More Backdrop Work

Work continued on the backdrop and hill scenery in front of it. One of the advantages of hand painting the backdrop is that I can make changes or modifications easily. As I install the terrain for the hill between the tracks and the backdrops, I see that I may need to repaint small sections to better integrate the hill with the backdrop. This is easy to do with hand painted scenes.

You can also see how the clouds formations have smoother color blending thanks to using oil paints. The acrylic paints dry so fast that it can be hard to blend the color transitions. To feather acrylic paints takes multiple layers of very dilute paint, called a wash. This is made more difficult by the vertical nature of the backdrop, as the dilute paint forms drops that can run down. Oil paints are much easier to blend. I am using water soluble oil paints that do not require mineral spirits to thin. They are very handy. They dry a little quicker than normal oil paints too.

These two photos show close up views of the backdrop. The building is a paper cut out from Brian's artwork. This one is just secured with a piece of masking tape. When I go final I will use double sided adhesive film.

I can print these at various sizes and shades to fit into the scene. I think they will save a lot of time.

There are two books I found useful in preparing me to paint backdrops. The first is "Landscape Illusion" by Daniel Chard. The style and techniques he presents are very useful in applying to model railroad backdrop painting. The other is "Acrylic Landscape Painting" by Hugh Green. This book is a more general purpose discussion of using acrylic paints in landscape scenes. I haven't personnally seen Mike Danneman's new book, but his backdrops are some of the best I have ever seen.