Quick trees and jungle

[PhilB]

As part of a new Pathfinder campaign, I needed some more quick trees and jungle. I'd seen many jungle pieces done using plastic aquarium plants, but they always seemed to bright and plastic-y to me. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

For the palm trees, I started with these awful-looking ones off Amazon. Awful - am I right? So I stripped them down, trimmed flash, rethought the bundles of coconuts, repainted and reassembled them, on bases tarted up with some carved polystyrene rocks, ruined stone walls and various bits of clutter and grass.



The underbrush is various aquarium plants, teased apart, primed and repainted in duller, earthier colors.





Once I'd done a dozen pieces, I'd run out of plam trees, and decided on another quick tree solution: branches fresh-cut from the woods behind my house. I tried to pick out ones that were covered in picturesque lichen or moss.



I'm not sure how durable the lichen will be over the long term, but it certainly does give a lovely organic feel that I would have been hard-pressed to duplicate by sculting and painting alone.



I used bunches of lichen for the foliage, but I admit it leaves something to be desired. What foliage methods do the rest of you use?

FWIW, the buildings you see in the background are part of several previous posts, including this one from earlier today in the Workbench forum.

[Operator5]

I used bunches of lichen for the foliage, but I admit it leaves something to be desired. What foliage methods do the rest of you use?

I use steel wool, teased apart, sprayed a dark green, hit with some some spray adhesive and then flocked with a combination of turf and foliage clumps.

[PhilB]

Thanks for the suggestion Operator5. That doesn't sound too hard, and I really need to graduate from using lichen for tree foliage like back in my model railroading days in the mid 70s.