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A Tibur Fantasy

Posted by sberry on 27 Jan 2025, 14:50

So after a long delay, here are some pictures of the finished Tibur project (explanations and WIP here):

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As always, I experimented with different background photos. Some are my own, in addition I used
Mogollon Rim Panorama (36683571563) © Coconino National Forest / Public Domain and
Panorama of Blodgett Basin, West Clear Creek Wilderness area (5988201412) © Brady Smith; Coconino National Forest / CC BY-SA 2.0.
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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by Iceman1964 on 27 Jan 2025, 19:34

Great work Sberry. I love this diorama !!!!
Even if "peaceful" atmosphere is not my preferite, the ground and the buildings are marvelous.
Best compliments :-)
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Iceman1964  Italy
 
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Posted by Rich W on 27 Jan 2025, 23:50

What a lovely scene you’ve created! I love the figures (which sets are they from?) and I really love those temple buildings!
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Posted by Ochoin on 28 Jan 2025, 02:59

This is the work of a master.

donald
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Ochoin  Scotland
 
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Posted by Michael Robert on 28 Jan 2025, 12:18

Wonderful, Stefan,
very beautiful scene(s). The composition is marvelous and the backgrounds chosen work very fine. I was not able to identify the origin of all figures ; they work nicely together. Not an easy task, in particular for Greeks with not so much choice.
Your scene reminds of the one of the Museums in Berlin where they have a 360° painting of a Greek city projected all around you and you can watch from a tower with light effects and plunge inside.
Greetings
Michael
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Michael Robert  France

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Posted by sberry on 28 Jan 2025, 17:18

Dear friends, thank you for your comments!

Iceman1964 wrote:Even if "peaceful" atmosphere is not my preferite

Concerning the peaceful nature of the scene, I absolutely understand your remark. When I started this hobby about 25 years ago, I had grand plans of big, impressive battle scenes. It was the golden era of HäT and Zvezda, when they produced (or at least promised) extensive series of Republican, Imperial and Late Empire Romans, all complete with their respective enemies. A dream for somebody who wants to create huge battles – unless, as I quickly had to learn, you are extremely slow at painting figures, which makes it unlikely that these huge battle scenes will ever be completed. So I started to do scenes that are interesting not because of the sheer numbers but rather because I try to make them comprehensive in a certain way: people, animals, plants, buildings, vehicles, sometimes also water with ships etc.
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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by sberry on 28 Jan 2025, 17:21

Rich W wrote:I love the figures (which sets are they from?) and I really love those temple buildings!

Well, I have accumulated a big stash of figures over the course of more than two decades, and sometimes I just cannot tell their manufacturers anymore. But I have compiled this list, which seems pretty complete for this project:
Temples: Imperial Modellbau.
Amphorae: Crynsminiaturen
Dancers: Germania?
Goats, cat: Noch
Musicians, braziers: Phersu
Peasants: Fine Scale Factory
Small altar, statue: Atlantic
Standing female priest with big altar: Nikolai
Standing men: Senators by Strelets
Triumphal procession (Bull + 2 attendants): Germania
Well: Fredericus Rex
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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by sberry on 28 Jan 2025, 17:30

Michael Robert wrote:Your scene reminds of the one of the Museums in Berlin where they have a 360° painting of a Greek city projected all around you and you can watch from a tower with light effects and plunge inside.

This comparison is really flattering, many thanks! That panorama shows the city of Pergamon during a visit of Emperor Hadrian, and it is very impressive indeed, with its hundreds of people. I never thought about that, but it may have been an inspiration of my own project, now that you mention it.
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Posted by sberry on 28 Jan 2025, 17:30

OK, enough words, here are more pics:

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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 29 Jan 2025, 20:16

Wow, sberry, I think you've outdone yourself with this diorama. It's hard to add new compliments to the ones you've already received from the colleagues, but I'll give it a try. Although, from the pictures you were posting in the ‘work in progress’ section, we could already get an idea of what the final result was going to be, the truth is that this one surpasses the best ideas we could have had about it. :love: :love: :love:

All the elements of the diorama are superb: the people, the animals, the objects, the buildings, the natural landscape (terrain, vegetation, river, etc.), as well as the backgrounds you have used to achieve very realistic pictures. :love: :love: :love:

There are so many details that you have to look at each picture carefully and several times to detect and admire them. The paint work on the figures is amazing. What to say about the fountain, the altars, the amphorae, the roasting pig, the temples, the trees, bushes and flowers! Everything without exception is perfect. :love: :love: :love:

After so much sincere praise, I just have one request for you, dear sberry: could you post some pictures of the diorama from a bird's eye view to get a better idea of the whole? :mrgreen:

Thank you very much for brightening up our eyes with this marvel, my friend. You know I'm your number one fan and with your permission I've saved all these pictures in my forum photo archive, so I can have them in my collection along with other masterpieces by Kostis Ornerakis, Egbert, Ben90, Iceman1964, Rich W, TK and more. ;-)

My best congratulations, sberry! :-D

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by sberry on 30 Jan 2025, 18:55

Dear Santi,
what can I say after so much praise… Many thanks!
Of course you are free to store the pictures (and if you want the whole package, you can get the full series of 92 pics at http://www.stephan-berry.de/model.html#tibur).

