Painting realistic trees and tree stumps

Chief · Post by **Chief** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:42 am

I'm doing a battle of Endor forest scene and need advice on how to paint the resin trees and tree stumps so they look real.

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:29 am

My suggestion is simply to get reference photos of suitable trees and try to imitate them. I would use washes, drybrushing and other stuff to give variation and life to them. Good color choices alone will do a lot.

That sounds a cool diorama, hopefully we'll see pics.

Post by **TER-OR** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:04 pm

That's pretty much it. Tree bark is pretty monotone, so washing and drybrushing is usually sufficient. Remember stains where branches join and water runs.

Oils will take you a long way on a project like this.

Go Flight · Post by **Go Flight** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:04 pm

One thing to remember is that for the most part trees are essentially gray. Only the newer younger branches have any color. I did a dead tree from scratch for one of my dino models if you'd like a look see -
http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL301/202 ... 610855.jpg

Less Than Super Ostrich · Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:42 am

that is really good advice... gray colors are much more prevelant in the larger trees. then add some brown and green highlights. there was a good article at Armorama if you wanna search around... i'll try to find it too.

USSARCADIA · Post by **USSARCADIA** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:21 pm

One fo the guys over at FSM just posted pics of his. Looks pretty good:
http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/ ... wPost.aspx

dekesdragon · Post by **dekesdragon** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 8:35 am

What about a walk in the woods to gather up the real thing?
Depending upon species you gather it might work.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:52 am

I eagerly recommend the "Terrain Masterclass" book by Osprey. I believe it's by Richard Windrow. Also, "Making Wargames Terrain" by Games Workshop is awesome because it shows dirt-cheap ways to make terrain using unsuspecting found objects, such as paper towel tubes.

"Terrain Masterclass" has a great deal to say about trees and bark. It also shows time-consuming yet stunningly-successful approach to trees using twisted wire.

The Games Workshop book is itself cheap and the the techniques are cheap. For those reasons alone it's worth a look.

The scenery manusl by Woodland Scenics is also worth a perusal.