What is this gesso you speak of? Looks wonderful.

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Gesso is a thick white primer that seals, stiffens and provides a painting surface. I usually use it on my plaster of Paris projects to make them stronger and fill on gaps between blocks. An artist product, I use Luquitex Basics.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

I am irked. Had a few minutes before I had to put everything away so I thought I would see how a wash looked. Don't know if it is the gesso, the spray paint, the insulation board or a combination of all three but it is too well sealed and won't take the wash. Have not had this problem with gesso before so I am thinking it is the spray paint, don't know.

Tried some dry brush and that worked but I am irked.

When I get a chance I will spray paint it black to darken the crevasses and work from there.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

My irkness (is that a word?) is solved. It was the primer that was giving me problems. I had forgot my rule that when doing terrain, go cheap. I had bought a better primer than I usually get and it did too good of a job. Bought my $1 black spray primer, did my craft paint grey dry brush and felt better about it all.



This primer took the wash and I started doing different colors dry brushing, added some tea leaves scatter and some tuffs. Still need to work on the water run in the middle and of course keep fooling around with it.

This side shows more of the cutting into the insulation board vs breaking hunks off.





The insulation board actually worked better than I thought it would, easy to break off and score to show off the dry brushing well.



Some closer looks.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Glad you were able to solve that. The final piece looks really, really nice. You outdid yourself with this piece of terrain I'd say I like the tufts and moss you added. I think that really brings the terrain to life

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You can find me at: https://KuribosPainting.com/ and on Instagram @kuribospainting.

Thanks Kurbio.

Using the Dungeon Keeper in his original design as Azog, coming out of the gate to challenge the dwarves.



Interior shot found on minecraft middle earth.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

What a fantastic image! Would you consider adding a bit of moss to the cracks and crevices of the gate? That is the only thing I can think of to improve that awesome image! I always love your atmospheric photos

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You can find me at: https://KuribosPainting.com/ and on Instagram @kuribospainting.

Kuribo - I hadn't really dirtied up the top of the gate yet, waiting to have the spurs done and doing something above the gate. Did add some additional wash and tea leaves on top for now though

Worked on the western spur, so far only the primer and dry brush done.





Has some stairs leading up to a platform for either the dwarf ballista or the orc drums. I called it a battle platform, my wife called it a patio (?!?)

Here are both spurs on the board. (forgot to put on the stairs)



Besides the painting/teal leaves/tuffs, I am torn if I need to redo the eastern spur to match more aesthetically with the western. I feel the eastern is too blockish in comparison with the western. Thoughts? Or did the dwarves use the eastern spur to build the stairs and gate?

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

How did I miss this thread until now? Really nice work, Mapper! If you're looking for opinions, I fear I'm only going to muddy the waters because my tastes run to slightly preferring the shape/texture of the western arm but the color of the eastern.

But whichever way you go it's going to be an impressive bit of scenery.

With a handle of Mapper, you would think I would know better.

What I have been calling the east and west spur should have been called the northern and southern spurs. Looking at the East Gate of Moria, the spur to the right would be to the north of the gate and the spur to the left the southern spur.



oops.

DaveT - I haven't finished painting the southern spur yet, still deciding on what to do with the northern spur.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

I have to admit, the Southern Spur is sculpted in a much more realistic fashion to my eyes. The Northern is a bit too blocky to match the aesthetics of the movies but that doesn't mean it doesn't look cool There are some cool (and unnatural looking) stones that are blocky in the Dragon Age Origins game that they remind me of. I thought that the stones might be more playable that way and that was why you kept some square (and more importantly, flat!) surfaces.

With that said, I think the Northern Spur has a more realistic paint job and has a bit more color and life to it. I think the Southern Spur is darker and uses colder colors which would make it a better fit for Mordor than a place the dwarves call home. Perhaps if you lighten it or use some more of the colors in the Northern Spur, it will look better? I think it would be good to have a little bit of overlap with the gate area color-wise like the Northern Spur seems to. That is just my two cents though. I'm sure you'll figure out what is best in due time

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You can find me at: https://KuribosPainting.com/ and on Instagram @kuribospainting.

Redid the right side of the northern spur, added the mountain rocks to the back board, gave it all a black undercoat and a grey dry brush. Now I can start detailing it all with earth color paints, tuffs, etc.

Might add some more mountain rocks above the gate, need to look at it more.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

That looks great. Love the perspective painting in the doorway.

You need to get some minis on that scenery.

Won't be able to do any updates on this for awhile, so have some figures on it!

Balin leading his expedition to reclaim Moria.







Be careful what you might awake.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Wow, this is sensational work, my friend! I really like how the gate and steps are a bit lighter than the rock so you naturally place your focus there. The images with the minis just make the scene come to life that much more. You really outdid yourself with this terrain and the time you put into it is definitely worth it!

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You can find me at: https://KuribosPainting.com/ and on Instagram @kuribospainting.

First, apologies for the picture heavy post.

Finished painting, flocking and sealing the East Gate of Moria.



The North Spur



As a stand alone piece with the side gate



The Gate



The Southern Spur



As a stand alone piece with a bottom step added



Of course, with figures added.

With Balin's expedition approaching, the Goblin King decides to take the offensive and summons his forces.





The drums and shamans begin their call



The goblins pour forth to do battle

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

My goodness that is a lot of goblins! Its nice to see the terrain finished and the trademark cinematic photos as well It really does look fantastic and was worth the hard work!

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You can find me at: https://KuribosPainting.com/ and on Instagram @kuribospainting.

Agreed! Looks great on its own but even better with the figures.

Thanks everyone!

I had to play around with some more figures on it.





While doing so, I thought it looked too green, so went back and did a grey dry brush to highlight the rocks more and make the difference between the flock and stones more distinct.





Just thought it needed the edge highlighting to show that the underlying rock was grey and that is what the dwarves used to make the statues/gateway.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Great images. Seeing the dwarves heading into the painted gateway calls to mind Wile E. Coyote.

Time to put it to use!