When did basing with sand and static grass start? Who made it popular?

[Sbloom141]

All through my childhood I remember Goblin Green bases and flock but my hobby budget was so limited that I just didn’t want to shell out for it, so always did what he ‘starter paint set’ suggested and mixed white and dark angels green to horrific results 

For my Warhammer undead I used a cheap grass flock and thought I was being clever by putting patches of brown in (believe it was the Woodlands scenic stuff, I bought it because it was significantly cheaper than GWs in house stuff).

Now I generally ‘go with the flow’ for basing but for the few 40k things I still paint, it’s Bestial brown (or equivalent) then a ‘special mix’ of differing brown flocks, sometimes with patches of green if I’m feeling vibrant. Very, very occasionally I’ll put something additional on, but generally I’m not interested in bases or basing. Massive pet hate for me are those miniatures where the model is 50% base, or a bit of ruined building that miraculously moves with the miniature!

The only bases I’ve made a bit of an effort with are Mantics TWD ones. I use grass tufts and the textured earth stuff.

[Marine0846]

Back in the mid 1970s all the guys I played with just painted our bases green and left them at that.
Forward to the 1980s we started flocking our bases.
That was went Geo Hex came out and we wanted the bases to match it.
The last number of years I still use flocking and a sand mixture on my bases.
I do like to use grass tufts to add a little color.
As for acrylics, I started using them around 1980.
I hated the smell of oils so it was a no brainer for me.

[SteveBurt]

In the 70s bases were just plain green.
Then sometime in the early 80s I recall adding patches of flock.
Then in the mid 80s it was Basetex or pollyfilla dry brushed and with flock.
And then,  I guess late 80s, came static grass on acrylic texture gels mixed with paint, which is what I still use.