Right now my backdrop is 100% blue sky. I would like to add landscape and sky details like low hills, trees, buildings, clouds, etc. However, I have no artistic skills and anything I would try to paint would look like a first grade art project. I am not looking for guidance on how to do it myself because “it is easy”. I anticipate hiring someone to do it.
I really don’t want a backdrop that looks like a photo and I have not seen any of the glue-on backdrop papers that look right to me. I don’t need or want a razor sharp picture. I want the backdrop to have some details but as seen from a distance. I have seen painting done that have the type of details that I would like to see in my backdrop and they were landscapes done by amature artist. I have not tried to locate any such amature artist yet but that is on my list.
Has anyone here hired someone to paint their backdrop? How did it work out?
My thoughts, you already posses some of the skills, as an amature artist, in the fact that your building a model railroad.
There are thousands of videos out there, along with books, on how to do a basic, “far in the distance”, backdrop, and many more on the market that you can buy.
Check out your options, and save the money to buy trains.
My wife is a professional artist and she painted my last backdrop. It was beautiful and and completely of of scale. She still gumbles about how I painted over it with blue sky. She is thinking of doing my current layout and I may get her help for some things, but I am thinking of doing it myself.
I have been watching a series of different backgrounds by a guy named Chris Lyon. He is doing kinda what you are asking about. I have no idea where you are and where he is. I know he is fast and will travel. You might look him up on Google. I’d watch a video or two of his work.
I had similar sentiments about backdrops in an era when photo backdrops were crazy $$. I tend to prefer something that doesn’t call attention to itself, which means it does have to be a certain quality. I’m no artist, but search for the Greg Gray “Painting Backdrops” DVD by Green Frog. Greg walks you through his process. He tells you how to get the basics down, then you add detail to your level of taste. I stopped at a certain point 20 or so years ago and haven’t been back yet.
What is recommended is to make a photomosaic if you don’t have a nice wide angle shot. Then scale this to the size of the backdrop. Prepping the surface is important. Working from the scaled image, you sketch the horizon line and the bulk of what’s above it. Then Greg shows how to use acrylics, but you can follow most of his stuff with oils if you’re so inclined.
Here’s a view of my Silverton backdrop.
Here’s another view at an angle that shows how downtown is just a false front to hide a line that climbs behind town. Despite the bad angle, the backdrop’s perspective hplds up pretty well.
Greg actually paints a Durango backdrop in the video, but he does it so it’s widely applicable. But Silverton is pretty close in its features, as this angle from down in Durango of the Silverton backdrop shows, one of the fortiunate coincidences I took advantage of.
At the left end, the backdrop is helped by a coved corner that helps transition into 3D scenery.
A lot of the replies will try to convince you to paint the backdrops yesterday. But, I feel like you do. I have given some thought to hiring someone with artistic skills to paint the backdrops on my new layout.
Let’s face it, some of us lack even basic artistic skills. You either have it or you don’t. I used to watch some artist with a German accent on PBS on Saturday mornings. He would constantly say, “It’s not that difficult, you can do it”. I would call out to the TV, “No I can’t”.
I guess it all depends upon what you want to paint. Dabbing white paint with a sponge on a blue background to simulate clouds is one thing, mountains and forests quite another, and then there are structures and buildings like downtown scenes, farms, heavy industries, etc.
My thought is to contact a local art school or college and ask if young students would be interested in taking on such a project as painting backdrops for a model railroad. The cost would be far cheaper to pay a talented college student than a professional artist. I just may do that myself.
Although you say you don’t want to do photo-realistic backdrops, I have seen layouts done with photos taken from calendars, travel posters etc. that turned out well. Generally you would use a sharp hobby knife or single-edge razor blade to remove the sky part from the top part, leaving just the hills or mountains or whatever.
There is one (or more?) companies that make stencils you can use to create rolling hills or mountains. For hills, first paint the distance hills light green, then use darker green for closer hills, slightly overlapping the distant hills in places.
Similar to 1., you can use paper backdrops like Walthers, only cut out the sky part. There are also paper cut-out buildings you can use in more urban areas.
