Tutorials

A hill tutorial

Posted by Thanos on 07 May 2012, 08:15

Good day and good week everyone!

Last weekend I realized that I 've painted all the figures and models that were wandering on my work desk, a little miracle if I may say (I still remember last time, it was when I first started painting and modelling)! :-)
Thus, while being free from the burden of guilt for neglecting figures and models, I decided to make a small terrain piece, just for a change.

I was inspired by a post of Easter Funker's Panzerfaust, a good fellow from Australia who has a mission: to create Ostfront in 20mm scale - a huge project if I may say. This post was about the making of two hills that can be used for his Ostfront project (go on and visit his http://easternfunker.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/and-thats-the-end-of-big-terrain-piece-making-for-the-current-springsummerautumn/, it's full of great stuff).

I could carry on and show you the photos of the finished hill, but I thought that I could add some additional photos of the W.I.P, with the hope that you may get an idea and create your own hills for your little men! Knowledge (dare I say) should be spread and for free!

So...

1. I got a small rectangular piece of insulating foam (the one that is used in houses). I cut it and shaped it with a sandpaper sheet (do that outdoors, a lot of dust occurs while doing this). The little white pieces of foam I used were from an electric house-ware box.

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2. I don't have any photos of this stage. Basically, what I did was covering the top (little white foam pieces) of the hill with some kitchen paper dipped in a PVA + water mix. I did that in order to ''smooth'' the angles of these pieces.

3. After that, I mixed some dark brown emulsion paint with sand (I apologize for the blurry pics, I took the photos late at night), and covered the hill with this mix. I left it to dry and went to get some sleep!

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4. Early on next morning, and since the hill now had its basic colour, I decided to start the what I call ''layering method''. I got a lighter tone of brown colour, got some on the brush, wipe it off it, and started drybrushing the hill in order to give some ''realistic depth'' in terms of shades.

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5. When dry, I took another bucket of emulsion paint, a colour similar (to an extent) of Vallejo's Iraqi Sand, and I followed the same procedure as previously. Drybrushing (lightly this time).

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6. Basic browns were applied and the hill was ready (well almost ready). I now had to add the green stuff (grass, bushes and trees). Below the photos show the materials (family photos) I used in order to achieve that.

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7. In the last sequence of photos, the hill is ready. The ''green-stuff'' was applied with the following sequency:
* Static grass
* Trees
* Bushes

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And a bit of reconnaissance work....

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That's about it really. It was an easy task to fulfill and it cost me around 10 euros. Not too bad I reckon....:-)

I hope you like it!
If I may be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'll be more than please to exchange ideas with you!

As usual C&C are more than welcome!

T.
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Thanos  Greece
 
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18 Sep 2008, 09:10


Posted by Peter on 07 May 2012, 20:02

That's a very nice piece of terrain Thanos :love:

Thanks for sharing :thumbup:
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Peter  Belgium

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25 Mar 2008, 18:51

Posted by Dad's Army on 07 May 2012, 21:05

It sure is, a good piece of terain for gaming, well done.
Thanks for sharing this tutorial!
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Dad's Army  Netherlands

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18 Nov 2007, 22:53

Posted by leifkarl1112 on 11 May 2012, 13:43

Thanks for sharing your process, the finished item looks great! :thumbup:

Karl.
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leifkarl1112  United Kingdom
 
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13 Oct 2009, 18:11

Posted by Duke atreides on 11 May 2012, 20:06

Thanks for sharing! :thumbup:
Duke atreides  Portugal
 
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04 Dec 2011, 00:24


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