Western research:

The theme for our diorama project is Western, part of the Summer project was to research the theme. This involves creating a mind map on the theme and creating between six to eight mood boards on various topics in the Western theme.

Mind map:

The first step of research is to create a mind map of the theme the project centers around. In this case it is Western. The mood board consists of plants, building, mines and native american campsites. We do this to get our initial thoughts down on paper. After this I took these words and created mood boards based on some of the words.

Mood boards:

Cacti:

The type of cactus I thought of for a western setting was the Saguaro cacti which can be found in the Sonaran desert (In Arizona). Saguaro cacti are commonly shown in media set in a Western environment and have become known for that, they would be very interesting to play around with in a 3D setting due to all the sizes and shapes they come in, some blossom and some have multiple arms growing out so design wise they are very diverse! Making them interesting from a design point of view.

Teepees:

Teepees are large tents made from animal skins that were inhabited by native Americans that lived in the west. They have a simple cone shape to them and are held up by wooden poles which form an inner frame, something which could be highlighted in a model. Many of the tents feature animal themed paintings outside as decoration, this can be textured onto the model and would be very fun to do. The colours of the paint used are often natural colours with a somewhat high saturation to them.

Canyons and desert:

Canyons and deserts make up a large portion of environments in western themed media, some may say it is over used but I still feel it is important to look into them. Western deserts are different say to the Sahara desert as they are much more rockier and sustain a lot more plant life. To me the rocky formations mixed with limited plant life could offer a unique diorama design. Dry colours are often featured in these environments on the rocks and sand and many of the plants appear to be dry too.

Totem poles:

Totem polls are tall wooden polls broken up into sections by animal carvings, the animals featured include eagles, owls, wolves and sometimes people. They are carved in a simple and exaggerated way and are often painted using bold colours like reds, yellows and greens to highlight the animals. From a design point of view totem poles are interesting since I would need to plan out the different sections and colour choices.

Wagons:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Casskuzakie/wagons/

Wagons are a smaller element like cacti but can still be a focus point in an environment. Wagons are animal pulled carts that are made of wood and often have a fabric canopy over the cart for shelter and protection. The canopies are often white, I think this is to deter as much heat as possible so colour wise I would keep it white, with the cart being made of dry wood, giving a drab colour scheme. When modelling I would make sure to show the wooden framing underneath the fabric.

Weapons, lanterns and trinkets:

This mood board is for the smaller elements that can be found in a diorama, like guns and lanterns. I felt it was a good idea to make a board specifically for the smaller elements of a scene. The board includes dynamite, lanterns and weapons, small items that may need extra attention when designing. Lanterns are commonly found in buildings and mines so they could be a main light source the majority of the time, having source material will help me understand the structure and light of them.

Western buildings (Interior and exterior):

This board is for western architecture. A lot of the buildings are similar in structure and how they’ve been built. The often have wooden panelling, tilted rooves with a straight facing front with balconies, porches and side steps. The colours here are often dry and warm because of the wood, candle and fire light. There would however be paint work on any sigs that are outside of the building. There are a lot of elements of the architecture to take into account if I choose to model buildings.

Western mines and carts:

This mood board is for gold mines and carts that can be found in the west. Mines were a huge source of work and were used to find minerals such as gold. An important structural element of these mines is the wooden framing as they held up what was very hazardous rock formations as mines could collapse from being underground from having so much pressure. Natural lighting is very rare in mines so lanterns are used to light the passages, this gives the environment warm lighting to work with.