Diorama Tips

Always have a story to your diorama - Dioramas that make he most impact to the people that look at them is a clear story. It's a simple rule but it has taken me awhile to learn this. The diorama should have one focal point of interest and almost instantly convey the action or message. So many guys build huge dioramas with things happening all over the place but no central story.

The diorama must have a central focal point - Everything should direct your eyes to one place on the diorama (preferably the subject of your story). If you check out my "Monkey Business" or "Cheers to The Faster Panzer" diorama on this web page you can see what I am taking about. Every figure is carefully placed to point or direct your eyes to the purpose of that diorama. You want to avoid having a bunch of figures looking like they are all hanging out doing their own thing. One of my older dioramas "Looking At Jerry" on my web page violates this rule horribly. It's a nice vignette but two figures are looking off to one side and appear almost disinterested with the story of the captured German. The diorama title could have been better also. I keep the diorama to remind myself not to make the same mistake again!

Big dioramas aren't always better - Some guys think if you just put a whole bunch of bad models in a huge diorama that that will make up for poor (or rushed) modeling. Not true. Whether it's a tiny diorama or a gigantic one everything in the diorama must be your best work. In other words, don't spend a year making a tank model and then only one night painting lots of figures to slap it all on a huge piece of plywood. As much time should be spent crafting the base and applying the groundwork as you spend on the model and the figures.

Grass never grows in perfect clumps - I see this mistake in a lot of dioramas and Shep Paine points this out also in his book. This to me is the biggest detractor from an otherwise very realistic diorama. Groundwork grass in a diorama shouldn't look like a dude's bad hair plugs.

Don't fear the little people! - I talk to many guys who build armor that are afraid to put figures on them. Nothing makes a tank or vehicle come "alive" like a crew. Figures help tell the story and provide a scale of the vehicles. The prevalent fear seems to be painting the faces but with a few lessons and a little practice you can have some nice looking figures that will really add interest.