Monachopis – Behind the Scenes

Monachopis, as you’ll be familiar by now, is my newest series. It consists of 65 images in total. I completed it throughout January, February and March. While You got a hint of the items used to create this series through various blog posts here, I now present a final behind the scenes look.

Set Design

I designed the set as a sort of abandoned basement of a bombed out building. The walls, columns and sidewalk are cardboard, lined in printed cement texture, that was then muted by painting over with watered down gray acrylic paint. The desert and accompanying dust is play sand. The various accessories are either toys or 3D printed items as outlined in the below list and above diagram. That said, I did re-size each of the 3D files after download for 1:18 scale.

The outside desert area is simply play sand in a file box lid. I later added a second location in the desert using a building from the brand Word Peacekeepers.

• Figures & Scenery: Acid Rain’s The Taste of Coffee, Argus, King and Forsetti Viking by Kit Lau in collaboration with Ori Toy, Pose Skeleton Child, Dog, Cat and Human 2 by Re-Ment, Hasbro GI Joe and Indiana Jones items, Lil Bratz locker and chair, Fashion Polly toys, various other childhood toys, DND figures, handmade/painted items and discount store pieces
• Closed Crates: 3D printed from file http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:45107 then painted, and World Peacekeepers items
• Open Crates:  3D printed from file http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:445717 (printed without lids) then painted,  and World Peacekeepers items
• Beds: 3D printed from file http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:683478 (removed pillows, modified in scale and cut in half for easier printing with my specific printer) then painted
• Chair: 3D printed from file http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18545 then painted

Photographic Technique

For most interior scenes I photographed through 1 to 2 sheets of textured transparency film and backlit the subjects. For all outdoor scenes I used a fog machine and lit the subject from directly above.

Learn more about photographing miniatures and toys:

• How to Make Realistic Images of Miniatures