Today I started painting my backdrop and I took a few photos as I went along. There must be 10 different ways to paint one of these from very simple to extremely artistic and complicated. I decided to try and keep mine as simple as was comfortable for me. This is my first attempt at this and maybe as time goes by I’ll get better. I’ve got about 45 feet to do.
and last…
still have a lot of foreground to do in this area but at least I’ve gotten started.
Thanks for lookin’ in… 
Jarrell
I looked. I like.
Darn, JaRRell, I almost want to start doing mine over again! [8D] You had to go and show me up, eh?
Thanks Crandell. I just wish I had more talent with this sort of thing. Hmmm… I wish I had more talent with everything! But, I think I’d have to go take a few months art training to do any better. [:D]
Jarrell
I AM gonna start mine all over after seeing yours! I know your using stencils for the clouds, but are you painting them with an airbrush or spray cans? Are you using stencils for the bottoms of the clouds or just free handing it?
I used regular ol’ Krylon spray cans. I got the best results, to suit me, (heck… wasn’t anybody else around for me to ask!)… by holding the stencil slightly away from the backdrop instead of touching it. By slightly away I mean about 1/2 inch to an inch. There were a couple of times I used a stencil for the bottom of the cloud, but there again I liked it better when I freehanded that part. You want the cloud to kinda fade away to blue so that when you put a cloud under it, the white of the next cloud will be against the blue sky and show up better. The trick is to start near the top and work your way down and when you get about a third of the way from the bottom really over lap the clouds. And spray those bottom clouds in a thin manner, spray the upper clouds thicker but be careful to do it gradually so you don’t get any runs. Some ‘parts’ of clouds, like off to the side of a stenciled one, is freehanded in little puffs, kinda extending the stenciled one out a little. Come back along with a light gray spray can and briefly puff some onto the bottom of a cloud here and there. You’re gonna get too much gray no matter how gently you try to puff it on but don’t worry about it. Let it dry a minute then puff on some white over the gray (toning the gray down) till you get it like you want it. Some folks like the bottoms of their clouds pretty dark, I like’m a little on the light side. After you’ve gotten it pretty much like you want it, start at about the 1/2 way up point and using a sweeping motion with the white, do an overlay to the bottom. The lower you go, the more ‘sweeps’ you want to apply. That’s where the 3D effect really comes in. You want to go from a pale blue at the bottom and graduate to the blue of your sky up at that halfway mark. Some folks like to start at a lower point in doing this. Some don’t like it so ‘white’ at th
Jarrell, I may be able to make some pretty neat things from scratch in N scale, but I don’t have what it takes to do what you’ve done. That back drop looks wonderful. There’s enough detail to insinuate trees and folliage, but it’s not so much that it would draw the eye away from the foreground.
You’ve done a wonderful job on that.
Now, when can you come to St Louis to do mine.
Thanks Mike for the encouragement, I need all I can get! [:D] I wish I was as good as some artists I’ve seen around here, I might not break out into a sweat everytime I pick up a brush. Man, if I could scratch build like you and some of the others I’d be a happy camper.
Love to visit St. Louis, never been there! [;)]
Jarrell
I only got one word for ya.
DANG!!![bow]
and I have one word for you…
thank you very much!
oppps… that’s 4… sorry, can’t take it back… [:D]
Jarrell
I would really like to add a good looking backdrop like that to my layout, but ive never tried anything like that before.Want did you use to paint the backdrop on? Any help will be greatly appreciated! thanks John
That looks excellent! It really has that eastern woodlands look!
John, the backdrop is made of hardboard. You can buy it at most ‘big box’ home improvement type places like Home Depot. It’s smooth on one side and kinda rough on the other. Usually comes in 4x8 foot sheets for around $9. Cut one in half down the center and you have a 2 foot tall by 16 foot backdrop. Mine is 1/4 inch thick.
Jarrell
Thanks Dave!
My wife and I have been doing some traveling in the western states lately, such as Colorado, Nevada, Az. etc. and til then I’d taken all the trees around here for granted. I was talking with a young guy in Co. (who’d never been to the Southeast) and he asked me quite earnestly, “isn’t it real green there?”
