Darkheather Model pt. 2:Time to continue from the model p...

Darkheather Model pt. 2:
Time to continue from the model post I did a few weeks back. In the 4th Issue (chapter) of Winter 1152 Saxon plummets through a hole in the Darkheather tunnels into a room piled with the bones of weasel victims/meals long past. In a past blogpost I quickly showed and mentioned the model I made for the room, but wanted to go into more detail here.

Sometimes I find that trying to build a physical model helps me design a space much quicker than if I tried sketching out ideas. I had a few photos of various arches & architectural details I thought appropriate for the architecture of Darkheather. In photoshop I stacked two arch patterns on top of each other and made the overall shape a wedge. I printed out several copies of the image, pasting them to bristol board and then attaching their sides to each other in what would be a octagon (but I left 4 sides off so I could see into the model.) In this photo you can see I've highlighted one section of the photo-collage so you can see how it was assembled.


This idea of repeating a section of something to make a bigger something seem like the sum of more than its parts was something I learned in 2D Design class (one of the most important classes I ever took). The room was glued to a piece of cardboard which I cut a hole into so I could view the model from below. To help the bristol board walls to keep their shape and not distort, I added the cardboard arch wings. Building a model like this only took an hour or so, but it saved me a lot of time in design and in imagining the way it would look in various angles and perspectives.
Below you can see some panels from the book of the bone chamber. 

Where those lower arches lead will be the subject of next week's blog: Darkheather model pt.3

Fan Art:

This work by Isaac Montalbano (7) was sent to me by his mother Sarah.  She writes: "By some chance our local library put Fall 1152 in the children's section on display.  Even though the book is usually upstairs in the Young Adult section.  If this hadn't happened I never would have seen it next to the water fountain.  I myself love pretty much anything to do with the medieval time period and I have been picking up Brian Jaques books at Goodwill or tag sales and they wait on the shelf for my three sons to become full fledged readers.  Anyway, when I brought Mouse Guard home we knew it was love. A while ago Isaac was inspired to draw his own version of The Black Axe, The green part is the cloak, and the reason one arm is super long is that the other arm is folded and also his head is turned to look at the axe which is why he only has one eye."


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