Creating Planet Morag

Creating Planet Morag (Guardians Of The Galaxy)

I got into serious diorama making 2 years ago. Before it was just a make a shift set-up -- of placing the figure on a nice base then adding some props. Nowadays, I like to build my diorama from ground up. This is a very time consuming hobby but, once hooked, there's no stopping you from creating huge models.

The first thing you need to do is to plan your diorama. You have to take into consideration possible shots that you can make using the base. Consider the size and placement of your future shots. Don't just go gung-ho and encounter a problem later on that would render your base useless. Consider the place where you will take pictures, your diorama might be too big. Consider the toys, your diorama might be too small or worst,  not scale at all. 

What I will show you next are series of images with description on how I made Planet Morag (note: please don't mind the low resolution images -- I just used my mobile device):

Materials used:
1. Styrofoam (school supplies)
2. Wall Putty (hardware section)
3. Water-based acrylic Paint - white and black (school supplies)
4. Glue

Draw the pattern you want then just cut the styrofoam. I just pile up styrofoam then cut it like a madman.

 Once you are satisfied, you can now 
glue the parts.Or, you can coat it first before
 gluing it then coating the base
of the attached portion with wall putty.

This is probably my least favorite -- coating with wall putty. Why coat? (1) I love the details once finished -- it will look like real rocks (2) It won't be hard for me
 to spray paint / dry brush afterwards.
I used to wrap tissue papers and painstakingly gluing it. This is more time efficient but, a bit costly. 

Tip: Coat first the hard-to-reach areas.

Wait for at least 45 minutes  to 1 hour before painting the base.

 My favorite part! Since the base will only be covered by gray, I mixed black and white. I like to make different shades -- strong, medium and soft. This will add a more realistic look. What I do is (for darker gray) add more black, for softer, add more white. Just experiment. :)

 

Then I joined the two by gluing it together then covering with wall putty then paint. 

There are other ways to do a base like this and I will show you next time few tricks and I would also love to hear other ways from you. Enjoy! :)

                                                            -Fin-