Introduction: The UV Moonlight Road Project.
Hello everyone, I am Blackwood, a graphic artist and this is The UV Moonlight Road Project.
It is fundamentally a composition of single ply cardboard layers stack on top of each other, emulating a roadside view using a couple of cereal boxes. We are gonna be using cutting tools, so be careful, and in the case of teens I recommend adult supervision.
I hope you guys enjoy my work and if posible experiment diferent possibilities a long the process.
if you want to check some of my other work please visit my profiles.
Instagram:
mxr_bw / mxr664
Let's get to it!
Step 1: Materials and Tools.
This is a pretty low butget craft, but we will be needing some tools that you might find in any local craft shop.
Cardboard
1. - Medium Cereal box (x2) single ply cardboard
2. - Medium shipment box (x1) single wall cardboard
Acrylic Paint/Glue
On this project I used my left-over paint, mixing colors as needed, but you can go a bit more straight forward with the colors.
*The Flourescent Acrylic paints need uv lights to glow.
*The Flourescent Acrylic paints can be replace with regular colors if needed.
1. - White
2. - Black
3. - Brown
4. - Green
5. - Flourescent Green
6. - Flourescent Yellow
7. - Flourescent Orange
9. - Flourescent Red
10. - Regular White Glue
11. - Spray Adhesive
12. - Hairspray or matte varnish spray
Tools
1. - Brushes (3 different sizes)
2. - 2B Pencil + Erazer
3. - Blade Cutter
4. - Scissors
5. - Compass or Circle Cutter
6. - Ruler set
7. - Black Sharpie
Extra
1. - Packs of Tea (x8)
Step 2: Cutting the First Shapes
It's time!
Grab the cereal box! we are gonna turn it in to something other than trash!
To make this easier follow the guide on the pictures above.
1. - First unfold the box, and cut the area mark on the picture. Do not throw away the remains, we will be using them.
2. - Cut 3 squares of 18 cm x 18 cm.
3. - The first square is going to be our background so set it aside.
4. - The second square is going to be the grass and top of the sky. You need to draw a crooked line as shown on the picture.
5. - Cut through the line. Mark the pieces with the letter shown.
6. - The third square is going to be the mountain and mid sky. You need to draw a crooked line before.
7. - Cut through the line. Mark the pieces with the letter shown.
8. - Cut a rectangle of 6 cm x 22 cm trace 3 curve lines, the third line should have double the space division of the first 2.
9. - Cut a square of 7 cm x 7 cm, trace a line from each corner to figure out the center, then draw a circle with a compass of 5 cm of diameter. Then cut the circle with scissors or a circle cutter.
10. - Cut a rectangle of 10.5 cm x 17 cm, trace a X from courner to corner and draw 4 horizontal lines separated by 4 cm.
11. - In this part you have to draw the tree shapes, it doesn't have to be perfect, just keep in mind not to draw to many details or else it will be too difficult to cut.
12. - Cut a rectangle of 4.5 cm x 7 cm and trace two curve lines as shown and cut over them.
13. - Cut a rectangle of 13 cm x 5.5 cm and trace the shapes as shown on the picture and cut them.
14. - Cut a rectangle of 11 cm x 6 cm and trace the shapes as shown on the picture and cut them.
15. - Cut a rectangle of 6 cm x 5 cm and trace the grass shape as shown on the picture and cut.
16. - Cut a rectangle of 8 cm x 4.5 cm and trace the bush shape as shown on the picture and cut.
Step 3: Pictures of the Cutting Process.
On this section I uploaded all the photos so that you can acess them at any time on the process.
I believe that the graphics on the next steps are easier to understand, but is also useful to see the real process.
Step 4: The Paint Job
Well, now that we have all the pieces, let's get painting!
I'm all about creating texture, and most of the elements from this proyect do not have a solid color, so I'll try my best to explain how to achieve similar results.
*On picture 1 there is an example of how you should use the brush to generate different patterns of strokes with the colors, generally I use an old hard brush.
*Try to paint the pieces with the less paint as possible, otherwise the cardboard will deform and will make things harder.
*I recommend to paint all of the pieces first with white, so the true colors can be appreciated (like on picture 2, it doesn't have to be perfect, this creates texture).
1. - Background 3 - 7
Start by adding Flourescent Yellow on top of the white, try not to painted all, leave some room, and spread the paint the most you can before adding more paint. This will create a bit of texture.
We are going to do the same thing with the with the Flourescent Orange, then some White, a bit of Pencil texture form side to side, white again, and finally Flourescent Yellow.
*As you can see from pictures 1 through 5 the painting patterns are irregular, feel free to experiment.
2. - Mountain Layer (C) Pic 8 - 10
Same as before, on top of the white layer of paint add different shades of Gray (mixing white and bits of black) try to make the top part of the mountains the lightest part.
3. - Mid Sky Layer (D) Pic 11 - 12
On this layer we will use Flourescent Yellow and then Flourescent Orange trying to a pale orange tone.
