Buildings

Find a picture of a building you like in a magazine and cut it out, then paint around the edges to blend it in.

I suggest you avoid

I suggest you avoid perspective issues by making them nothing more than blocks, square-on to the viewer.

You'll need some sharp-edged flat brushes - Taklon types are more precise than bristles.

I like to draw mine vaguely and paint them simply, and I avoid strong shadows which would indicate a definite light direction.

Sharp details such as windows and doors will quite likely draw more attention than you would wish, so keep details to a bare minimum.

I don't know if these examples will help you...

loose drawing...

sparse details,especially in the distance...

The next one was a trial for the next stage of my current layout,although I really didn't have landscaping materials to suit

Buildings are just two-dimensional shapes, blocked in with flat taklon brushes, and a few details added with a fine rigger style brush.

These distant ones are very vague. Just a couple of shapes surrounded and overlapped by sketchy trees.

Keep the colours in your background buildings quite cool and subdued as well.

Distance needs cool colours, muted colours, softer edges, fewer details.

Mike

Grab scenes off the Internet

I am experimenting with finding pictures/scenes on the Internet and scaling them in the computer. Then printing them and cutting them out to glue to the backdrop. No layout pictures yet since I just started, but it looks promising. Matching the sky is impossible so I am just going to cut out the actual structures.

Willie

Inspirational!

Lovely work Mike!

Some good ideas here

   Thank you to Lbrinker and Santafewillie, I have downloaded some images and will try cutting them out and using them as you suggest.  If they are partially concealed by trees and other vegetation/view blocks I think they will blend in.  At the moment I am working on getting the size right, big enough to look part of the town, small enough to look as though they are a few hundred yards beyond the layout buildings.

  Thank you also to MikeC for sharing your techniques, the results you achieve are stunning.  I like the hazy city appearance and will try that out for a city I intend to build in my loft layout.  The effects of perspective are also handled well, those roads all seem to be right and "going somewhere".  That transition between layout and backscene is always difficult, both in terms of colour and perspective, but you seem to make it look so easy.

Sandy

samples

here are a couple I have done, all the background buildings are cut outs painted into the scene on the last picture. The house below is from a calendar. A see my post ADDING A FARM SCENE MADE EASY.

Perspective

As Mike C. noted, perspective can be a big problem with 2-D structures, so it's a good idea to either control viewing angles or add structures that don't look odd when viewed from different directions.

One possibility is to represent a straight-on view of one side, another is to use a corner view that looks reasonable from every direction.

Note how the perspective on these structures is similar to the scene above.

-

Backdrop trees, foreground trees, and 3-D structures can be utilized to limit views of the 2-D structures from angles where they might look funky.

My advice is to find some art instruction books on drawing and painting buildings.  Most good art and craft stores have some good resources on learning to represent buildings, and you'll need to practice until you're used to doing them.  No amount of suggestions on a forum will replace the knowledge you gain from practice.

Mike C. - you amaze me with

Mike C. - you amaze me with your talent.  Your backdrop paintings are true art!

Rob - your backdrop paintings

Rob - your backdrop paintings rock!  Very well done!

The earlier examples remind

The earlier examples remind me of the old French impressionistic paintings when viewed directly but it does give a realistic sense - IRL things look hazy or faded in the distance.

Rob has mastered advanced art class - your back drops capture both perspective and distance AND blend with the for-ground 3d scenery well.  You' pretty much nailed.  I'd like to do something similar with eastern Utah D&RGW scenery.

What kinds of paint to you use after sketching in the basic outlines?

I don't know if this will

I don't know if this will help you -  http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=47626  The first photograph, and the only one I can find of the layout. The background was done with auto spray cans, Basically the city background was done by spraying the sky layer Orangy pink to repesent foggy sunrise/sunset. Cut a stencil, lay it over and spray a gray layer then remove the stencil and spray a very fine mist layer of white over the whole board, Cut another stencil and lay it over the scene and repeat, then a third layer and repeat again. The layers , as they get progressively lighter with the white mist, will receede into the background giving the impression of distance. A similar system with green or gray paint, will give hills fading into the distance.

Re: Jim

It's all acrylic, either artist's colors or craft paint.  Every structure uses a different formula, so I don't have any specific recommendations.

Amaze

Guys, you all have some talent worth emulating! I've taken screen shots from each for inspiration. Great thread!

Neil

Sounds like i need to get to

Sounds like i need to get to an AC Moore or other craft store and have a look around.

I use matt finish acrylics,

I use matt finish acrylics, with Jo Sonja's Background Colours being a personal favourite, but a bit too costly for large expanses.

Thank you Michael, Sandy, Rick, Jim and Neil.

If you have access to any

If you have access to any sort of photo editing software, why not scan or photograph either walls or finished structures, manipulate the images to adjust for the perspective to the viewing angle on the backdrop (or leave them flat), as well as how far in the distance you want them to appear to be, print out and attach to the backdrop? You can also attach them to flats made of foam core for a more dimensional effect and position them in layers. Essentially, this is the same sort of technique used for stage productions as well as film.

I've seen this done very effectively on a layout but unfortunately for the life of me can't remember where. The process, though seems relatively simple enough.

Great work on the painting.

Great work on the painting. Give me a pencil and I can draw pretty good, but me and a paint brush just can't seem to get it together. Trees just kill me. Anyway, if your looking for a photo editing program, I was pointed in the direction of a program called "Paint.net"  http://www.getpaint.net/index.html(Windows Only)  by a model railroader and it appears to work pretty well. I scan the Internet for what I want and open it in my editor and down size it, cut it out on screen and then print it, cut it out of the paper and paste it to the backdrop. What I plan to do next is lightly dust it with white or gray to help fade it into the area to make it appear some distance away, which you control by the size you make it.

The editing software I mentioned, is free and it does take a bit of fiddling with to work it, but it has good help and support as well. Get it and give it a try, then go chase down some photo's on the Internet and do what you want with them and place on your back drop. There is so much out there to work with today compared to 30 or 40 years ago.

JT

Wow, some of those painted

Wow, some of those painted backdrops are amazing.  I don't have the "eye" to translate an image to canvas, so I had to improvise.  My last layout (long gone), I had to rely upon a slide projector to project an image and then "paint by numbers" over the image.  With the room lights on, it was fairly easy to get the feel and coloration close enough for me.  It was the only way I could get the Midwest flatland to look even close to being correct.