Diorama Design and Composition - NMRBO23

 

 

Click on the image above or open in a new tab to see a really large version.

The top-down image above offer a good view of the overall layout of this year's National Model Railroad Build Off diorama.  The main idea driving the design is the flow across the scene from side to side, primarily left to right, interrupted by elements that break that flow.  Elements that run from one short side to the other are the lakefront, the track and the road.  Elements that interrupt that motion are the bends in the road, the stream and bridges crossing it, and the trees.  The houses and larger trees at the back of the scene are adjacent to or behind these longer, sweeping elements, and are almost interesting background features in and of themselves.  More on them in a moment.

Let's start with the water.  Since Woodland Scenics Deep Pour Murky water and a plate girder bridge were two required elements in the product bundle, it made sense to make them primary features in the design.  I placed the bridge front and center with the water making a V towards the bridge.  The small 'surface rocks', also required, point along that V toward the bridge.  (Another line of surface rocks points toward the concrete arched bridge, but it is secondary to the railroad bridge and serves another compositional purpose).

The last required element in the product bundle was "Aunt Lucy's House", a two-story wood house kit by Walthers, (nee Faller).  This structure might get its own blog post, as there's much to talk about there, but the topic for this post is about how to use the design of the diorama to highlight the required elements.  To draw the eye to Aunt Lucy's house I put a bend in the road and placed the big white house at the end of it.  I then put parallel elements in front of it which reinforce its location, connecting the street to the track to the fence to the driveway and finally the roof of the house; there's even a line of surface rocks between the track and the fence.  See the blue lines in this image below:

Note also how the other house on the left relates to the curving road, track and lakeside over against the strong parallel lines at the farmhouse.  In "reality" the home would have been the last thing built - the lake being there first, the track coming next, the road after that, and then the house.  But for the purposes of the design composition it is the most eye-catching large element on that side of the diorama, and the shape of the elements in front serve to reinforce its location.

As I implied in last year's analysis of my diorama entry from 2022, balance is important.  The weight of things influences how the viewer sees the scene.  So far the discussion has focused on a top-down view, but this year I added more vertical gradients to the diorama.  The lowest elevation is the lakefront and stream, and the highest the ground level under the mission-style bungalow on the left.  However the tallest structure is still the white farmhouse.  The paved road is the only leading line that changes elevation; it is above the track on the left, level at the crossing, then below it on the right.

Finally the trees play an important composition role.  There is one more (broken) horizontal line on the diorama - the trees across the back.  I had originally planned to include a printed backdrop but decided late in the construction to omit it.  I had even considered using a small mirror to give the illusion that the stream extended back further into the distance but disguising it with a tunnel of trees would have changed the overall feel and balance of the diorama, putting too much weight in the center instead of out front on the bridge.  

I firmly believe that nature, whenever appropriate, should dominate our modeled environments.  Big trees should be big, maintaining the relationship to other structures, trains, people, etc. as they do in reality.  My Bald Cypress trees are 60-70 feet high; this is about average for this species, but still tall enough to cast a long shadow over their surroundings as a model.  

The palm trees dotted throughout are mainly there to set the locale but also serve as punctuation marks, places to interrupt the flow and keep the eye in the scene a bit longer.  As painter Ian Roberts notes, strong lines across a composition tend to take the viewer outside the scene, so elements that keep the viewer in the scene need to be placed to do just that.  It would be easy to follow the paved road right off the right side of the diorama, but that big Cypress says "Stop!" and keeps your eye at the lakeside "beach".

Thanks for keeping your eye on this longer blog post.  I hope these thoughts inspire you to consider design and composition in your modeled worlds.

Diorama Design and Composition

I'm not a professional artist with training or any formal education in the subject, but I know what I like.  That is to say, I have an idea of what a scene could be or might be before I begin building it, and I learn whether or not I like that idea as I build the scene.  As various elements like buildings or major land forms or trees are brought to the space the idea might shift and change.  That was certainly the case with my Walthers National Model Railroad Build Off 2022 diorama.

