Salavaging books for backdrops

[Lanthanotus]

Just wanted to share this cheap but effective idea....

Few months ago I deemd a very precious book of mine lost (Spinar/Burian) and so I ordered another copy. Turned out - of course - I had stored in in a place and forgot about it, but well, got two copies laying around. As the original one was in quite used condition, I had the plan to cut out the fine paintings and make a collage from them with the classical timeline from the very beginnings of life to our direct ancestors. By while cutting out the images I got another idea. With lots of double sided landscape images I deceided to use those as backdrops for my cabinet and/or photos, the smaller images I cut into same format and made a hand stitched/glued picture book for my son.

These are the double sided panoramas I salvaged, three are backdrops in my cabinet now, some others are used for reviews or photos. Will add a shot of the cabinet once the daylight is back, artificial lighting is bad here

[ceratopsian]

That is a very effective idea.  I have a print by Mark Witton (on board) that I have propped up at the back of one of my shelves in a similar way.  I tried to do the same with a PNSO print but it's not strong enough to stand without help - I would need to Blutak it into place.  I'm still thinking of framing it instead!  Neither of mine is as good for landscape as your book panoramas.

[Lanthanotus]

Yeah, unfortunately prehistoric landscape painting is by no way as popular as painting dinosaurs or other wildlife. The book just shows a part of Burian's work, it's nowhere near a complete compendium and there were lot's of other small landscape images in it that are part of way bigger originals.

[ceratopsian]

I suppose it is the same sort of thing that we see with model trees. I like having them standing amongst my model animals because it creates an illusion of context.  But model trees are not so easy to find.

[Lanthanotus]

So here's what it looks like now.... the backdrops don't fill the whole back, but that's okay. I guess if I use them to copy the result would still be better than from internet picture prints.

[Reptilia]

It turned out pretty nice, great idea!

[CityRaptor]

That works pretty well. Personally I planned to use the backgrounds that came with those:

[Halichoeres]

@CityRaptor: obviously much more realistic.

[CityRaptor]

Depends on. The Action Sets of course have drawn rather than painted backgrounds and are a bit more cartoony than Burian's paintings, but they are designed to function as dioramas, coming with a floor as well. Indeed all the books I've shown are designed as for that.

[bmathison1972]

I have thought about something similar. I have thought about making custom bases for my arthropod figures, and then having a slot in the back where a picture (or postcard) can be placed for background imagery. These bases would be used for photographing for the forums.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

They look really great! I wouldn't mind the background not filling the entire space-- the mammal hall at the USNM has had a similar design and I think it works really well.

If I could paint like that I'd do the same, seeing as aquarium backgrounds tend to use photos and look pretty bad/cheap. These illustrations, however, fit well with the figures.