A Bio and a Hobby

Both Thomas and Disney opened a huge door for me to become inspired to be an artist. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to draw, create toys and models out of paper, and read.  Every day, I am constantly making art for art college and trying to develop my skills after my scholastic requirements, hoping that someday my creativity will spark in a professional arena, and continue doing what I am very good at, in a beneficial manner. I go to M.I.C.A. (the Maryland Institute College of Art), where I'm earning a Bachelor's degree in Animation.

I had to have a room with a model layout where I like to film my Thomas trains.  My father and I painted the walls as landscape backdrops, so the scenes in photos looked realistic.  All of the buildings are made of textured card-stock, and the figures are made of oven-baked clay, which I individually sculpted myself. They are tiny!

A reconstructed picture from "Cranky Bugs," from my layout back in the day!

Here is a photo I took while I was filming for my home made version of a Thomas episode, "Cranky Bugs," back in 2008. The characters are Bachmann models, with a few Bachmann Branchline wagons, but the figures, buildings, and even the loads I assembled from scrap kits are created by myself. As of course there is no way of getting store-bought models of every single building from the show, I trained myself as a model railroader how to construct them from scratch.

Studying from videos, I reconstruct locations of the Island for episodes I'm trying to capture.

This is the best part: to add a personal touch, I work from scenes both from the television episodes and from illustrations of the original "Railway Series" written by the Rev. W. Awdry. There is so much material that hasn't been covered that I really enjoy modelling, such as the sheds, warehouses or villages. Then I make them as card-stock scale model structures to film on my layout.

But I can't keep each scene forever! Everything is reconstructed from scratch.

For example, say I want to film Brendam Docks:

I have a 4' x 8' table with a piece of 1" thick foam the same dimensions. I construct all of the buildings or objects I need for the location, like the ship and warehouses. I paint the freight cars and tack, then weather them.

The foam allows me to pin the Atlas track securely into place with no glue, then loosely ballast them.

Then I film using a digital camera the scenes I want to make, with the white light that comes through the room's windows for the day, then at night there is a large lamp with a blue bulb with any additional lights for sets and buildings.

Then, (brace yourself!), I tare the whole model set down and start again with a new location.

Ugh, WHY? You might ask?

Well, this gives me the freedom to change the layout in anyway I wish, without everything being permanent. Then if I find something new that I haven't noticed while studying Thomas before, I can reconstruct the set one again. I also didn't have the space or provision to build and store "complete" model railroad sets or a huge house layout, so it actually is a benefit to me to work this way.

For the next scene, if I was to make countryside scenes, I use my quilts spread out over the table, with anything from boxes and planks of wood to make hills or mountains. I could also pluck the bases of the Woodland Scenic Trees and pluck them back on from underneath the quilt. I try to arrange them for perspective aids, to guide the eye round the set where the engines travel (art aesthetics!)

So, why do I do this?

This whole phenomenon grew as a hobby for me as I always loved trains and to make things. Thomas has always been my favorite character to watch and read about, and I really enjoy the reward I receive from improving my model-making skills for school and for my hobby.

I wouldn't have been able to produce such beautiful objects such as this. On my desk is a fishing trawler I made for a family member. Modeling Thomas has giving me a foundation for making my own things as well. It is such a cool feeling seeing what I make that I thought I never could have created before.

Oh, yes, and I wouldn't have been able to make this either! More on Skarloey and Sodor's Narrow Gauge Engines later!

Until next time!