Click on the image above then open in a new tab to see a really BIG version.

At first I wasn't even going to enter the contest simply because I was already building a railroad and had a good head of steam and didn't want to lose momentum on that project.  But when I figured I could build a diorama using elements that would find a home on the railroad, and potentially win a little cash to fund the hobby, well, it wasn't hard to commit to the endeavor.  So I set about I making a few sketches of a scene that might easily incorporate models I knew I'd want on the railroad that I already had on hand.  I chose the structures based on how long it might take to build them the way I like them considering the four month time frame of the contest.

Once the structures were selected I could consider their arrangement.  I've always liked intersections and streets, especially the way they relate to the structures alongside them and the way they fit into or shape the natural setting.  Add a railroad to the mix and it gets really interesting.  In this case I decided to keep the freight railroad element to a minimum - a spur for the mill - while giving more emphasis to the horse-drawn street railway, a unique element less commonly modeled.  I considered running streets and tracks parallel to the diorama edges at first, but migrated toward an offset angled configuration to allow more room to develop the grounds of each structure and set it in its context.

The "quadrants" of the scene, defined by the major streets, are not evenly balanced yet the structures and scenic elements give them appropriate weight.  The large Purina building occupies a smaller area than the two smaller structures diagonally opposite.  Think of a beam scale, how the smaller weight slides along a long bar to balance the heavy weight on the other side.

Elements like the farm field, the orange grove, the family garden behind the cottage or the Florida scrub habitat could all be modeled in part along the diorama edge and the angled orientation would give the impression they continued on beyond the edge of the diorama.  A parallel orientation might give the idea that the field or grove ended at the edge.  We assume the streets continue even when perpendicular or parallel to the edge because that's a more commonly seen trope on many model railroads.  Still, I believe even they benefit from the angled treatment.   

Structure roof-lines were also considered in the composition of the scene.  Strong parallel lines like rails running down the brick street give the eye a path to follow.  Other elements interrupt that flow while some reinforce it.  Roof lines can do either or both.  Natural elements like the orange grove can be parallel to the street and reinforce the motion while creating rhythm.  The dirt road breaks the rhythm and lets the eye jump across the street to a different area.  The billboard is set at an angle to the road and is the only man-made element oriented that way; the rest are parallel or perpendicular to each other.

 

Note the color, texture, and the way the elements interact with the edge.  We know that driveway keeps going and turns toward the back porch.  So too the lawn and garden continue.  The strong roof lines direct the eye through the scene and the colors of the house both reflect the tans and reds of the scenery.

Color was a major element considered in the composition.  The bold patterns and patriotic colors of the Purina Mill really stand out against the greens and browns of the landscape.  So too the white billboard.  Across the street, however, the colors are more subdued.  Yes, the fruit stand is garish, but the yellow, orange and green are echoes of the orange grove.  The colors for the Queen Anne style cottage were chosen from actual home colors used in the period.  The maroon and tan on the cottage echo the brick street and sandy soil.

Perhaps the most important color on the diorama was the street itself.  I chose a dark brick color with blue tones to simulate the over-fired bricks used on streets in Florida from that period.  The tan earth of the sandy dirt roads and driveways contrasts with the brick, as does the bright green grass.  I found several photos showing the sand blown onto the road and wanted to highlight this effect.  The other major color consideration was the foliage, from the faded lime green of the palm fronds to the deep dark green of the orange trees and every shade in between.  Florida is a green, lush place, and the foliage needed to reflect that vibrancy.

 

From the muted dark green of the Oak behind the cottage to the vibrant bright spring green of the lawn, I hoped to capture some of Florida's lush and diverse foliage, both in color and texture.  Look closely and you'll spot the Azalea in bloom.  Liriope lines the front path.

  

The final element I considered in the composition was the placement of figures and mini-scenes.  That topic will get a post of its own.  Thanks for reading and feel free to comment or ask questions.  I hope these ideas help you create interesting scene compositions on your dioramas or model railroads.