Fencig
Serf
this is actually a very important point you made. What is the purpose of your DIO. If it's a game piece then it doesn't need to be very elaborate, if it's a display piece then there's very different criteria to make it really worth doing IMHO. I started very basic many years ago, just playing around with some materials and trying to get the hang of it , didn't really think at the time about any criteria. However , looking back at this now, it's really a game piece.
Then i kicked it up a notch, and did a tree/ foliage, and such, but still a very simple execution. This is from the Grenadier Dragon Lords Giants series , the Forest Giant. Looking back at it, that's a pretty sorry tree
More Undead, only because i liked the Necromancer sculpt so much. Here i played around with additional elements. More mini's from different sculptors, dirt/soil, I tried to add motion/movement - a murder of startled crows , the skellies coming up out of the ground. This worked well, some things that did not was i tried to do a "green undead glow" and i just couldn't pull it off back then. The painting is also very basic, the Rust is ok, the blending shading on here her clothes , hair, and skin are completely lacking.
Anyway, this one got me 2nd place on a forum competition so i guess it wasn't too bad.
The following year, i wanted to do another Giant, and by this point i still wasn't committed to painting for display, and it detracts from the scene. At this point i didn't know they actually judge all this stuff at a real competition , like a con. But if your interested do a Search for moonlight mini's diorama judging criteria.
So this was the following year. I wanted to add suspense, more action, fear, foreboding, sense of dread etc. I tried OSL , (not very good), but i made the door, brass hinges, and the walls and those turned out well. The door actually moves.
as you can probly tell, i really live for Dio's, and they are very immersive for me. For me it's the story-telling, i get an image stuck in my head and have to build it. To be honest i don't think i could paint mini's just to paint, and i hope this is helpful for you. Start small, add elements as you go. you will either love it or decide it's for the birds. To give you and idea of how deep you can get, i just finished 2 that were huge.
One with Orc's and elves, 24 mini's, complex trees, water, stone, flying creatures etc. = 300 hours.
Another Undead, 100 hours.
if you guys are interested i can start a new post, "show us your dio's" and stick them in there.I've actually been reluctant to post since i don't have a lot of Citadel (LOTR MESBG being the exception), but if it's ok i can share more.
