Sticks and clay

A low res image of what I did before to give an idea of how I want this project to turn out. Hopefully the Napoleon one will have better composition. This piece was really rushed, so the frame was weak and it was harder to manipulate the floating objects.

Here's a video a friend posted on another friends' wall that I found inspiring:

Update

Finished masts with ships. Decided that 3 was enough for the large ones since it is such a tedious process that takes so much time. Plan to take multiple pictures and layering like in last project (only taking pictures not only to focus, but to move around the ships to make it appear there are more) Will use tripod and layers in photoshop for this technique.

In looking at the smaller ships- (which were going to be put in the distance/background to give the effect of them being farther away) it was decided that I need to either borrow an exacto or give up the smaller ships idea altogether since it would be impossible with the scissors and might waste time.

Drawn outlines for men. They need to be scanned in. I plan to manipulate the sizes and print multiples from each size (larger men-closer, smaller men-further away) after print, I'll tape them to the back of the black contact paper in the background and cut them out and stick them to cardboard. Should be done by now- need to go to the school to use printer and scanner.

Spray paint and construction of scene. Coloring turned out better than I had imagined.

Marshmallow cannons. Tore in half and fourths to scale and shaped. :) Will be spray painted black and hung with fishing wire. Larger ones will be set behind fort.

Modeling clay to be used to construct cannons. Also will be spray painted black.

Scene in frame. Needs some extra stock paper to make a more fluid background. Thought about watercoloring background, but I like the idea of just the brown paper and it will be easier to control for smoothness. However- might use fabric which would be something could continue in other pieces.

Showing scale/relative placement. This lighting is horrible. I'll use a clamp light for dramatic and controlled lighting so it will look much better.

Left To Do:

-build boulder for Napoleon to stand on

-finish character standing next to him

-scan/print figures for fort

-construct fort/barrier with cannons

---fort=toothpicks and small leaf stems+glue

-spray paint and hang cannonballs

-finish ships and draw small fires that can be attached/detached for different photos

-construct small city (will be simple outline of buildings)

-smoke from cannons

-finish out background (whether stock paper or fabric-possibly dark red fabric?)

Explanation of last post

Sadly have not been updating, however- have been taking pictures and working on project- before I post new ones- I'm going to go over what the first post of pictures were about and the process this week.

1- The stage for the project. I will probably use this same one for each scene I create. That way they'll be the same size. The flaps on top will help with controlling light when I actually take the pictures and will be used for floating objects, such as the cannonballs. (I'll use it a lot more for the underwater Cousteau scene)

2&3- Cardboard and stock paper used for the hill. Napoleon figure used to measure scale on rest of picture.

4- Napoleon. Cardboard tab is left on bottom so that when the boulder he will stand on is built, it will also be utilized as a hidden way to allow him to stand. The stock paper will be wrapped around the cardboard for the boulder.

5- Process. 2-d figures made from sketches-> scans -> print outs (allows easy scaling and multiples for color roughs) -> water color wash -> colored pencil and pen -> taped on cardboard and cut out

6- Decided to attach string as ropes to the masts

At this point, I only had Napoleon and a couple ships near finished. The ships took a lot of time. I lost my exacto knife and used scissors to cut them out which was tedious work and required some gluing after a few misplaced snips.

frame for project