Paint Color for Tree Trunks
Bob May
few trunks and see the colors in them You want to crudely mix your
colors so that you don't make a monochrome trunk. You might also want
to drybrush the surface lightly if it has a structure to highlight the
high spots. Nature really likes to make a lot of similar colors and
mix them up a lot and that's what you need to do.
--
Bob May
Access1 has gone Chapter 7 so I don't know how long my website is
going to last.
Bob May
bruces
Most tree trunks are gray - color a few redwood if you want.
Speaking of trees - wanna put some logs on logging cars? You
won't believe this, but cut 4-6" portions of "bottle brush".
Looks more like logs than logs do!
Trust me on this one ------- 8-)
Bruce
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Michael Mercogliano
I am current working on making deciduous trees for my layout (HO)
and I have that process down fairly well. The problem I'm experiencing
is trying to find a realistic looking paint color for the trunks of
the trees. Currently I am using an Acrylic paint (Creamcoat by Delta)
and the color is "Burnt Umber". However, after applying it with a brush
to a number of trees, I am not satisfied with the color. It is too brown
and lacks the gray tones you see in the bark of trees. Can anyone in the
group recommend a color that will provide a more realistic looking tree
trunk?
As always, thanks for the help.
-Mike Mercogliano
CBT2000
sunlight can affect the color you see. Blacks, browns, grays, whites are all
possible in various parts of the country in various types of trees.
Don Cardiff
Model Railroad Designs
Booker1067
Color techniques for tree trunks, stumps, and logs:
color use artists acrylic hobby paints
Gray/brown tree bark Van Dyke Roof brown
Red-brown tree bark Burnt Sienna boxcar brown
Gray-white tree bark 9-parts white dust
1-part Burnt Sienna
Shading all tree 3-parts Lamp Black Grimy black
bark colors 1-part white
Highlights all tree 10-parts White Antique white
bark colors 1-part Burnt Sienna
Donald J Kinney
>Speaking of trees - wanna put some logs on logging cars? You
>won't believe this, but cut 4-6" portions of "bottle brush".
>Looks more like logs than logs do!
>Trust me on this one ------- 8-)
>Bruce
Just one:-)
What is bottle brush?
I might know but nothing seams to come to mind:-)
Donald
d...@erinet.com
WET on the tree trunk. DO NOT mix the colors to one blend. Let them
STREAK. Put some brown on then some black or gray.
Don Dellmann
Michael Mercogliano <mike...@superlink.net> wrote in message
news:8jjr0n$1eu6$1...@earth.superlink.net...
> Hi Guys & Ladies,
>
> I am current working on making deciduous trees for my layout (HO)
> and I have that process down fairly well. The problem I'm experiencing
> is trying to find a realistic looking paint color for the trunks of
> the trees. Currently I am using an Acrylic paint (Creamcoat by Delta)
> and the color is "Burnt Umber". However, after applying it with a brush
> to a number of trees, I am not satisfied with the color. It is too brown
> and lacks the gray tones you see in the bark of trees. Can anyone in the
> group recommend a color that will provide a more realistic looking tree
> trunk?
Get a half a dozen different colors, ranging from light tan or even off
white to almost black. What I do with ceramcote (GREAT STUFF BTW, their
"sandstone" is PERFECT for concrete), is save the lids from gallon water and
milk jugs, and spread them out on the table, and squirt a shot of a differnt
color in each one. Then take a cheap watercolor bruch and a glass of water.
Dip the brush in the water first, pick a color, streak a little on. More
water, another color, etc. etc., everything kind of blends together in a
very natural looking way. Don't worry if the colors themselves get mixed
together, it makes the effect even better.
Acrylics used full strength generally are too "strong". Thinning them "on
the work" this way tends to soften the effect beautifully, and blending
colors makes a much better effect. Seldom is anything in nature
"monochromatic". Tree trunks can be many colors. depending on the tree. I
have two pine trees outside my window as I type this that have trunks that
are almost charcoal grey. There's a willow in the back yard that's almost
silver. Here in Wisconsin we have birches that are white. Blend and soften
the colors until they look right to you.
Don
--
Don Dellmann
don.de...@prodigy.net
http://www.geocities.com/don_dellmann
--
moderator WisMode...@egroups.com
Bob May
can look either like a huge bush or a tree, depending upon it's age
and what has happend to it. The red flowers look like bottle brushes
and are about the same size as the common babybottle brush. AFIK, the
bottle brush tree will survive in moderate frost areas and wants a
very moist soil and produces a leaf base that eliminates other growths
from happening around it. The trees are natually shaggy but can be
trimmed into shapes if desired and while they shed thier leaves, it's
a random thing rather than seasonal - in other words, an evergreen
which isn't the typical evergreen tree. Growth is up to about 25'-30'
or so and is rapid (about 4 years) to about 3/4 of that height. The
trees also regrow from the roots (mostly from the exposed roots) and
trunk if cut down and will vigioriously upset driveways and walkways
as much as 30' from the trunk. Any more info or is that more than
enough? If you can grow them around your area, your nursery can tell
you.
Frank R.
brown with a little white to get a slightly lighter trunk, then dry brushing
it with some very light gray, or white.
--
Frank R.
Michael Mercogliano <mike...@superlink.net> wrote in message
news:8jjr0n$1eu6$1...@earth.superlink.net...
> Hi Guys & Ladies,
>
> I am current working on making deciduous trees for my layout (HO)
> and I have that process down fairly well. The problem I'm experiencing
> is trying to find a realistic looking paint color for the trunks of
> the trees. Currently I am using an Acrylic paint (Creamcoat by Delta)
> and the color is "Burnt Umber". However, after applying it with a brush
> to a number of trees, I am not satisfied with the color. It is too brown
> and lacks the gray tones you see in the bark of trees. Can anyone in the
> group recommend a color that will provide a more realistic looking tree
> trunk?
>
Dave B
says...
>
> Hi Guys & Ladies,
>
> I am current working on making deciduous trees for my layout (HO)
> and I have that process down fairly well. The problem I'm experiencing
> is trying to find a realistic looking paint color for the trunks of
> the trees. Currently I am using an Acrylic paint (Creamcoat by Delta)
> and the color is "Burnt Umber". However, after applying it with a brush
> to a number of trees, I am not satisfied with the color. It is too brown
> and lacks the gray tones you see in the bark of trees.
If you look closely at trees, the bark on some has a brownish appearance.
Take a look at a distance though. It's almost always some shade of gray.
Models always seem to appear farther away because they're small (unless
you use a closeup camera shot). The grayish color is partly due to the
grayish haze of distant views.
I recommend a good gray overspray or wash on any color tree trunk. Even
whitish colored barks of birch or aspen take on a faint gray color in the
distance.
Another issue is season: in summer you barely see trunks of trees in a
forest because the edges of a forest have undergrowth and the rest is a
thick canopy of leaves. Don't worry about perfect color on trunks unless
they are stand alone trees. Then it might be worth a base coat plus a
wash to simulate the variegated colors of real tree bark.
Dave
--
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