painting backdrop, first attempt

[jkristia]

Here is a picture of my first attempt of painting a backdrop. It didn't come out as good as I had hoped, but I look at it as my "practice run". Also, I realized after I was almost done that most of the hills will be hidden when first I start planting trees, so I have to re-do it later anyway, so hopefully I will have better luck next time

Jesper

 

[jkristia]

another one

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Mighty fine 1st attempt!

 

[sumpter250]

Jesper,
Plant your trees just "thin" enough to alow some of that background to show through. With that background, less would actually be more !
Pete

 

[Lighthorseman]

Great First Attempt!

I see nothing wrong with that backdrop. Remember, you're not going for superdetailing, lest your viewer's eyes are pulled from what you want them to look at; namely your layout.

Your representation of background hills are super. You want to hint that there is more, but not focus on it.

Might I recommend flat black for your fascia? That way, the viewer skips right over it to the layout.

 

[shamus]

Hi Jesper, nice painting of the backscene, no need to worry about it being perfect, when all your trees are in place it will look great.
Shamus

 

[Drew Toner]

Back drops

Your back drop is pretty nice! As you may have noticed, I didn't yet get around to doing mine yet. I just might glue up a couple pieces of light blue paper

Drew

 

[TR-Flyer]

Hi:
I agree with everyone else that you've got a super first go at painting a background. The layering reminds me a little of the Virginia artist Victor Huggins' work. Don't know if you can find pictures of his stuff on line but you might like it. Beautiful renderings of the Shennandoah valley area.

A couple of other techniques i've seen used, but haven't yet tried; Keep a space between your actual scenery and the background- this helps create a feeling of distance. Mirrors can be useful to increase depth of field- the best uses i've seen have been in limited areas, a "hollow" in the mountains, a continuing industrial facility or warehouse district, etc.

Keep up the great work! I don't have a permanent layout of my own so i live vicariously through all of you.

Regards,
Ted

 

[Drew1125]

It looks great to me...I hope mine turns out that well!

 

[jkristia]

Thanks for all your replies.

Tyson - I was hoping to achieve something like the background you have in your small signature picture, but it ended up too green, (seem like I have a problem with everything being the too green, referring to another thread )

Lighthorseman - I am going to paint the fascia a dark brown, but didn't plan on doing it until the scenery was done. Maybe I should just do it now to get a more "complete" look on at least a small area of the layout.


I still think that a lot of the hills will be hidden after I plant the trees, but lets see. Next step is to do the !@#$ ballast in that small area.

Thanks all.
Jesper