Over the past four years Fwoosh artist Snowman has been contributing to the underground movement of action figure photography. Using lighting and modelling techniques Snowman is able to recapture the powerful atmosphere of famous film moments using nothing but his stills of action figures.
Our favourite dio of the controversial cantina scene from Star Wars: A New Hope shows the tense discussion between Han Solo and the bounty hunter Greedo. (see Fig. 1)
With pistols aimed under the table, Han escaped death (by shooting first). Snowman talks us through the methods he used in recreating the scene.
Like any work of art, Snowman always starts with a plan. “Like traditional art you have to have a scene in mind and it will grow. You always adjust the character to the scene – just like doing a 3D drawing.”
Starting from nothing but polystyrene and pool noodles, Snowman paints, glues and constructs all the individual elements like benches, walls and tables, that make up the famous booth where the discussion takes place.(see Fig. 2)
“I use basic modelling techniques that you see everywhere, like model trains or table top games. Basically you just walk around looking for different shapes to use.”
Scene accurate representations aren’t the goal here, Snowman remarks, you just want to set the scene up.(see Fig. 3 & 4)
“A good Dio just needs to be representative. My cantina scene isn’t screen accurate at all, but I think it gives a good feel.”
The atmosphere is created using lights. Snowman captures the tension that Greedo brings to the scene by casting a shadow over him. Using close up photography of the figures, Snowman makes to open sided dio feel claustrophobic and menacing.
“With the cantina scene I wanted it back lit so Greedo sat in the shadows, so I had to position the light source behind the broken window.” (see Fig. 5)
The whole process took Snowman about 6 hours in total to complete, and the cost was around $15.
If you would like to get involved Snowman recommends getting online and joining different model building communities, urging people not to take it too seriously and “have fun with it.”
Check out Snowman’s Dio in a Day in our gallery
Pictures courtesy of Fwoosh.com