04-18-2009, 10:09 PM
John Allen did his stuff long before anyone else, and he did it to fit his unique vision. For him, they were not cliches but breaking new ground, and he was so good at it that many modelers have unashamedly copied him. The tricks become cliches, however, when everyone else did them outside of any meaningful context whatsoever.
I once saw a brilliant Eastern seaside layout in one of the modeling mags that was spoiled by a crane loading a triceratops onto a boat. Why "ruined"? Because the dinosaur did not fit into any plan or context whatsoever; it was just there. Sometimes, these visual tricks can be passed off as "Easter Eggs, but only with skill and finesse; otherwise, they look like what they are - something totally out of place and context, put there perhaps to amuse the kids.
Allen put his "Easter Eggs" into his layout as part of the overall picture, and that is what made him brilliant.
I once saw a brilliant Eastern seaside layout in one of the modeling mags that was spoiled by a crane loading a triceratops onto a boat. Why "ruined"? Because the dinosaur did not fit into any plan or context whatsoever; it was just there. Sometimes, these visual tricks can be passed off as "Easter Eggs, but only with skill and finesse; otherwise, they look like what they are - something totally out of place and context, put there perhaps to amuse the kids.
Allen put his "Easter Eggs" into his layout as part of the overall picture, and that is what made him brilliant.