20/04/2016

Colour up the town

Time to bring some colour upon the crazy big building I showed you last week. Ehm. Well, that colour will be mostly dark grey. Ahem.

First step is just spray it all over. I also created some dirt effects and stuff with different sprays. In the pic below you can see I also had hand painted the window frames.

Looks like a cozy place to live in, sure
The process here is really very simple. I painted the windows (I had to use a darker tone than usual, as the building was asking for a gloomy, dready aspect) and added some pretty basic graffiti. I also used some street signs and ads (I got them from the internet ages ago; I've been trying to source them back again and I haven't been able to do so. If anyone knows where these came from, I'll gladly credit the guy who offered them; thanks!)

Roughly 30x30cm. About 20 cm high

Bulky stuff indeed!
The tiny stuff is what really makes any project come true. So I think it's worth of trying to add small details here and there. You have to reach a balance point, of course. I'm not trying to recreate a perfect, movie-standard reproduction of anything, but just to achieve an interesting piece of scenery, above the dull ubiquitous ruin-stuff.

The compromise between quick'n'cheap and some appearance
A touch of colour!
Let's go for some close-ups. The archway stairs:

Gloomy!
I also added some wiring. Not as chaotic as I intended, but I'm learning and will hopefully improve in the future. I tried to show some messy electrical stuff over the streets. Just my first experiment.

I'll be needing some more meters of that!!
I also added a religious icon over the arch (from the Bretonnian command group). It enhanced the medieval aspect of it, a Saint's image over the entrance; you can find stuff like this in several actual medieval gates and I thought it wasn't out of place.


Eclectic, yoou may say
Urban art and graffiti also played a role here, that's the modern-ish approach here.

Bloody Eagle. Imperium is not that well perceived here...
An Arbites. Ha-ha. So funny.
Colour? Someone here is... happy? The Governor will not suffer that!

A few posters come from this wonderful NASA link. Right, a number of retro-futuristic images, totally delightful. For example:



You may have noticed another ones, more WH40K specific. I designed them, thought it would be fun. I had to make an English version (so the pun was recognizable) and then a Latin Gothic translation, as it seemed logic that the Imperium printed this in the official language:


Well, so this is it. I've learned some things about what to repeat and what not to do ever again, hehe. It's been a fun project, so I pretend to do some more buildings in this fashion. But first I still have to attend the lead mountain!

30 comments:

  1. You put a lot of thought in this and it shows.
    The graffiti is amazing, as is the piece as a whole.

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    1. Thank you! It turned out in a messy fancy way, if that ever makes sense :D

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  2. You're work really paid off with this build. Nice, slumy and lived in.

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    1. Thanks! I believe the effort/price/time/result rate here was reasonable. I hope to improve some things for future references!

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  3. Cool Suber!

    I like your graffiti man, is that freehand? The sound colours coming out of that guys head is amazing.

    The window effects look great too.

    Top job dude :)

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    1. Thank you! Yup, it's freehand. I wanted to bring some bright colour of hope among this grey dullness. I'm kinda sick of everything being just Chaos-Chaos-Chaos, I wanted to show some plain opposition to the Imperium and it's way of life, but not necessarily involving heresy or whatever. I still may have to explore that way...

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  4. This is brilliant mate - I love it! Great work on the windows & posters :-)

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    1. Thank you! The messy poster stuff works much better than expected. I'm thinking about making more ads and that kind of things for the board...

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  5. Superb! All the details look fantastic. I especially like the graffiti with the person listening to music. I'd love to play a game on this.

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    1. Thank you very much! As you can see, the base element is pretty rough, the tiny details add much more life than I thought. I'm learning that these are the important things in these projects, what make them believable. Will have to come out with more stuff!

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  6. Fantastic Suber! All the graffiti really brings it to life. You could add more clutter (bins, barrels etc) for a more scenic look, but as an eye-catching terrain piece fit for gaming over, it's perfect. Great work :)

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    1. Thanks! Hm, you have a point there. In fact I believe you are right, that's a nice idea. Oh, look what you did, now I need lo look for props for my next building, agh!

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  7. maaan!
    those windows look amazeing! And the "rainbow" grafitty is beautiful! :D
    Really a wonderful piece of art... I mean... Terrain! XDD

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    1. Haha, thanks! The unexpected works better!

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  8. Looks superb. Love all the graffiti and the little touches her and there. Well done sir!

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    1. Thank you! They make it look more than what it really is, so I'm reasonably pleased, hehe.

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  9. The window effect is indeed nice - I liked it on your previous 'tube tower' build too. Good idea re. graffiti and posters to break up the grey! Have you considered little heaps of rubbish in some of those corners? Even small scraps of paper with brown washes over them? Might help contrast the grey with minimum effort.. Great work anyway, Mr S.

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    1. Thank you! And thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought that, hmmm. Consider it included in the to do list for the following one!

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  10. Great work, and I am sure that a table full of buildings like this (and a few "hero" buildings like a fane, arbites tower, and landing pad) would make for a great play experience.

    Ragasta's little bits of rubbish seems like a good idea to me, and you could make a mix of paper bits, sand, and some baking soda with glue, and just sort of smear it into the corners and edges. Might work a treat.

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    1. Thank you! All your ideas rock! Right, some more rubbish and dirt will be nice for these buildings; I've never tried the baking soda and glue, but I guess it's worth a try!

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    2. Suber, I did a little test to see how the rubbish looks here.

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    3. Just commented there, damn nice result! I need to implement your idea! Thanks!!

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  11. Brilliant work! I really love the way you do windows. They remind me of the way that they portray glass in comics (like the old Judge Dredd). Beautiful.

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    1. Haha, thank you! I guess they have some comic quality, haha, but I think it works for this. Glad you like them!

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  12. I love the rainbow hair, but dancing skelarbites is hilarious. Excellent job!

    I'd suggest sticking some graffiti higher-up next time though - you get a lot at ground level, sure, but the elevated works tend to stay around longer (and have more effort put into them).

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    1. Thanks! And that's right, I think you made quite a valid point there, that's a thing you can certainly spot over some unreachable points! Duly noted! Thank you!

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  13. Wow Suber! This honestly reminds me of a Call of Duty First Person Shooter map. :)

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    1. Thank you! I think it provides an interesting setting. Many people just take the 'it's a game' attitude, so they only care about blocking some lines of sight and that's all. I'm not that into this 'metagame' stuff and tend to do the opposite, to build up a place and see what opportunities it can offer. Those wargame theorists quite often tend to forget that the battlefield (particularly urban battlefield!) is scarcely well disposed for combat or gives fair chances to both opponents. Besides, my main thought is that... messy stuff is fun! :D

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  14. Replies
    1. Thank you! I hope I can now find the will to make more this kind!

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