I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We have recently hit 100 likes on Facebook so if any of you go and like www.facebook.com/thetrollcavern.com , you will be given the chance to win in a giveaway that we are doing soon!
Today I am interviewing Mally Anderson! His blog is: http://mallysminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1
H: Hello Mally, how are you doing?
M: Im well, well not 100%, under the weather but wont let that stop me.
H: Hope you get better mate! So today we are talking about your Three Trolls Diorama. I must say, it is fantastic! What made you make such a cool creation?
M: Thanks. It was my wife who was to blame. She loves trolls and anything big and ugly, hence she married me. So she bought me the three trolls and said she wanted a cave and a waterfall. From there I set about thinking how I could pull it together.
H: Haha! I'm sure you're not that bad! I bet she was happy in the end then! How long do you reckon it took for you to make it?
M: The painting of the figures was the biggest part, nearly 3 months getting them all done. Then the actual display was maybe a month or so.
H: So a long project!
M: A fairly long one. I did do a couple of other things in between. I also dont have masses of time. It was for a diorama challenge on The One Ring forum. It came second, always the bridesmaid !!!
H: Congrats mate! So please tell me about this piece in more detail!
M: It was mainly my imagination. As it had a cave I wanted it to be visible so therefore I opened up the back of the display so you can see into the cave. If you look from this direction you can see the entrance. As with all my diorama I wanted it to tell a story. When I studied the figures they all resembled being startled or suprised by something or someone, so that set my thoughts going. The cave was a must so I figured I would have them doing their daily cooking when they were disturbed. I did a little conversion, Bert had the spoon cut from his hand and replaced by a freshly severed horses leg, the body of which is near his feet. The horse in the paddock I wanted rearing up, obviously a little startled at what it had seen. The waterfall had to have a source which meant a steep rock face. That would help me with the cave and provide the height fopr the waterfall with a little stream taking the water away. The trees were scratch built as I just dont like the ready made ones, too uniform and also these had to be big.
H: It is great to see the idea behind the result! I am a massive fan of the waterfall by the way, what did you use to create such a cool effect?
M: The waterfall was simply Woddland Scenics Water Effects. I squeezed out lines onto some kitchen foil to set the shape and contours to the fall, now pured in a little Woodland Scenics Realistic Water to fill it in. Once dry I peeled it off and gave a little trim to suit and fastened it in place using more Water Effects. When dry I applied some more Water Effects and flicked it up with a cocktail stick to represent splashing water. Its very tome consuming as you have to let each stage cure which is about 24 hours.
H: Fantastic! Hopefully we can get a tutorial in soon! It really achieved a great effect though so congratulations! To do something as advanced as that, you need to be into the hobby for a long time am I right? How long have you been in the hobby for?
M: Well I’ve always loved modelling, starting with Airfix kits as a young lad. It was the release of Di Agostini Battle Games in Middle Earth which got me into painting, 14 years ago. I still have some of those first goblins, god I was awful. Thakfully I progressed from there but is really the last couple of years I have thought, I can do this a lot better and started pushing my learning curve. I keep trying new things, always explore methods and practise. That is for painting and modelling, though the modelling side I do not do much of as I have so much painting to do. For those trying to improve their painting its like muscle memory, get loads of figures going through your hands, you will remember how to hold the brush, how to apply the paint and you can staret your path to improvement.
H: All too true mate! I obviously need to ask the question, what has been your favourite project to work on since you started?
M: Looking back I would say its those pieces that I regarded I had stepped up. In the early days I did a Saruman and a Cave Troll that I was immensely pleased with. I did a Mamuk diorama, which was my first and a big learning curve. In recent times it has been non LOTR which has pleased me most. Gokan was my first non LOTR and my first 54mm figure. It was great to work this bigger scale and I learnt a lot. My work on Glottkin is perhaps some of my best ever. And back to LOTR, I did a NMM Elf Command piece that I was delighted with. I am currenly working on Smaug as a commission piece and this is starting to look good so fingers crossed on that one.
H: Some fantastic models in your blog too mate! Thanks so much for letting me interview you today, and more importantly, seeing your amazing diorama!
M: You are very welcome and thank you for showing your interest in my work.
Thanks again Mally and merry Christmas to you all!
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