The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is close to the center of a nation's purpose- and is a test of the quality of a nation's civilization. -JFK
Materials for Building Scenery
Knowing what materials are available make budgeting for scenery much easier. Here is the low-down on some of the materials used.
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Here you will find advice and information concerning processes involved in painting scenery.
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I've divided the Materials and Tools for building scenery into two groups because I anticipate a lot of entries in both categories. At first, I will concentrate on some of the more unique tools I like to use.
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In this section you can expect a variety of advice having to do with rendering scenery: everything from ways to improve drawing techniques to materials to use in watercolor rendering to getting the right perspective.
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This section is dedicated to step by step instruction on building specific scenic pieces in 1/4" scale. For now it will only include 1/4" scale, because this is the scale I build in.
I dabbled briefly in 1/2" scale, but it was so big that models didn't like to travel and the amount of detail I had to add to make it look good was ridiculous. I also played for a while with 3/8" scale, which is my favorite to build in, however I discovered that directors have a harder time translating 3/8" in their minds to the full size in proportion. I'm not sure why, exactly. So, in the end I decided 1/4" was the perfect balance between portability and communication.
In some cases, I will have scenic pieces that you can print on thick paper, cut out and assemble. I believe my process for creating these pieces is easy to replicate using your own designs, once you get the hang of it.
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Understanding the materials and tools you are using is very important, especially when planning which techniques to use. This section is dedicated to helpful advice about specific tools and materials used in Scenic Painting
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Thinking outside the box can be very helpful when building models. Knowing the uses of materials and tools often used in building models is even more helpful. This section is committed to entries about specific materials and tools used in model building. Some materials are traditional, and must be bought. Others are salvaged, free, and non-traditional.
The default ordering of the materials below is by date. If you choose "ordering" from the Order menu, they will be listed alphabetically.