What is the best way to paint clouds on a backdrop? I've seen it done with spray paint sponges. What colors besides white should I use?
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
Hi!
I've done this once on cinderblocks and twice on drywall and masonite. The method is pretty much the same for either.
I used a brush to get the paint on the wall, and a sponge to fashion clouds. I initially painted the wall blue - light blue on the bottom to a darker blue on top. For that I used a 3 or 4 inch brush and just smoothed the layers together.
Back to the clouds...... I dabbed white paint on, and in various places a touch of black or yellow and sometimes just a drop of red or green. Obviously the majority of the paint was white, and the sponge blended everything in nicely.
The thing is, its not all that hard. Go easy at first, and you will soon get the knack of it. And, by chance you dislike the result........ just let it dry and start over.
Oh, one trick I got from MR some while ago....... When your backdrop is done, take a good quality spray can of flat white and mist it over the entire backdrop - LIGHTLY........ The resulting transformation is akin to lightly weathering and/or applying Dull Cote to a freight car.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Thre's no single "best" way. Before you get satisfactory results, you may end up trying several methods. I suggest looking at the Kalmbach book on backdrops, by Mike Danneman http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12425.html . I would also urge anyone painting backdrops to base EVERYTHING on a prototype photo. You will never get results from memory that will be as convincing as something developed from photos.
I normally use some kind of brush with long bristles, like a flat or filbert.
These are simple and indistinct. They were painted with white PVA drywall primer. I used the same primer to feather the blue sky color to something lighter toward the horizon before starting clouds.
A wider look shows clouds massed in groups, with overlapping shapes. Many hobbyists paint isolated clouds here and there. That rarely resemble anything in nature.
A closer view from the same aisle from above. Shadows are Payne's gray acrylic, cut heavily with white to keep it from being too dark. Everything else is acrylic white. It builds up and becomes more opaque by adding layers.
Clouds here were done the same way. Note how those appearing higher in the sky are closer, and overlap those farther away.
These are among the prototype photos I used. Appearance varies by region, season, time of day, and so on. Amass a pile of photos.
Rob Spangler
I have also seen examples of clouds done with stencils and rattle cans. You can buy stencils or make your own.
My first attempts with a brush over blue sky, blended, as mentioned above, didn't come out too well. Painted over again and now have a clear blue sky, lighter at the bottom.
Would recommend the MR book. Plan to get it before my next attempt.
Good luck,
Richard
Gidday,
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/204317/2554659.aspx#2554659
Have Fun,
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Why, Thank you Bear! I was just thinking that a link to my tutorial might be useful. Glad to see others are still finding it helpful! (Also would have taken me 3 hours to locate the thread.....)
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
I used a good quality brush to paint my clouds. I would make sure I didn't have to much white paint on the brush and with a wispy-circular motion, I would paint the cloud on the sky blue back ground. As the brush had less and less paint on it, I would work out to the edge of the cloud. If I wanted a bigger cloud, I would go back for more white paint. The idea is that you want the brush to be almost empty of paint when you move out to the edge of the cloud. Once I felt I liked how the cloud looked, with a smaller brush, I would grab some light gray paint and do more or less the same thing at the base of the cloud, to give it that darker underside of the cloud look. Other types of clouds can be made using different stokes of the brush. Have photos of clouds near by, so you can capture the look. It is really easy and easy to go overboard. In this case, less is more!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
What backdrop I have (way up above the highly compressed vertical scenery) is greyish white - late summer day with high humidity and a thin overcast. If there are any clouds up there, they're invisible.
The natural sky above my humble abode is the diametric opposite - cobalt sky shading to near-white just above the distant mountain peaks, with individual cumulous clouds that stand out like full-rigged sailing ships flying skysails. Of course, humidity here is usually in the single digits.
My major heartburn with clouds on backdrops is that the same cloud is always in the same place. Here in the Dessicated Desert clouds move right along, grow or dissipate - fast enough to be noticeable in real time. On my layout, seeing the same cloud in the same place for a month would do a number on my suspension of disbelief.
OTOH, when I visit some other entity's layout, I like to see clouds on THEIR backdrop. I won't be staying long enough to notice if they've moved.
Chuck (Modeling sticky Central Japan in September, 1964)