Before

Here's the scene before any scenery or backdrop work had been done aside from the pencil drawing for the basic backdrop shapes.  

The temporary backdrop done to test overall shapes looked like this.  There were no trees or background structures.  By this time some additional work had been done to finish the industries.  Note that the foreground structures got rearranged from time to time as I messed around with how the area should look.

The east end of Milton siding is around a corner.  Due to the shape of the benchwork this area is somewhat visually separate from the town. 

Now

The backdrop for the town proper now looks like this.  Final color has been added to the distant hills and trees and buildings are going in.  This should help the local crew to feel like they're no longer in the middle of noplace.  Again there has been some rearranging of structures to test for a look I can be satisfied with.

Here's the east end of the siding.  The colors came out more intense in the photo than they really are, but this gives the general idea.

There's still quite a bit more to do to get the rest of the backdrop behind town complete.

Stunning as usual Rob

I never tire of looking at your latest work.   
 

Joe, if you do another scenery DVD be sure to include at least a chapter on Rob's work!

Steve

Excellent Work

Rob -

Your work reminds me of Bruce Petty's backdrops (he owns the The Los Angeles & San Fernando Valley Railroad based on the SP). I do believe he had an article in RMC about painting his backdrops based on old citrus advertisements from California.

Either way, excellent job.

Can you teach us?

Rob, I sure would like to learn how to paint those background hills.  They look great!

Den

Re: Comments

Thanks all.

As much as I might like to, I've gone this route before and no longer make the attempt due to lack of success.  The real problem is that one person's method for painting is frequently useless to anyone else.  You also run into some steep learning curves like the theory of color perception.

I posted some additional information on a previous blog here https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/treelines-a-backdrop-on-the-8th-sub-12193480 , which may be of some use with regard to color mixtures.  I noted books I like here https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/first-backdrop-nearing-completion-12190892 .  If you have a a specific question or I might be able to help, but existing art tutorials may be the best resource for really learning the process.

One major thing holding me back from attempting further instruction is that I'm not too sure of my competence as a painter.  The backdrops I do fulfill a purpose on the layout, but I'm not sure that equates to them serving as an example for anyone else to follow.  I'm more comfortable telling people how to install trackwork or 3-D scenery.

Next Up

Things are about done on the west end of town.

Compare this view of the feed and fertilizer plant to the first photo in the thread.  Strategically placed trees help disguise otherwise obvious shadows on the backdrop.

It seems to me the industries now feel as if there's a reason for them to exist (i.e. obvious consumers of fertilizer and such  nearby).

Fantastic backdrop Rob. Just

Fantastic backdrop Rob. Just curious about mountain 'M' Is that really a paint by number letters backdrop? 

Looking forward to your next installment .

Randy

Letters

In case anyone's curious:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_letters

http://www.deuceofclubs.com/mts/

'Just curious about mountain 'M' "

If you go up and take a close look it's probably rocks arranged in the M pattern and then whitewashed....DaveB

The "artist's eye"

Rob - it goes with out saying - Awesome. As someone with out what I call the "artist's eye" I can confirm what your saying about what you do being hard to teach. One has only to look at your work or Gil Bennet's to understand what I'm talking about. Your work has what I call for lack of a better term "the look." I've been chasing that "look" most of my life. Congrats on a job very well done. Mark Evans

Thanks Mark

Since you mentioned Gil...  Several months back he came up to operate with a group.  I noticed how he was looking at things and asked what he was thinking about.  He said he was looking for backdrop ideas, which just floored me.  For those who aren't familiar with Gil, here's his site http://gilbennett.com/.

The "M" on the hill side

The "M" on the hill side reminds me of the hills coming into Missoula MT. from the west. Butte, about 120 mile down I-90, has the BIG M. It's M is for the school of mines. It lights up at night and the colors of the bulbs change for different holidays.  Joe

Nice job

Very nice Rob.  Always a treat when you post.  Thanks for sharing.

Chris

The Last of It

Things are about wrapped up.

I moved on to this spot, shown above as it was when the temporary backdrop was first added.  

This area is past the east end of the siding and includes the tunnel marking the boundary of the Milton scene.  It's supposed to be one end of the canyon the railroad follows between Milton and Chester, location of the large Ideal Cement plant seen in an earlier thread.  See the bottom of this page  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/mrh-forum-challenge-valley-scene-12194127  for the other end.

Comparing the above pair of views illustrates how I employ the temporary backdrop to block in forms while the finished one mostly adds color.  

Milton's siding starts just out of the frame to the left.

Backdrop

More

The scenes aren't complete, but more has been happening.  Here's how the truss bridge area looks now.

Even though they are not complete...

Your scenes still look amazing Rob!

Jas...

Hillside M

top job!

Superb work, Rob. It just keeps getting better.

Mike

Looking Great

Rob,

The scene is really coming along nicely!!

The idea of getting the base of the backdrop in then working on the color matching of the 3D portions has really paid off. I have seen some layouts with great foreground scenery that did not make the backdrop or great backdrops that were not matched by the foreground. You have successfully demonstrated that getting the parts to blend creats a successful illusion. 

Keep it up!! 

iCar Cab Ride

I can't find the thread where we were talking about making a video. Rob do you know and want to post this info there? This is the newest post so I figured a good spot. I was looking at the latest additions to your scenery while running on Saturday and like what you've done.

Take a ride as though you were in the cab as you go throughout the Western Pacific 8th Subdivision.

//www.youtube.com/embed/sKKgNBtUaaQ?rel=0

The link is: 

An extended version is at: 

p.s. I found the other page so will post the info there too.

Video

Fine with me if you leave it here Jim, or you could start a new thread.

Video

I'll leave it here but I also found the thread where video was being "requested" so posted it there too.