What colour is a river? (completed pics p3)

[mr ed]

The Greeks got around it by using the same word for green, blue and brown.

[Bergil]

The Greeks got around it by using the same word for green, blue and brown.

Bronze wasn't it?

[Barks]

Great and thought-provoking feedback!

I've decided to push on with green shades, and lots of gloss varnish. Here are some trial pictures with varying amounts of brown/ green and lighter green 'shades and highlights'. There will still be flocking to come when I determine a final approach.









The gloss varnishing makes things look wetter, better.

[sundayhero]

Nice start

You should add some brown/sand shades on the river's sides, to simulate the deepness of the water.

COncerning the gloss varnish, you should add some Heavy Gel gloss medium to your acrylic gloss varnish. It's something available in arts/craft stores. it's white and turn transparent when it dries. You can mix it with other acrylic products (medium, varnish, paint) to create effects, especially volume effects (waves, etc...).


edit : you can see the use of heavygel here :

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=42012.15

And also the possible issues of it  If you want to use heavygel for finishing varnish, try to find something really translucid, or make a mix with more gloss medium varnish.

On my own work, I guess I used too much heavy gel comparing the gloss varnish medium part...

[Barks]

I did consider some gel, but decided against it for scale reasons, and lack of experience. You tiles look great, btw!

I've completed this little project, it has been a learning experience. I won't claim 100% satisfaction, but I do have my very own unique river system now.









Thanks for all the advice!

My take-home points:

• Gloss varnish is all-important. Multiple coats if necessary.
• If you're going to blend, take your time and don't rush
• Colour is less important than reflection
• Beware of brush-streaks

[FifteensAway]

Late to the party but here is my recipe:

Paint the base of the river gloss black
-- don't entirely obliterate the black when covering, just leave the barest hint showing, it matters --
Paint the sides a shade of the surrounding terrain - the dirt not the herbage
Paint the center darkest
Blend between the edges and the center as best you can
Tint high glosss acryclic medium to a desired color (say green) and apply
Tint another layer of gloss medium (say blue)
While final gloss layer still wet sprinkle my uber-secret ingredient to add to reflective quality

shh, the secret ingredient is glitter but if you tell anyone, anyone mind you, your entire family will be....oh, never mind...just don't tell anyone

Sample found here: http://carobbeansea.blogspot.com/

Curmudgeon-in-chief

[sundayhero]

thanks !


your river is nice too : the thing "annoying" me a bit is the river inner borders. I like to fish on summer, on local rivers. The thing I noticed is that river borders are full of vegetation : reeds, rushes, and all kind of water plants and driftwood. 

Maybe you should think about it to add an extra nice touch to your already nice job 


Concerning heavygel, don't be afraid of : just be sure to not overcharge your acrylic gloss varnish (or translucid medium) with it. If the waves are too thick, it will keep some kind of milky aspect. But with reasonable amount of gel, you can create nice wind effets, waves and ripples.

[FifteensAway]

sundayhero is quite right about the river borders.  Just the sort of thing I hope to incorporate into the river I build for myself, reeds and other bits of greenery and such.  I also want to build rivers with lower banks.  The big challenge is to build sections of river that change elevation as well as deltas.  But I have some ideas.  Good thread.

[Barks]

Fair point about riverside vegetation. I've got it to an acceptable point now, I don't want to risk making a botch of it! Maybe later...