

It is always so cool to see "before shots" on how people make their terrain to help us lesser, inferior beings know how things are made. The detailing is fantastic. Are the etchings actual ancient writings or are they made up?
Thanks a lot for sharing. Can't wait to see the final product.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[DFlynSqrl]

Thanks for the encouragment guys.  I should have some more progress pics tonight.

It is always so cool to see "before shots" on how people make their terrain to help us lesser, inferior beings know how things are made. The detailing is fantastic. Are the etchings actual ancient writings or are they made up?
Thanks a lot for sharing. Can't wait to see the final product.
Regards,
Hitman
 

Thanks Hitman, but I'm afraid I'm in the newbie terrain maker category myself.  I've only made a handful of terrain to date. Luckily, a lot of the skilled guys on here are willing to share their tips on how to do this stuff and help the rest of us out. 

As for the runes they're all made up, but some are definately modeled after existing languages.  I tried to give each side of a column it's own style to give the appearance of one "message" (or "warning"..muahahaha) written in a lot of different languages.

Rod

[kidterminal]

Its looking good. You're well on your way out of the "newbie" category. You can add realistic stone texture to the standing stones by taking a rock with some sharp edges and press those edges into the stones. It duplicates those minor cracks and indentations you find in stone.

Rob

[Hitman]

DFlynSqrl;
For a beginner, you sure are bloody good at it. Still waiting for the final shots of the "warnings" Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[DFlynSqrl]

Ok, finally finished this up... maybe... might try adding another of flocking outside the circle after it's had a day to sit.

Taking Captain Bloods advice I added some sand to my PVA.  Actually, I added a lot of plaster too just to see if that would give it a nice look.  Here it is after it's had a day to sit.  The plaster turned it all white, even though the pink shows through in the bright light.  Here's also where I gained my first "lesson learned"... don't cut too deep into the insulation when you're carving designs.  It gets hard to fill in those areas with the glue/plaster mix.



Then I base coated it.   *No Pic*  At this point it looked awful and I was wondering why I posted WIP progress pics in the first place!     I'll throw my second lesson learned in here.  I painted my grass area brown which doesn't sound bad, but when you try to cover it with flocking later it really stands out.  If I had a "do over" I would probably paint it green.

Anyway, I dry brushed in a variety of colors and added some bird poop to hopefully make it looked aged.  Let me rephrase that.... painted white splotches to look like bird poop.



Here it is after the flocking.  Luckily, in person the brown doesn't show as much.  It just really stands out with the bright lights for the picture.  But, this is why I'm considering trying another layer of flocking tomorrow.



And here's the result.  I definitely learned some things trying this and will hopefully do better on my next terrain project.  Anyway, hope you like it.





Suggestions on how to improve my future projects welcome. 

Rod

[Hitman]

Rod;
Great job...don't be so hard on yourself.  Anyways, here is a tip for the base. I first paint the base brown as you did, then after it dries, I paint PVA glue over the area that I am basing. I use playground sand for the base material...it has little stones, and other debris in it to give it texture. After letting this dry, I then paint PVA glue on the areas that I want to add flocking to. I let this dry, then I do the same with the PVA glue and add clumps of foilage, moss, etc. The effect usually looks quite nice.

By the way, I really like how the stone carvings turned out with the inscriptions on them...I will attempt to do something similar down the road on some ruins that I want to build. I also like the last photo with the little dinosaurs on them...awesome work...keep at it mate, I would be happy to use this on my gaming table.

Thanks for keeping us posted...the WIP photos are really useful!!
Regards,
Hitman
 

[Alxbates]

I think it looks great!  I'd love to have that on my game table.

-Alex in Alaska

[kidterminal]

Great Job Rod.