A timely back-drop

A timely back-drop considering what California is going through in the LA area and recently went through further north.

backdrop

It also could work for any region of the U.S. that deals with forest fires. Nice job on the detail work of before & after. you could also include forest fire trucks & people to watch for hot spots or cleaning up after the fire.

Update backdrop

Added the middle ground trees to the backdrop.  Moved them down the backdrop and colored blacker instead of the gray used for the others.

I have ideas for  the foreground - sage brush branches, woodland scenics armatures, and other burnt trees.  They should follow in a week or so.

growth idea

You could throw in some greeny areas to simulate regrowth of the burned area.  Background idea is a "out of box" thinking & it looks great.

Finished scene

Well as far as I am going in the next few months. 

Always open to suggestions on how to improve the scenes.

Howard Garner

blacken

You need to blacken the tree trunks. Not the whole way up, but maybe a third or quarter of the way up om the bigger trees.

Agreed with blackening

I agree with the idea of blackening unless this has been burnt for a while now. 

Blacker trunks and lots of charred ground slash

Yep, need blacker trunks and lots of charred ground slash ... looking at real photos always helps.

Suggestion

Dust on some "soot" colored weathering powder in the areas mentioned above.  Ground up black chalk will work as well.

Thanks Guys.  I post new

Thanks Guys.  I post new photos when I get around to updating the scene.

Howard Garner

Blackening is relation to how recent the fire was.

How much you blacken the area would also depend on how recent you want the fire to have been. The pic Joe F. looks like a recent burn-over to when the pic was taken. When I travel between here and Billings, I pass through a burn area that took place last year in the Hysham Hills and then another that took place years ago between Custer and Billings. Both areas look very different from each other.

Older burned over areas

https://www.facebook.com/pg/WPMRA

a small section on the club layout includes burned out trees.  lights were added to simulate glowing embers