This diorama is really great fun to do. Custer was a controversial figure and this battle is probably the most famous confrontation in US history. There are numerous books and illustrations. It is a controversial battle shrouded in myth and legend, with tales of a heroic last stand lasting hours. However, it appears that later archaelogical evidence points to a total collapse of command and a very short battle. Custer was probably killed before the last stand had occurred.
Studying the available site photos, the last stand was on top of a grassy hill. Across the meandering Little Big Horn River, there was a huge Indian encampment of tipis. It would seem that most of the river was hidden by coulees (raised ground) and vegetation, and probably the Indian encampment was too far away to be seen with any clarity.
My proposed diorama is quite compact and shallow, but I decided to represent all the above to capture the essence of this battle. What I have done here is to try to depict a swirling last stand (confused and heroic). In the background, the Little Big Horn River with its meandering loops, partly covered by coulees and vegetation. Across from the river, a huge Indian encampment depicted by Indian tipis.
Using forced perspective, I raised up the horizontal line to allow more ground to draw in lots of tipis. Groundwork is green to depict grass.
The river was painted to represent the exagerrated meandering loops. The sky has been painted with clouds and the Indian tipis are drawn in.
Initial flocking with very short grass was done on the midground area, transiting towards the foreground.
The above scene was "cropped". Near the lower corners can be seen the edges of the foreground.
I decided to rectify this by adding additional contouring to the corners. Cardboard strips were glued to the lower rounded corners. The foreground was covered with longer grass.
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