Tutorial - How to create a jungle ambience

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Getting over several bad things flying at me i've decided to roll up the casual jungle canopy to cure such evil. I wanted to write this article since some weeks and somehow the last days really pushed me to get into it again, even we are in the middle of moving preparations.

  Jungle Ambience

I did read maybe too many books about the Vietnam War. I say maybe too much, because the things i did read really made my heart heavy in the last months. Heavy heart from these cruel images in my mind - those i did recieve during reading these books . Always when i read a book i think in and see images in my imagination. So there was a lot of jungle warfare going on in my head and i wanted to give a chance to some approach on Jungle Warfare. I have to say i don't have much experience on this topic. I did choose the products of Fredericus Rex called "Green Line" to start from. They got several different jungle plants in stock. I did order some laser cut paper plants to check them out and look if i like to work with them. As far as i can remember i've also used MiniNatur grass  and some moss, but this will be a single topic article sooner or later.

Now let's have a closer look on those laser cut jungle plants. When you buy them this is how they will come to your house. They are actually in Scale 1:35 but also work in 28 mm as jungle plants can grow big - at least this was what i am thinking. There are different sheets available, they cost about 10,00 € each, sounds expensive, but when you have a look on the amount just one sheet holds you know that they will stay with you on several models, if you don't build the complete rain forest on your base...

You can easily remove the plants out of their frame, but i would not recommand this. Here we come to the next point. I did remove them for painting. Stupid. Would have be much easier by just keeping them in the paper frames and work on them with the airbrush. I did not go the easy way, but that is often my problem. I was like a little child thinking yeah this one and that one and this and that... jungle yeah. Stupid. So keep them in your frame and you will go the easy way.

As stupid as i was i had to fix them somewhere else so i did build up another MacGyver construction that will hold them on tape and toothpicks. I did use the airbrush to bring on some green on the plants. You can also do this with a brush but remember not to use too much water (thinned colour) as the plants are done from thicker paper. Too much water can make them too flexible and maybe destroy them before you did not even start on your base. I did a basic colour overall using Gnarloc Green by GW's Foundation range and randomly mixed in some other greens/blues while refilling the airbrush. Then a moment of patience was needed to let them dry.

As told you should to this in the paper frame as i did destroy some of my plants while removing them from my MacGyver thing. The damage can happen to you too when removing them out of the frame but with patience, a good eye and a sharp scalpell you can remove them without. I was not really angry about the damage i had done as in my oppinion all the things on this planet happen for a reason. The reason i found in having this "happy accident" was that it made some of the plants unique and different to others.

I then carefully glued them with PVC Glue on my base, where the miniature was already in progress and tried to do a little composition using hours on it. After the glue is dry you can carefully bend the plants and bring them in the direction you want them to be as the jungle is not complete straight in my oppinion (I did use a toothpick because my fingers would have been way too fat). Just do whatever you like! I even added some small dried flowers from some kind of berry bush to bring in some more colour. I have also added some moss but will dedicate this topic a single article and link it up here.

After the base was dried and everything was ready to go a step further i did paint some final highlights on the plants and did strengthen a shadow here and there using a weird mix of green colours. I have also completly finished off the model itself at this point. Additional to this i felt something for the ambience i am searching for is still missing, so i've checked my green box and found some natural dried grass stuff that Yvonne once gave me. I have no idea what it is exactly but it really made it for me, i thought about high elephant grass while glueing this with PVC glue again. I would not recommand this on gaming miniatures at all. I am sorry that i don't know what it is, but i promise you that you'll find tons of stuff you can use when you check your sorrounding area with open tiger sharp eyes.

Here is another example on where i have used also the Green Line products. This was my first go at them and i also did them the stupid way. After building up those 2 bases i have to say that i still got some left to do some more and i have the feeling of using much of them. In this example i worked with some brown glazes on the area where the plants grow from the ground to make them look a bit dirty and more realistic:

  Conclusion

I have to say i really like working with these products and will use them for sure not only on upcoming jungle bases. I don't say this because i am sponsored by Green Line, please keep this in mind. There is also a nice fern by Green Line and fern can grow on a lot of places. I hope you like this article, even it is more an insight of my thoughts again.

 I once tried to create a jungle feeling at a gaming base by using MiniNatur grass and it worked well together with the idea of camouflage. Some ages ago!

While you explore your own jungle you might also be intrested in the lower part of the article about Basic Camouflage.

Keep on happy painting!
Best Regards
Roman