Jarrell
Nice! Very Nice! Great clouds and great forest. That is going to be a great backdrop. Can’t wait to see more.
I like the technique Jarrell! [tup] [tup]
Your foreground hills and trees painting is great as well, care to shed some light on the format and technique you use for these areas too? [?]
Thanks,
Ryan
Thanks Ryan.
I’ve tried to keep the process as simple as possible, and if I had more experience I think I could do better.
Basically all I do is chalk out the out line of where the horizon is to be, being careful to keep it level. Then chalk the outline of the hills and begin painting them. The fartherest hills are done in a very muted light green, lots of white used. There’s almost no attempt at any detail in those hills. I’d like to blend them in with the sky color even more and may try that latter. Some people do the far hills then use a spray can of white paint to lightly overspray those, then they’ll paint the next closer hills in a bit deeper green, do some detail on those and again overspray those hills which oversprays the far hill again also. The results are usually great.
On the hills I’ve done I simply take a color green that is a little lighter than the hill (ground color) and start doing ‘tree’ shapes. I’ve found that one thing that helps a lot is try and put a light tree shape over a dark area and a darker tree shape over a lighter area so that the shapes stand out better. Otherwise they just blend into the background they’re painted on. As you come forward with the hills, the colors you use for your trees get a little more intense (vibrant), not being as grey as the trees further back. But, be careful with getting more vibrant, you want them to be background trees and not the center of interest. Your ‘real’ trees on your layout will get that attention. I usually had a little yellow to the sunlit areas of the nearer green trees and that warm color helps to bring them forward. Remember, cool colors (in general) tend to make things appear to recede (blue hills in the distance) and warmer colors tend to make things appear to come forward. Also, in general, contrast is greater between colors in the foreground and colors in the background, so use that to you
Jarrell,
[wow] Great explanation on your painting technique! [:D]
I dabbled in watercolors years ago, and would like to incorporate what I know from that art form with the techniques you described.
Thanks for the extensive description, and I too have a supply of craft paints from Michaels and such.
Cheers and thanks again,
Ryan
I really, really like your work on the back drop. Thanks so much for sharing the process with us. It is particularly helpful to see pictures of each stage of your work. I’m just at the point of starting my backdrop, and this has got me excited to start.
Being a novice, curious as to what size brushes seemed to work best? When mixing the colors, how much paint did you mix at a time? Was it on a palette or in a container? How easy is it to change if results in an area don’t turn out the first time? (My backdrop is on styrene with the sky painted with latex already. I would think your process would work the same on my material).
Thanks again for sharing. Hal
Hal, I mix the paint directly on a small sheet of common household wax paper instead of in a cup etc. This is easy to do and you’ll soon learn about how much to put on your ‘palette’. Since for backdrops we’re trying to keep it simple, i.e. don’t get too detailed, say for the most distant hills I’ll squirt out some light green and some white and stir them together on the paper. For those hills you’ll use a lot of white in them with a little green. I sometimes had just a touch of blue in this mix also. Not much, just a little. For the next closer line of hills you might try using the light green without any white and if you have another line of even closer hills use a darker green etc. etc (some people take that same light green and add a little black to it). If your greens are a little too… hmmmm… guady… too intense… add a small touch of red to take some of that intensness out (believe me when I say small, like less than the size of a BB). It’s really not hard at all and if you do make a mistake you just can’t live with… (I did!) wait til the area dries, and since we’re working in acrylics that won’t take long, then paint over the area. If we were working with oil based paints it would take a long time to dry.
As far as brush size, I use the largest brush that’ll do the job. My biggest is about 1 inch and smallest that I regularly use is about 1/4 inch. Keep two or three jars of water on hand to wash out the brushes and some old rags to wipe off excess paint. Just remember to try and keep the color muted, no garrish flourescent color. The effect you’re after is simply one of a scene that recedes into the distance without competing with your locomotives.
I don’t see why this type paint won’t work on the styrene, but you might want to try a small area just to test it and see.
I hope this is some help to you.
Jarrell
&
that’s a magnificent backdrop.
Thank you for sharing.