Prototype - Sorta

Inspiration for the backdrop behind Cedar comes from several prototype locales.  The following give some idea of where we are.

Above is a view of the northern end of the Hansels Mountains adjacent to I-84 near Snowville, UT.  This location is the freeway's summit.  Much of the area is a complex mosaic of varying landforms, plant communities and agricultural uses.

This scene is a few miles west of the one above, showing the range disappearing toward Idaho in the distance.  The barren areas in the middle ground are recently plowed fields.

Model

The first spot to reach more-or-less completion is around the Cedar train order office.  Here's how the scene looked as of my first MRH blog post:

And here's how it looks today:

At left, note the road that disappears into the distance, along with the fence.  These will tie to 3D elements in the modeled scene.  Except for the area right around the road, the foreground painting isn't entirely done, but is close.  The spur track at left is a recent addition.

A more straight-on view shows the road and cottonwoods.  This isn't a pro-caliber shot of course, and some of the color has washed out from the overhead track fixture.  I think y'all can get the general idea though.

And here's how it looks today:

It looks fabulous. Looks as if you are past New Jersey!  I'll stop gushing now.

Nice cottonwood trees

Did you make those or buy them?  I need a few thousand or so...

Re: George

The cottonwoods are all just painted, so I guess I can say I "made" them.  The plan is to add some more built from Supertrees and sagebrush in the foreground.

Excellent!

Super Nice

Really wish I had your talent for painting Rob. Like the above post, I thought those were modeled trees before I read the commentary and took a second real good look! Just looks wonderful.

Great Backdrops

It must just be the lighting or something, but the trees in the first picture of your backdrop look like they are 3D and not painted on the backdrop. The second shot shows that the trees look "right" from a wide variety of viewing angles!

Very talented work, indeed!

George

Thanks, and Another Try

I appreciate all the kind words.

Since the lighting in the straight-on model photo was so off, I tried again by re-aiming the lights.  This gives a much better idea how the road and foreground trees come together.

3-D

Beautiful!

Do you hire out?

Don

WOW...

I'll second the WOW

Beautiful work, Rob- the trees are gorgeous. And the way the road curves around the hill is very effective.

Tom Patterson

Talent

That is, hands down, the best hand-painted backdrop I have ever seen.  The 3D effects coupled with the winding road give the feel of looking at a postcard.

Great work.

I hate to do this...

but I have to follow the "Wow" crowd here.  I don't know how long that took you, Rob, but you certainly have the talent and the eye to make some money painting backdrops.  Those trees are incredible.

Thanks again

Including the "temporary" backdrop that was already in, I'd say 6 to 8 hours for this scene as a whole.

Backdrop

looks very good!

I really enjoy all of your

I really enjoy all of your posts on your work, superb talent. I seem to remember something about you doing some articles or a video series for MRH, is this true? If so... can't wait. Do you have a photo gallery posted anywhere besides the individual posts on here?

More?

Yes, article(s), and possibly e-book and/or video are in the works.  I need to get a lot more done to supply all the necessary material for that kind of thing, but I'm working in that direction.

The MRH forum is essentially it.  I do maintain files on a flickr account, but that's just to host images that I post on MRH.

Exceptional as always!!

Rob,

I am continued to be impressed with your progress and with your abilities. It sure is amazing how just a little backdrop painting can really make a scene come to life. I think many people shy away from doing proper backdrops, but it really creates that beyond the layout space that is necessary to complete the illusion. Keep up the great work and I look forward to your progress as you blend foreground and background. 

Some hints, please

Rob,

Stunning paint work.

Are you writing an article about your tree painting method?  If not, could you do a short tutorial on how you do it?  Besides needing lots of model trees, I need a lot of backdrop trees also.

Matching your backdrop

Excellent backdrop work, Rob. 

Do you have some model trees that you can stand in front of the backdrop ones? How well do they match?

That's always the trick - getting the background trees to blend in with the real ones. The only modeler I've seen so far who does this really well is Mike Danneman on his Denver & Rio Grande N scale layout.

Re: George

My basic tree painting method is similar to what's described in various existing art tutorials.  A couple that I can recommend include "Painting Better Landscapes" and "Color Harmony in Your Paintings" by Margaret Kessler http://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Kessler/e/B001K8CXE2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1.  This book may also be of value http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Painting-Essential-Concepts-Techniques/dp/0823032205/ref=pd_rhf_ee_s_cp_3 .  There are many books out there on color mixing formulas, and you may want to pick up one of those as well, not necessarily to copy any specific colors but to get an idea what colors do when combined.  I also recommend the Mike Danneman book on backdrop painting from Kalmbach.

The two hints I like to give for trees are to work from dark to light when applying color, and to avoid pre-mixed greens, as they seldom look right when used adjacent to the most common commercially available scenery materials such as from Woodland Scenics or Scenery Express.  The foreground greens are based on black, mixed with cadmium yellow medium, cadmium yellow pale, and yellow light hansa, plus Acra red-orange and yellow ochre for various shadows and highlights.  Distant greens are based on yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, and white.  The first Kessler book I listed does a good job concisely describing how to employ color recession with greens, while the other goes into more depth on overall color usage.

For tree trunks and fence posts, I used the same brownish-grayish craft paints I use when weathering track and coloring plaster rocks.

Re: Joe

I have a few leftover trees from my old layout, so if I get a chance to dig them out I'll photograph some in the scene to give an idea of the color match.  As I hinted in my reply to George above, the colors I use have been developed over the years to specifically blend with available scenery products. 

As you indicated, Mike Danneman is a master at matching colors between foreground and background.  Tom Johnson combines painting with photo backdrops and does an outstanding job in this area as well, and the Reid brothers' N scale Cumberland Valley is another fine example (although some photos in the model press made the backdrop look blue, while it was a near-perfect match to the 3-D scenery in person).

I like it too

That is quite spectacular in the photos.  It's a very convincing effect from different viewing angles.  Very nice job.  I've been impressed with your rock carving, too; I will have to try my hand at carving complete rock faces too, since it gives so much more control over the final appearance than rock castings ever can.