Custom Artist Interview: Luke Matlock's Shelob's Lair.

Luke Matlock from United Kingdom, diorama artist.

From a young age I've always been fascinated by miniatures and the use of them in film, I was blown away when I first saw the behind the scenes of films such as Star Wars, Terminator, Ghostbusters, Toho Godzilla and of course Lord of the Rings.

I've always been a figure collector and one day I just started to re-create scenes from the movies using my figures. Basic at first, using lots of imagination needed to fill the gaps, but slowly started to improve my techniques skills and materials. Being a lord of the rings fan I really wanted to create a scene from the movies. But with too many awesome scenes to choose from, I went with the one that always stood out in my mind, Shelob's lair.

So, when I set out to make the diorama I wanted it to fit an Ikea Detolf and it to look like she's climbing out a hole to get you. So first I created the box it would sit in and looked at how the figure would be positioned. I found a few interesting shaped rocks and pieces of coal and created my own molds of them using liquid latex and started to make a whole bunch of casts of them using plaster of Paris. Then inside the box started to fill it out a little and create the shape using white polystyrene from packaging. Then just start to add the rock casts to the piece, just where would fit and look good. I used a product called sculptampuld to fill in the gaps between the rocks and blend them in, also carving and shaping the sculptampuld to look like rock faces and broken up bits of plaster for all the little rocks on the ground.

Once I was happy with the shape and layout it was time for painting. Lots of washes of various shades of grey, brown and and blue & reds to try and get a natural uneven look, then with some lights dry brushed on. I Found a cheap Halloween decoration for the webbing and the bones, which I repainted to look more real. I Added a light into the back and after that it was time to insert Shelob herself!

For the full set of images see Luke's and other custom artists gallery's HERE

You can follow more of my work on:

Instagram @ Mighty_Matlock

Facebook @ Mighty Matlock dioramas.