Research – Idea

2.3 Diorama Ideas

Diorama 1:

Title: Railroad Run

Specialism: Concept Art

Environmental/Building Diorama

I would intend for this idea to keep to my simplistic art style, as linking back to my target audience, so it could appear like a cartoon in terms of its visuals. I would make a diorama of a railroad station, with some additional assets around it.

Diorama 2:

Title: Wanted!

Specialism: Concept Art

Building Diorama

This idea would be of a simplistic at style, as that is my intention to keep in the target audience. The setting would be in a Western town, but I will only do the diorama of a sheriff building.

2.3 Final Idea:

Title: Railroad Run

Outline:

The diorama for this setting would be set in a Western Railroad. The diorama would feature the exterior a single railroad station building, set next to the railroad line.

I think the setting would be set out in a desert scenery, with the main diorama being the exterior of the station building. The building itself would be made of wood with slate tiles for a roof. There would be a low, single platform on one side, and a few additional assets to the side, maybe crates or barrels.

I intend to keep the details to a minimum when I create this diorama, but I intend to do my best to improve my current art style to make this diorama visually appealing.

Specifics:

I intend to design some individual assets so I can do some focus on them. Such assets would include a water tower beside the station, some crates, and a wanted poster on the station wall.

Moodboards:

As the base for my diorama is going to resolve around a railroad station, I decided to do some more research over the appearances and the styles of railroad stations, as they are considerably different to that of railway stations in the UK. What is noticeably different is the materials used to design them, giving them a different effect to railway stations. During the time of the American frontier, the stations appear to be made completely of wood, with some occasions, some buildings having slate roofs. Their general style has overhanging roofs and very low platforms. I am very intrigued by their style, and hope to use this research when I come to designing the station I need for my diorama.

The main diorama item I am going to add will be a water tower. Again, the water towers in the US are different to those that were used in the UK, generally to store a lot more water – as is shown by their larger size – due to long distances between stops on the American Railroad. As with their stations, many water towers were built from wood, and appear to be roughly built. Some water towers, however, have iron stilts, which shows the variety effect that have been used on these towers. This could help me come up with my design to focus on the water tower.

I decided to do more research on a cartoonish art style, as it is similar to that of my own which I shall be using for my diorama. The cartoon appearance is also one of the appeals for my target audience. As seen from my research, myy colour scheme for this piece would have more of the brighter tones of colour, as well as simplistic designs, rather than continuous smaller details.

My diorama piece would be a concept art piece, so I decided to do more research on different types of diorama made entirely as concept art, as well as using the software that I would intend to use. I tried to find more of building dioramas, as that would be what my diorama would center around. Some diorama concept art pieces would feature a building, and then a closeup on a certain section of the building – such as a door or archway. Other diorama concept pieces do a piece of scenery, and then focus on an asset in that scenery. This is similar to what I intend to do for my piece.