Dang Teenagers!

[BlueMeander]

I had a thought in my head to do a graveyard (I know, I know. How original.) Only I wanted to have it be the site of some teenagers up to no good on Halloween so it could be a little dorky or funny. I'm thinking there is definitely going to be some miniature things to add to the vibe like a chicken carcass (from the grocery store, OBVS.) Maybe some Morton's salt because DON'T YOU KNOW ALL GRAVEYARD TEENAGER DEMON MAGIC(K) NEEDS SALT. Potentially some rolls of toilet paper. But I also thought I might try to use it as an opportunity to explore some more autumny type flocks and colors and textures because everything I've done so far is green. And not that I"m hating on green nature (loves it, actually.) but why not the challenge?

I've been planning on getting around to it and I thought if I threw my chip in to the contest that would motivate me to get on it.

[MellyMonkey]

Sounds cool!
Last time I was monkeying around a graveyard with my friends, my Nickelodeon watch stopped & we all freaked out... whomever's grave we were closest to was trying to tell me something!! 20 years later, I'm still not sure what.

[BlueMeander]

(09-29-2015, 08:42 PM)MellyMonkey Wrote: Sounds cool!
Last time I was monkeying around a graveyard with my friends, my Nickelodeon watch stopped & we all freaked out... whomever's grave we were closest to was trying to tell me something!! 20 years later, I'm still not sure what.

That sounds like a story you need to submit for consideration to the Midnight Society. FO SHO.

[BlueMeander]

Alright, so I sat down and got the base and the basic stuff for this project. On one day I cut and sanded some foam (I tried using a different kind of foam to challenge myself to a new material and it was that kind made of tiny balls... styrofoam I guess? ... and it was HORRIBLE and I went back to Old Familiar.) On the next day I did the painting/flocking and made my tree and gates.

The gates were what inspired me for this build actually.

I got a basket of figs from the grocery and thought that the shapes would make killer fences. Simple, but cool. So I cut them apart and melted them with a heat gun to get them a bit bent and warped. I reserved the bottom of the fruit crate because I think it might be a good basis for some windows or something? Like little peak shaped windows. Depending on how fast I do this project and how much time is left in the contest, I might make an additional piece to add on that's a... whatsit called? Tomby... ... crypt? Thing? Mausoleum! Yeah! Maybe, over time, I could do like a Christmas village. Only Halloween.

After that, I used up almost all my wire to make a big tree. In my original plan I had cut a mausoleum out of that foam core board stuff  and then removed the outer paper layer (like was recommended to me in the thread about stone floors.) It was about 2.25" tall at the highest point so I could have a large graveyard. But once I held the pieces up I realised that at that scale I'd just be making super micro miniatures again and I didn't want to do that this time. So this will probably be appx. 1:12. But whatever, I'm just making it what I want. I'm a rebel like that.

[img=600x1067]http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/parttimeartists/12079459_10203386917752552_5169814462732053940_n.jpg[/img]

Covered the tree wire with polymer clay. Last tree I made I used wood putty but it was smelly and crumbly and annoying and the clay was actually super familiar and easy to work with. Then I gave it a base black coat and put on more colors.

[img=600x1067]http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/parttimeartists/12038132_10203386917872555_9188909466576338003_n.jpg[/img]

I'm trying really hard with everyone's recommendations on painting aged wood to not just do darker browns, but to use other colors entirely. I looked up some images of 'spooky trees' and used very grey based colors. I did a couple more layers after this photo to try to take some of the gloss out of my black and to add a little brown in (it's supposed to be still alive, just creepy.) I don't know, I'm still really in new territory here so I'm just trying my best.

By the end of the night I had my gates painted and tried my hand at painting rust colors. I think I'm going to add a little brown wash to them to tone down the redness in some places before I get a good close up though. 

[img=800x1422]http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/parttimeartists/12027499_10203386918152562_2297772481765919607_n.jpg[/img]

I still have to shake some of the flocking off and nothing is permanently affixed in this picture. Just piecing together the parts still. But I really did want to challenge myself to some other color temperatures and I think I can say I've done that at least. WOO!

[Munin]

The spooky tree came out really nicely! The transition from roots->ground needs work, though, as it looks like the tree is just sitting on the ground rather than growing from it. But I'm guessing you'll get to that blending stage once your mausoleum is installed.

It's looking good so far!

[BlueMeander]

Thanks, yeah, I hear you. It's not actually attached at all yet. It's just sort of plopped on there and the surface I molded it on was flat, whereas there is some variation on the base I have here. So yeah, it's still pretty unsettled.

[pendrake]

(10-02-2015, 10:14 AM)Munin Wrote: The spooky tree came out really nicely! 

It did Blue. And, it looks a lot like tree #1 from this post in the inspiration thread: http://www.terragenesis.uk/showthread.php?tid=329&pid=2585#pid2585

Nice job.