(original version 10-29-2013)

Clay Cowgill, October 29th, 2013

For the monitor bezel area I again wanted something that was '3D' and not the typical printed sheet of cardboard.  I also wanted something that would light up in interesting ways in response to the LEDs, so I decided to have some strips of 'flesh' in the background and then a gnarled wooden barricade around the perimeter of the screen.

It would have been easy enough to use real wood, but wood is (relatively) heavy and a lot of work to carve up-- so instead I used pink styrofoam building insulation that I cut and carved.

The first step was just to cut up some strips (I used a hot-knife for that) and lay them out on a cardboard pattern I made to show where the screen is. I also started carving in some 'damage' and woodgrain.

Some more carving and I started to get a pretty good stylized 'wood' texture going-- I used a hot soldering iron to draw in a lot of little wood grain lines to add character and detail.  It also makes it easier to get a 'good' paintjob when you have some depth to work with.

The pink foam got a flat dark earth spray-down by airbrush, just like the picture frame.

Then also like the picture frame I dry brushed on several layers of different browns (all lighter than the last) and finally give a wash of dilute black paint which I blotted off of all the 'raised' surfaces (thereby letting is accumulate down in the cracks and make additional 'shadow').

This is the final result before mounting.  I also added various 'drips and drops' of blood made from the remnants of the urethane foam mixture when I was pouring the control panel overlay.  Some of those I stuck on the monitor as well as around the bezel to further pull in the 'outside world' with the 'in game' world.

To make strips of 'flesh' I tinted some latex brown/beige and painted it out on the floor and dried it with a heat gun.  A few layers were built up and then the strips were secured up in the marquee box as well as down below the monitor-- they catch the red light really nicely (you can see that in the video on the first page.