Vegetation Diorama Colors 6x17ml

Six shades for greenery and the soil beneath it

The palette aims at a single theme: at growth and at the ground it rises from. The contents of the package are already given by the name: six bottles of seventeen milliliters each, an amount that will last for several smaller scenes or for one larger one.

The choice of shades follows a vertical section through the growth. Dark brown serves as the base for trunks, branches and trodden soil. Moss green is cooler and flatter against it, and suits mosses, low tufts and shaded places at the foot of a tree. Forest green carries the main mass of the foliage, earthy brown works in the roots and the fallen needles, ocher brown brings dry stems at the edge of a path to life, and the green base forms the middle tone on which the whole range holds together.

Laying the shades on and mixing them

It is a water-thinnable acrylic that takes an airbrush as well as a brush. On foliage and static grass a heavily thinned coat from a greater distance proves its worth, so that the fibers do not stick together into one clump; on trunks, roots and soil a thicker coat drawn on with a brush instead. The shades can be mixed with one another, so the six bottles yield a continuous range of transitions for spring as well as for late autumn.

Why a set beats individual bottles

Greenery on a model is almost never done in one tone. The eye recognizes a lifeless surface at once as soon as growth is the same color everywhere, and the only way out leads through several close shades laid over one another. A six-pack put together around one theme shortens this work, because the shades go together as they come from the maker and do not have to be found by trial.

The set suits grass foliage, leaves cut from paper and hand-made trees as well. It is also used to color loose materials before they are scattered onto a base, which is easier than painting up a finished scene.