Mood Boards - Swimming with ideas

Greetings Sinners!
Today I want talk about Mood Boards. If you're new to the term it's basically a type of collage of images, texts, ideas and materials related to a subject that facilitate the exploration of an area of interest or idea.......or basically, it helps set a mood.



I think that most people into the hobby have a more artistic bent and like to explore ideas....or maybe you're just a moody get who enjoys his own company like me ;-)

I don't go to the effort of making an actual mood board in this digital age. Instead of all that effort, I make Mood files. For example, while resurrecting my old Necromunda gang the Voodoo Dolls, I saved images to a file that helped me set the scene and inspired me.

Voodoo

Bayou

















Swamps














Now many of these images aren't possible to replicate on a 28-32mm miniature but they do help to convey the feeling or mood that I was looking for. From these images came the idea to use browns, blacks, creams and muted reds (what I think of as the John Blanche colour palette scheme, everything has a sienna/Agrax Earthshade tint to it). From this mood board came Madame Brigitte........

......and the colour scheme for the rest of the gang.

So hopefully you can see how a Mood Board (file) can help to influence and inspire the direction of a project.

My latest Mood Board is focused on the Necromunda Underhive.
For quite a while I pondered on what the Underhive would look like. It's quite an alien concept to us really. A Hive city that almost touches the stars where the vast majority have never seen the surface. A building so vast that that it could contain entire countries and eco-systems.
The Underhive is only as limited as the imagination. It can be a sprawling industrial landscape, an ash-swept derelict wasteland or sewers infested with rats, gators and tentacled mutants. Each district, level, dome or settlement could be completely different to its neighbour.
There are many great terrain pieces out there, from GW's Sector Mechanicus kits to scratch built works of art. Many of them are industrial complexes or concrete edifices that feel more Uphive than Underhive to me.

I'm eager to to explore the Underhive where my Voodoo Dolls dwell and want to expand upon their imagery. An image of a Sump swamp has inveigled it's way into my imagination and it will stay there, firmly lodged until I explore the possibilities.

Sump Swamp

Spanish Moss

Iron Work















Girders Not Trees

Stagnant Water

Flora Fights Back

Neil 101's excellent scatter terrain

Hive Quakes



           Forgotten

....or as I like to call him, the Master of Atmosphere

Derelict



                              Lost

Haunting





                Sunken Archeotech





These are some of the images that I have floating around in my head as I ponder how to mash them together and invoke the mood of a Sump Swamp. Just like my Voodoo Dolls mood board, my sump swamp won't look like any of the images, but I'm hoping many of the ideas will show through as I build and paint it.
I don't usually share my mood boards with people (although I do bounce ideas around with Rob) but hopefully, this post will give you some ideas for your own projects......Until next time, may Our Lady grant you her number ;-)