Stouffville, Ontario Canada (647) 962-1997 gwstudios@rogers.com M-F 8:30am - 2:30pm & 8:00pm - 11:00pm

Tag: Crafting

In regards to my previous post about 3d rendering.

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I might be behind the eight ball here in terms of knowing about how to turn illustrations of uniquely shaped bottles into fully fledged 3d objects using Photoshop, but learning that work flow and then being able to chuck that stuff into Dimension and creating realistic looking mock ups is astounding. So glad I came across this stuff. No longer do I need to slave away drawing every bend of light or using finicky meshes. No no no, now you can draw up your custom bottle in illustrator, render the 3d shape in photoshop, with separate outer glass, inner liquid fill, cap and cork, plus add your various labels and tie that shit up with a fucking bow in Dimension with lighting effects, camera perspective matching to your background. Dear lord, it’s a game changer! I for one am pumped about what this could do for my beverage, and packaged goods clientele. Mind blown. I am tickled pink. Pleased as punch. Until next time.

Also – side note. I wrote a book of short stories available on Kindle, and kindle unlimited for $.99 USD. The Company – A series of interconnected space short stories by Mark Holyome. Available in 11 markets worldwide.

Well, I’ve gone and done it again. Terrain build #3.

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I’ve always wanted to have an interconnected series of gaming terain boards and now I’m on a mission to complete all four 2ft by 2ft boards.

The third installment sees us come up against some steep shoreline, more water, cliffs, and a ruined temple upon a plateau with trees growing out of its discarded rubble. I also tried something new with this build in terms of materials: namely tile grout that hardens to stone with the liberal application of just plain water. Choosing the right colour was/is an ongoing challenge unless you can store multiple sacks and/or boxes of the stuff.

Here are the build images in progression.

Cut out the foam, add the wooden rocks, add some tile grout/stones/sand for texture. Block it all into place with papier mache.
After the grout has dried.
Primered in black for a uniform colour.
Dry brush grey.
Dry brush beige.
Dry brush titanium white on the top most portions of the rocks and rubble.
Slather on watered down mixture of earthy brown paint.
Block in my water.
After adding the various colours of flocking, tufts, trees and more tile grout. Also added some clear gloss varnish to the water.
How the current three tiles fit together. Waiting on ideas for completing the fourth. Will either be a rolling hill, or a two tiered piece with a surprise.

If you looked this far, and read that, thanks for following along. One more build to go and then I’ll have to move on to my woodshop projects. Almost finished the Harry Potter trunk I’m building for my daughters book collection, wand, robes, tie, glasses and D&D dice. All I need to finish it is the burgundy felt I ordered to line the inside in Gryffindor colours. Catch you around.

War gaming board build number two.

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So the crafting terrain building bug has hit. And it hits hard. Like a sledgehammer to the skull, when things go right anyway. Shortly after completing the first board with a mountain and some water and hills, I found a second 2ft by 2ft board and started another portion. They go together to make one longer playable table or can be used separately. I ordered some new parts for it, but I had enough to finish it with what I had laying around. Could put some extra bits on later, but I don’t have to.

Same process as before. Glue on foam to the board. Cut thicknesses to make obstacles and elevations and landmarks. Glue on thick bark chunks to make rock walls (this part was new, last time I just used paper mache and a tin foil mould). Bark was simple and cheap. Found lots in the yard. Washed and dried it, then glued them on. Add pebbles, rocks and sand. Added paper mache in a thin layer to cover the foam and block in the bark to make the transitions seamless. Let dry in front of a fan over night. Spray paint with black primer. Let that dry over night. Dry brush my grey/beige/white layers on the rocks. Add watered down brown to my ground portions of the terrain. Flock and decorate. Done like dinner.

Let me just sneak this in here, I also wrote a whole slew of short stories, some take place in space. Check them out. An interconnected series of short stories set in space. Cheers! -M