#Layout
I’m not a natural artist. So I need a bit of help getting things nice. And for me that means taking photos and applying various ‘grids’ over the top to make sure I’ve got things properly lined up. And then leaving it a few days, coming back to it and making some adjustments. Bigger stones can be ‘faked’ by piling up a few smaller ones.
Can see that for a more artistic type, this might seem a bit odd. But I find the whole process sort of a satisfying in itself.
The starting rule here with sediment is: put in a much bigger slope of sediment than seems in any way plausible. For one, it will flatten, whatever you do. For two, it gives a real sense of perspective and depth to the tank. Also, make sure that the stones are sloping in a natural way, and give a sense of direction that gives depth too. Pointing straight up is bad. Pointing straight across is bad too.
The hardscape rules that seem to work for me are the standard, history of art, renaissance paintings, aesthetics ones: rule of thirds, diagonals and triangles, golden spirals.
Here’s one of my favourite ever layouts analysed in this way:
Slide2 by
greenink@ukaps, on Flickr
You can see how the hardscape is almost perfectly aligned to all of these lines.
Here’s a few early layouts that didn’t cut it.
IMG_5518 by
greenink@ukaps, on Flickr
IMG_5586 by
greenink@ukaps, on Flickr
IMG_5587 by
greenink@ukaps, on Flickr
With this tank, though, for the first time ever, I really took my time with layouts. And after quite a while, I got somewhere I’m pleased with… will post it up later.