Dinomike's Diorama Contest Entry 2018

[Dinomike]

Hi all! I want to share process pics of my diorama with you. It took me quite a while to build it even though I could reuse the trees from my 2015 entry.

I sculpted the Carnotaurus and the human figures out of Super Sculpey and painted with acrylics. The tent is made of cardboard with layers of paper towels glued to it to add some nice texture. The terrain is sand mixed with tons of glue on a foam core board.

The most difficult part was using real fire in such small scale. I tried and failed numerous times - sometimes you the flame was simply too big to look realistic, sometimes it flickered out before I could take a photo.
I'm also glad I didn't burn down our house in the process! in one of the pictures you can actually see a pile of used matches on a ceramic tile. (That was just a fraction of what I used!)

I also had a different version of the tent. It was a more modern dome tent. I wasn't pleased with how it looked so I went for the more weathered old school look.

The background consists of two photos which I put together in Photoshop and had printed at a local printer's.

Process4 by Mikko Sinervo, on Flickr


Process3 by Mikko Sinervo, on Flickr

Process2 by Mikko Sinervo, on Flickr

Process1 by Mikko Sinervo, on Flickr

2018_08_19_DioramaContestDinomike by Mikko Sinervo, on Flickr

[Lanthanotus]

Hmm, that explains why I could not identify the figure

Thanks for the chance to see that work behind the scene, a lot of details, as that greatly achieved weathered look on the tent are lost in the final shot for the most part and I would have deemed the fireplace photoshopped. Great work in all those details, from sculpting to painting and setting it up!

[acro-man]

I voted for you ~

My personal "maybe" No.1 entry this year.

[Mr. Challenger]

This one was one of my favorites. Congratulations for this great work.

[DinoToyCollector]

Thanks for the look behind the scenes. The use of real fire now explains the incredibly real lighting ... because it's real ... very good work!

[ceratopsian]

I particularly liked your entry.  It gave me a feel of a modern Conan Doyle's Lost World.  It was exceedingly atmospheric.  It felt it was a still from a film almost.  I too tried unsuccessfully to work out the Carnotaurus make!  Imaginative tent and so much more effective that the dome tent. As for the fire!!

[Halichoeres]

That's such a cool concept and execution. Well done, as always!

[Dinomike]

Thanks everybody for the comments!

[bL00df0x]

The lighting is perfect! I love the atmosphere in the diorama! The narrative is very interesting too

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Wow, just wow.

[Takama]

@Dinomike   I recognized your style in the Carnotaurus. So i Voted for your entry.

Its such a Wonderful scene you created