4. - Top sky Layer (A) Pic 13 - 14
Use a mix of Flourescent Orange and Flourescent Red, let it dry, then add horizontal texture with the pencil. Finally smear the pencil with the brush and some Flourescent Red paint.
5. - Field Layer (B) Pics 15 - 17
This one is a special, we will be using the Tea and Spray Adhesive.
Cut the 8 Tea Packs and mix the tea on a container (doesn´t have to be any brand or type, the less crushed the tea is the better).
* I believe that a mask and glasses are not necessary, but if you have the equipment please use it.
* To spray the Adhesive, first locate a place where you can safely spray then leave, so that you do not breath this stuff. I recommend an open space with little to no wind.
* Away from all from all laptops, cellphones, glasses... It's a pain.
Grap the cut away B and place it on a surface that won´t be afected by the glue.
Grap the bottle, place it in front of the cut away with about 4 in. of separation and as far away from the eyes as possible.
Try it with a quick tap to see it works then when ready spray the surface of cut away B. Be quick. go to another location, and pour the tea to cover the surface.
Let it dry then place it vertically to see if the tea covers the whole surface, shake it, if necessary spray the parts that are missing tea, and repeat the process.
When the whole surface is covered and has a good grip, theField Layer is ready!
*Most of the elements are created with the same process of paint (explained on 1 - 4), leaving some spaces more saturated of one color, a bit darker or lighter. For the next items I will just explain the colors and if necessary add some extra notes.
5. - The Moon (F) Pic 18
Flourescent Yellow - then - white strokes - then - a bit of pencil - Flourescent Yellow. Repeat as needed until you like the texture.
6. - The Road (E) Pics 19
E2 / Full black, E1 Dark gray
* You should be able to differentiate the black from the gray, if not it will not work properly.
On E2 draw the dash lines with White through out the whole piece.
* Try to make it as even as possible.
7. - Rocks and Road Sign (i) Pics 19 - 21
i1, i2, i5 are going to be painted just like the Mountain Layer.
For i3 paint it Full Gray.
For i4 paint it FullFlourescent Red.
8. - Mushrooms (J) Pics 22 - 24
For J1 and J2 paint themFull Flourescent Red.
For J3 mix White with a bit of Flourescent Red to make some kind of creamy pink.
Let it dry then paint the White dots on top.
9. - Grass (K) Pics 25 -
For all the grass parts we will be using a mixture of Flourescent Yellow, Flourescent Orange, Flourescent Green, and brown using the technique shown in picture 1. After some vertical strokes and letting it dry, repeat until you're happy with the texture.
* Remember to follow the direction of the grass cut aways.
We are ready to start the assemble!
Step 5: The Assemble
We are almost done!
Grab the box of Cardboard single wall and do as shown on Picture 1 and 2.
We will be needing about +/-30 X Pieces of 18 cm x 1.5 cm.
* The X pieces will have a number related to how many of these pieces are stacked together.
1. - Grab the Background Layer, and glue the X pieces as shown on Picture 4.
2. - Place the Mid Sky and Mountain layers on top, spred them, and check how much of the layer you need, mark it with a pencil, and cut off the extra material.
Add Glue on top of the X pieces and place them in the correct spot, let it dry. Picture 5.
* Put something on top to press on the layers and let it dry (doesn't have to be that heavy).
3. - Glue the X pieces on top of the layers and let it dry. Then same as before, measure the extra material on Top Sky and the Field Layers and off with it, Glue the Layers as shown on Picture 7.
4. - Now it's time to assemble the small pieces.
On Pictures 9 and 10 you can see all the little pieces arrenge as Single Layers.
a. The Road
b. Little Rock Sign (here you can use whatever simbol that you like)
c. Medium Rock
d. Big Rock
e. Big Tree (left)
f. Small tree (right)
* also not shown, there are some left over single pieces that will be mention on the next steps.
* to assemble you only need to glue the pieces together as shown.
5. - Measure The Road on top of the proyect, see mark the extra parts and cut them off, then glue The Road to the Field Layer. Picture 11
* This one needs a lot of glue so be patient.
Glue the x3 as shown.
Glue the K7 piece as shown.
6. - Glue The Moon single piece as shown.
Glue The Little Rock Sign As shown.
Glue the X Pieces as shown.
7. - Glue the K2 piece on the left on top of the x1. Picture 12
Glue the Medium Rock on top of the x1 in the middle.
8. - Glue the x2 Pieces to the Big Tree as shown on Picture 13 and let it dry out. Then glue the Big tree to the Field Layer as shown on Picture 14, also add the x3 Pieces.
9. - Glue the K9 single piece and the Big Rock as shown on Picture 14 and let it dry.
Grab the whole thing and use Hairspray on it, you may also use a professional art spray varnish, just be gentle.
Finally paint the edges with Black as much as you can.
We are done!!
Step 6:
I hope you guys enjoy my work.
If you want to check some of my other work please visit my profiles and follow or coment, I'm trying to make a living as an artist, and it's pretty tough, a simple follow or like will be of great help.