But there is one point where I have to disagree:
Santi Pérez wrote:The paint work on the figures is amazing.

To tell the truth, I don’t consider myself a very good figure painter – especially when compared to a real master like yourself! Unfortunately, I am neither a quick painter, who can produce huge numbers of figures in short time, nor a very precise painter who can transform each individual figure into a little masterpiece. So I try instead to produce dioramas that are interesting because they are in a certain way “complete” and also present ideas that have not been done that often in 1/72 scale.

I had taken a few pictures in bird’s eye view, as you requested. But I found them not very convincing because of a number of issues, for instance the problem of shadows on the scene. The strange “pizza piece” shape of the diorama makes it also difficult to get a good overview from above. Here are two raw pictures to give you an impression:

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However, a better overview is perhaps given by these panorama views from the side. For a screen-filling format, you can click on these picture links:

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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by Bessiere on 31 Jan 2025, 12:43

Wow! Incredible. Amazing. Chock full of little details that gives it a realistic completeness. Just a joy to let your eyes wander around looking at all the various vignettes. Your basing and groundwork is wonderful, your stone textures and flowing water give it a good solid realistic feel. Massively good. Not much I can add to the compliments already said. Well done sir!
Cheers,
Besssiere
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 03 Feb 2025, 19:47

Thank you very much for the bird's eye view pictures, sberry. When a job is excellent, as yours is, the truth is that the general views look as good as the close-ups. ;-)

sberry wrote:...To tell the truth, I don’t consider myself a very good figure painter – especially when compared to a real master like yourself! Unfortunately, I am neither a quick painter, who can produce huge numbers of figures in short time, nor a very precise painter who can transform each individual figure into a little masterpiece...

Thanks so much for your praise, although I don't think my figures are masterpieces at all. Besides, I really like the style of yours, with such soft colours and precise brushstrokes. :thumbup:

sberry wrote:...So I try instead to produce dioramas that are interesting because they are in a certain way “complete” and also present ideas that have not been done that often in 1/72 scale...

I'd also like to be able to do big projects with a large number of figures, but I'm so slow at painting that I'd be incapable of ever finishing one like that, hahaha.

Best regards, my friend!

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by sberry on 05 Feb 2025, 18:11

Bessiere wrote:Not much I can add to the compliments already said.

Thank you very much, even repeated compliments are welcome!
Such a project is always a lot of work. But to know that there will be some gentlemen on the forum (no ladies active here at the moment, as far as I can see) who appreciate the effort is, at least for me, part of the fun.
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Posted by sberry on 05 Feb 2025, 18:16

Santi Pérez wrote:When a job is excellent, as yours is, the truth is that the general views look as good as the close-ups.... Besides, I really like the style of yours, with such soft colours and precise brushstrokes.

Many thanks again, my dear friend!
Regarding the colors, I try to find a balance between too dull and too bright. I used Roman paintings as an inspiration, and they show garments that look sometimes quite bright and candy colored. But since they had only natural dyes back them and not those very intense modern colors, I try not to overdo it with the colors.

Santi Pérez wrote:I'd also like to be able to do big projects with a large number of figures, but I'm so slow at painting that I'd be incapable of ever finishing one like that, hahaha.

I have hundreds or perhaps thousands of unpainted figures (never counted them), bought during my early, optimistic days. To paint them all, I must reach at least 120 years of age. Well, we’ll see…

Stephan
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Posted by Susofrick on 06 Feb 2025, 11:58

Oh no! Now I long a little more for a little wamer weather! Great dio! I must admit that I am quite fond of what you do!
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Posted by sberry on 06 Feb 2025, 17:46

Susofrick wrote:Oh no! Now I long a little more for a little wamer weather! Great dio! I must admit that I am quite fond of what you do!

Thank you very much! Yes, the warm weather: I have done exactly one diorama showing a winter landscape. Most of my scenes are placed in summertime, and under the warm Mediterranean sun. A sort of compensation for the weather here in Germany…
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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by sberry on 06 Feb 2025, 17:48

Now here is a final batch of pictures. As you could see above, I love to experiment with different backgrounds for my dioramas, to see how the atmosphere changes and influences the perception of the scene itself. So I was thinking well, why shouldn’t these people have their religious ceremony at sunset. This is the result (using once again the background photo © Giorgio Galeotti CC BY 4.0)):

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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by Iceman1964 on 06 Feb 2025, 18:37

wow, these pictures create an incredible athmosphere, really suggestive !
great photo for a great diorama :-D
Enrico
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