Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone

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Project Summary

This project draws on two passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, both describing humans transformed into trees — not as illustration, but as inspiration for a scene in its own right. The discovery of a beautiful piece of bark during a mountain hike with my wife provided the ideal starting point. The kit I chose is a vintage Zaku II in 1/144 scale.

The first of the two passages is from Book I, where the nymph Daphne, fleeing Apollo, begs her father Peneus to change her form:

“….. A filmy rind about her body grows; Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs: The nymph is all into a lawrel gone;…...”

The second passage comes from Book VIII, where the elderly Baucis and Philemon are transformed together at the moment of death — bark sealing their final words to one another:

“Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen Sprouting with sudden leaves of spritely green: ……., And saw his lengthen’d arms a sprouting wood: New roots their fasten’d feet begin to bind, Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind: Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew,…..”

This diorama imagines a Zaku II, mid-patrol, seized by a sudden and rapid metamorphosis into bark. The cause is deliberately left untold — the scene is concerned only with the fact that it is happening, not why. The mecha shows only minor wear and tear: this is not an abandoned machine reclaimed slowly by time, but an active one undergoing an unexpected transformation.

Its legs have already been absorbed into the tree — only two broken fragments of a leg’s connecting cable remain, snapped off and emerging from the bark. The skirt armor has started its transformation, shards of bark protruding between the skirt gaps. The shield at its side is more advanced in the transformation, the wood having taken over it’s lower part. Vines emerge from the bark and slither along and over the Zaku’s arms and upper body, pinning it down the way roots seal over anything in their path. The shoulders are also covered, like vegetation hands holding it down. The mecha cannot pull free; it is being covered, so the transformation can continue. Still, in a futile attempt, one arm tries to lift what’s left of the body; the other reaches out, its hand open, fingers spread, in a call for help that will go unanswered.

Using natural bark, moss, and lichen, this piece is inspired by Ovid but also pays a small homage to a recurring theme in Tomino’s Gundam saga: nature reclaiming what humanity has taken from it.

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Metamorphosis, week 6, ep. 38 - light brushing 1

Metamorphosis, week 6, ep. 38 - light brushing 2

Metamorphosis, week 6, ep. 38 - light brushing 3

Metamorphosis, week 6, ep. 38 - light brushing 4

Metamorphosis, week 6, ep. 38 - light brushing 5

Sci-Fi

102 days ago

Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone | Sci-Fi

Metamorphosis, week 6, ep. 38 - light brushing

Ciao! Today is focusing on some light dry brushing on the raised parts of the ”melting Zaku”.
Wet palette and my home made wiping board to apply a gentle dry brushing.

I started to notice a shine on the surface that I do not like and will need to be addressed later.

Also, the outer edges of the clay do not blend too smoothly with bark and will need fixing too.

FR
From Resin to Pigments101 days ago
How do you like vallejo air?
- CC
  Cristian Carlone101 days ago
  Replying to From Resin to Pigments
  @From Resin to Pigments, thank you for commenting. Vallejo air paints have been my historic paints since 2018. I was happy with them provided the good thinning ratio was applied when using them with an airbrush. The issue is that each color requires different thinning ratio because pigmentation does not seem to be even among the colors. With that said, they are good matt paints. However, more recent formulations from Ammo by Mig, Ak 3rd gen and Kaleidos have less issues when it comes to airbrushing. I’ve not tried the newest Vallejo air color formulation though.
S
STUDIO935101 days ago
good dry brushing
- CC
  Cristian Carlone101 days ago
  Replying to STUDIO935
  @STUDIO935 , thank you. Very light and subtle.
CK
Christopher Koch102 days ago
I wonder if you could use ground up tree bark from another similar piece to make a blending agent
- CC
  Cristian Carlone102 days ago
  Replying to Christopher Koch
  @Christopher Koch , thank you. It’s an interesting suggestion. I’ll give it a try and do some tests, as I have other pieces of bark. I imagine it should be grounded very thinly to avoid clumping. Thank you again, Christopher, I truly appreciate your engagement.
CK
Christopher Koch102 days ago
Nice work blending that in
- CC
  Cristian Carlone102 days ago
  Replying to Christopher Koch
  @Christopher Koch , thanks! Still some work to be done to make it look even better.
3S
35th Scale Modeler102 days ago
Nice work on the dry‑brushing — the raised detail reads well, and it’s smart catching that surface shine early. The clay‑to‑bark blend fix will really tighten the finish.
- CC
  Cristian Carlone102 days ago
  Replying to 35th Scale Modeler
  @35th Scale Modeler, thank you. I should have caught the clay to bark unevenness earlier. Luckily one of the other contestants pointed it out to me!

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