Advice on desert/wasteland terrain

[Lapsed Pacifist]

Been working on some more terrain boards today, not really happy with the results

Not sure what they could do with, maybe some foliage? More contrast between the highlights? It doesn't help that the pics aren't great.









Any suggestions welcome, thanks.

[Donpimpom]

looking at these tiny photos is really hard to get a clear idea to help you.
The post header says desert/wasteland but the pics look like blueish-gray to me.
I would say a more dark brown-ash for the base with some desert sand for lights would work fine.
What about using some Paint Army spray?

[Dewbakuk]

Needs bigger pics. From the views I can get, the board looks a bit grey an could do with some more texture. That said, what scatter terrain are you using on it? That could change the whole thing.

[Lapsed Pacifist]

Here's some bigger pic's, probably re do them at the weekend. Like you said more texture and darker base coat.







Thanks!

[Dewbakuk]

That's better, can see it now 

Okay, first things first, apply a wash of a cheap sand/brown house paint. Just water it down a lot and wash it over the whole thing, that should bring it to life a little more as you seem to have some reasonable texture in there. Until you put some rock formations, or hills on it's not going to look right anyway as there is no 'dimension' to it. You may find a wash is all it needs initially.

Next thing, what kind of wasteland/desert are you after? Apart from 'proper' desert, most will have some plant life growing, at least on the surface. Thinly scattered flocking in patches might help to break it up more.

[Furt]

At first I thought there was no texture there at all, but I now see quite a bit. Apart from the color I think it looks good.

Will those "larger" stones obstruct the placement of your scatter terrain?

[Lapsed Pacifist]

@fsultana: I think the photo accentuates the size of the stones, there pretty small.

@Dewbakuk: I was sort of going for this (didn't work ):



I was thinking of adding grass like this:



I've actually got some silfor(sp) tufts that match the colour but this may effect the placement of terrain  hmmm.

Thanks!

[Dewbakuk]

Ah, a Fallout board

I still recomend a brown wash but you might want to add a hint of green to it as well as the Fallout wasteland is a scrub area. I'm a big Silflor fan but I'd use a fine scatter flock for the board and use the silflor on the bases of your terrain. Although if you have some of the smaller silflor tufts they'd be fine I expect.

[Lapsed Pacifist]

Did some more work on the board today, thanks for the advice guys.

Added a muddy wash:



Added some tufts of dead looking grass, still not sure about this one, gonna leave as is for the moment and see if it interferes with the terrain. Even though I think it would probably look better with more tufts...



And a couple more shots with some aquarium plants i had at hand:





 

[former user]

well, quite good actually

I would advise to add grass in clusters, it looks a bit regularly dispersed right now
and maybe some slabs of broken rock, pretty much flat sedimentary rock, just a bit

that's how Your board looks like 

oh, yes, the plastic bushes are too green and too big

some yellowish moss would be better

[Dewbakuk]

Yeah, the green is a bit bright 

Try some pieces of terrain, see how it sits first, but I agree with former user. Thre grass could do with being in clumps/drifts to look more realistic. Aside from that it's looking pretty good.

[Donpimpom]

the plastic bushes size i don't know if it's an issue, but the color it is for sure.
I would spray them in black and then drybrush a lot with a grayish brown.
Follow the color palettes on the screenshots you posted to choose the colors, those images play with a very short color range clearly defined.

[former user]

too much foliage on the bushes for desert

[dijit]

too much foliage on the bushes for desert

it depends whether it's just rained or not





but that's not what most people think of when they hear 'desert'.
Duncan

[former user]

actually not
maybe I did not use the correct words

vegetation in arid/semiarid regions will tend to reduce the size of their leaves (surface of evaporation). even if in the rainy season, there will simply be more of it, not bigger or with bigger leaves. when it dries out, only the ones with deeper roots / better adapted resilience will survive

this is also what Your pictures show, apart from distracting with the colourful flowers 

this is why the only bigger examples will be succulents or the occasinal solitary trees