Return to Home Page

Making a diorama
Chapter 4: The landscape details

The process of making a diorama is one of continued refinement. First you start with the broad strokes and you work continually down to the details. Now you are starting to get into the details of the landscape.

Note that I have a video of this stage of the tutorial at the bottom of this page.

Once your diorama has completely dried. It is important that it is completely dry because you will be applying water and various liquids to it. If it is not dry the added water can make the shell sag and distort your landscape.

Now examine your landscape. Do you remember where you want the different types of terrain to go? Yes you do. You have made sketches that explain all this to you. Now you will apply a base coat of colored paint that mimics the different terrain.

Apply a coat of green paint to where the grass and trees will go.

Apply a tan colored paint to areas that will have dirt.

Apply grey to any areas that will have lots of rocks or cliffs..

Apply blue to any water areas.

Think about what you want it to look like and paint the colors accordingly. This is not finish paint. What I mean is that where you paint it green thats not the grass.You will apply grass over this but some of the base will show through the grass and having painted this green will give a uniform look . You dont want the white of the plastered paper towels to show through. You must completely cover all of the working area of the diorama with a colored paint.

The paint doesn't have to be dry. You can continue right on to the next stage.

Continue with the diorama making tutorial

Detail isn't important at this stage. You just have to get a rough approximation of the various types of scenery and paint accordingly.

Here is a video showing this stage of the diorama making process