Verne and Verity pt. III: Black and white

Hi there.
Time for the already finished Jules Verne diorama. This one actually was quite simple to do but took some time to dry. First step was to try and mimic the copperplate effect in 3D. This proved not really hard to do but finding a nice angle to let the halftone pattern do its job in Photoshop was a little more work.
I found a picture of the ocean from straight up above it. I dragged it through Photoshop and this was the result:

More after the jump!

Here is a more detailed look at the halftone waves:

So the next step was to get it covered in transparent acrylic paste to make the sea more watery. I wanted to make the choppy little waves more visible but because of the line art underneath it still looks very copperplate-y.

Then I made the projectile. I cut off part of the bottom to make it lurch over a little in the water. I didn't make any pictures of the actual build of the projectile itself, sorry.
The model is designed by Bryan 'Rocketman' Tan and he has it up on his Deviantart site for free download. I just reduced the hell out of the model to make it comparable to the small Apollo and gave it too a halftone treatment.

Next I scratchbuilt a little row boat. The passengers were cut out of thick grey card. Yes, they are flat, two dimensional, if you will but I think that adds to their charm. Up front in the boat stands J.T. Maston, the man with a rubber cap on his cranium and a hook for a hand, pointing at the projectile.
Now, the sea surface was dried and completely transparent again. Time to join the two ships together.

And no, this is not a black and white photograph. The diorama is black and white.

The flag was shaped while wet by the glue.

I like how the choppy little waves came out. They are not at all disturbing in the halftone atmosphere

See? it is colour. Here are my fat fingers for size.

The four rowers take the boat closer. The projectile itself flies the U.S. flag of 1870. In moment's time the approaching rescue crew will be able to look inside its windows and see Barbicane, Ardan and Nicholl immersed in a game of dominoes.


Up next: a follow up on the Apollo diorama.
Bye and thanks for taking a peek!
--PK