Going for an Alpine Look

[johnjpeebles]

Here's the look I'm going for (in fact, will use this for my backdrop)


I'm going to scenic the layout like normal prior to applying snow, planning on using dark browns for dirt, and some rock outcroppings. Anyone who has done a snow scene before have any tips to bring out the blueish tint?  Maybe concentrate more on lighting?

[ztrack]

John,

One tip is use the same blue in the mountains as you do for the sky. Also, use the blue in all of your shadows. Light washed of blue in places with also push back the mountains and give you the look. Have fun!

Rob

[Ztrains]

John,

I did a snow scene last year for a Jurg and I played around with several things to try to hint at blue in the snow itself... I had no real success with it. It always came out a bit blue-heavy to me. I ended up going with straight snow and let the lighting supply the tint. The only exception was in some frozen water and the "blue" was supplied by Envirotex over clear caulk to simulate ice..

Here are some photos by Jurg Ruedi, this is his piece:

http://zscalegallery.com/dioramas/snow_part_1/
http://zscalegallery.com/dioramas/snow_part_2/

John Cubbin
www.ztrains.com

[Sokramiketes]

Notice in the picture that the snow is white until it's in shadow, and that's where you catch the blue?

Mike Danneman, with the bonus of having a permanent layout with permanent lighting, just uses a slight blue wash in the shadows of his scene.  Tree casting a shadow?  Apply some blue wash.  Building casting a shadow?  Blue tint.  He even tinted the shadowed side of his trees IIRC.

[Ztrains]

I agree... having a permanent layout would change everything... then I think you could play a bit more with the lighting. Some of my blue-tint tests looked great under one light, I'd then move it to different lighting and it looked dicey at best... take that same diorama in the sun and it would look just cartoonish. That's why I opted to omit the blue and let whatever light was being used influence the color.

John
www.ztrains.com

[johnjpeebles]

Thanks for the tips guys - prevented me from making some mistakes of my own.  I'm toying with the idea of making the diorama a full fledged shadowbox, but probably won't.  In any case, back to scenicing it like normal until I put the snow down...