You can also use ‘grass mats’, which are designed to be used flat to represent grassy areas, as hills. Cut them in a rolling shape and attach to the backdrop. Use lighter ones as distant hills, darker ones for closer.
All of the above, mix painted areas with photos or cutouts or other backdrop products.
Before you go out and hire a commercial artist, who will probably charge you an arm and a leg, you might want to get in touch with an art teacher at a local college or university and consider hiring a starving undergrad or grad student to do the work.
Just my thought and you can get the work done for a good price and accually would end up better than going profesional as art classs generally have an exabition at least once a year, you can see the works, decide who would be right for the job skill wise and to your taste and then find out who among them is willing. For a lot of students get paid for such a task, especially art students and real flexability in times of work and compleation deadline is gold as they can fill in dead time, have a paid job on their in their portfolio, no upfront costs etc.
If you do, there are a couple of things you have to make sure they understand. The first is that they need to create everything to the scale you are modeling. Second is that you want to explain to them that the horizon line is at eye level when you are operating (either sitting or standing), not at some spot midway up the backdrop that fits their artistic vision. The exception to this might be that photography is your main interest in modeling and you want the horizon at camera level.
I suspect the place to start with an art student, or anyone for that matter, would be to have some photographs available of the kind of backdrop you want. Then there would have to be an explanation of scale, perspective etc. My guess is once the artist figures out that there is more to the project than a sky, he/she may feel challenged.
My Daughter is a real arthead and her fellow high school students have offered to do my backdrop. I will let them do it in a heartbeat when the time comes if my own kid doesn’t want to do it. There is some amazing young talent out there. The rates can’t be beaten. Even if they do it for free, I would give them an appropriate gift for the effort.
Disclosure, I’m a professional artist, and have lots of experience in the field and as a long time model railroader I know about how it works…
I see a lot of suggestions about painting it yourself, and it isn’t so easy if you aren’t artistically disposed, so hiring someone might be a good idea.
To hire an artist is a good way to get it done, but the suggestion of hiring art students or teachers may be well meant, but not a good advice… Many of them aren’t really into realism…
First of all, the concept of a model railroad backdrop isn’t so very well known outside of our hobby. And to look right there is certain rules you must follow.
Scale, right perspective etc.etc…
I have painted some backdrops for others, mostly museums, but it is the same concept. The end result is based on my experience, discussion with the client and to have a good understanding of what it is supposed to look like.
Price is never easy to negotiate, especially when working for a private person. But it isn’t as expensive as some thinks… I usually work on a fixed price as that’s the easiest way to get a happy client.
Some more encouragement from the DIY angle. This ain’t rocket science and a bucket of paint will hide any embrassing attempts that are less than satisfactory. I dug around and found pics of the photomosaic I made to paint the Silverton backdrop. These are actually part of one continuous mosiac. At the bottom is the scale in feet, which was determined from the space I had to fit it in.
I sponge painted some white on a blue background and I thought it looked pretty good 30 years ago. Now I would use some gray or a gray blue for more variety.
There are some painted backgrounds on youtube videos with mountains and trees. There is a big difference in how they look. By that standard, I would hire someone.
I’m perfectly capable of painting a near photo realistic backdrop. But it’s the last thing I’d ever do. Personally I hate photo backdrops. They set the bar too high for the rest of your modeling. And I don’t mean that in any condescending way to those who use photo backdrops nor anyone’s modeling skill. Bottom line: photos behind the trains, everything in front and in between better stack up to that level of detail.
To me, the backdrop is about mood and energy. It shouldn’t be the first thing noticed, it should just sort of exist as an afterthought to the first time visitor. I’ll post some photos of mine tomorrow. Some will like it, some will hate it, others will be indifferent. I don’t care. Nor should you if your backdrop serves its purpose.
And if you think you can’t paint a backdrop, watch some Bob Ross videos. Lambast it if you will, but he taught millions of people how to relax and enjoy painting for their own enjoyment. Art it ain’t, valid it may very well be.
