An eye for detail: Ganesan showing off his diorama of a farm.
JOHOR BARU: Immersing himself in the world of tiny sculpted figurines and models is more than just a stress-relieving hobby for S. Ganesan.
Making the intricate and elaborate dioramas is the 49-year-old’s way of combining his love for art and interest in science and technology.
The father of one said he had always been interested in art and painting as a secondary school student but could not explore the field back then due to limited funds.
“When I started working, I began to collect action figures and vehicles, painting them to make them look more lifelike and vibrant.
“While researching about airbrushing techniques online, I came across some videos of people making dioramas and the process of making the tiny replicas intrigued me. That was when I started diving into it myself,” he said.
It has been 10 years since the multinational company employee, who is also a certified trainer in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), started this hobby.
Ganesan said people has the misconception that making dioramas is just putting together some plastic trees and figurines when it is actually more than that.
“It requires a lot of planning, sketching and calculation of the scale, measurements and materials needed before we can even begin producing the models,” he said.
According to Ganesan, it takes a significant amount of research, observation and exploration, too, as the key is in the details when replicating trees, roads and animals.
It took a lot of trial and error for him to familiarise himself with the different types of materials and to capture the scaling calculations.
“Although it is a time-consuming and tedious hobby, I insist on capturing the right details so that my audience will feel relaxed and at the same time excited when they notice things like mud splashes on a tractor in my creation.
“When I made a kampung scenery that included fruit trees and a well to commemorate my uncle’s village in Kluang, I actually stood before several banana, durian and rambutan trees to take in the colours and details.
“It’s because even minute things like the shades of a browning leaf make a difference,” he said.
Besides scenes of nature, Ganesan’s work has featured a locomotive diorama with a functioning train that runs on a metal track and emits steam and sounds.
He said a major setback of the hobby is the lack of access to raw materials locally, adding that he usually has to buy them from the United States and Europe.
“The items actually do not cost a lot but the bulk of my spending goes towards the postage fees. This taught me to look for other creative alternatives.
“In my latest creation of a countryside farm, I used satay sticks and mesh fabric to make the metal fencing and painted it to give it a weathered look instead of using real metal mesh which costs more,” he said.
He said he is currently working with an NGO to reach out to school students to share his knowledge and show them how STEM could be applied to the arts.
