I already painted the backdrop a light blue. Now ready for some hills to mimic the Roanoke, VA area. I read Jacon12’s thread and will use one shade of gren w/ a latex finish for hills. The trees that go on the hills will consist of two different shades of green in acrylic. The shades will also be used on the hills so they look more unique. Is it a big deal mixing latex and acrylic paints? Is there anything else I am missing to get a 3-D backdrop? Should I use white somewhere to get a mist-concept on top of the hills or just paint smaller trees?
I do not have a mrr layout (wish I did) but I am a painter who paints wildlife art and rural landscapes. You may want to try this: paint a layer of hills, and then frost a little white or sky color over them with an airbrush, this will fade them out, and “push” them into the distance. Paint another layer of hills and frost them as before, but a little lighter. This will push these back, and further lighten the first layer. Now you can paint your foreground over this. Just remember, if you want it to look phony and unrealistic then paint a consistent and even layer of paint. Rather, you should make sure you vary your color application, you may want to do a little blending on the backdrop itself instead of blending all of your paint on the pallatte and then applying it.
I have used latex paint and acrylic craft paints for all my backdrop painting. The craft paint is cheap and you can buy lots of different colors to give lots of different shades.
Fortunately (or not!) my layout is in an attic room, so the walls angle in at 45 degrees.
This prevents me from painting anything on the backdrop, because it would end up looming over the railroad. All the background scenery has to be 3-D as a result, at least along the one edge.
You can see the angle of the ceiling a little better in this shot…
You can get backdrops from Backdrop Warehouse (on the net). I choose to find pictures (Images google search) … drop them into PhotoShop and print with Posteriza (free shareware on the net also).
