Lately I’ve been diving deep into making more natural-looking landscapes, and I’m curious—what do you swear by when it comes to building realistic hills, cliffs, or riverbanks?
Do you use foam board, plaster cloth, paper towel and glue, or something completely different? How do you get those organic shapes and transitions that don’t look too “man-made”?
Bonus points if you’ve got photos or tips for painting and weathering your terrain to really bring it to life. Let’s swap methods and help each other level up our scenery game!
I have had the best luck with a mix of old-school and cheap tricks. For hills, I will often start with crumpled newspaper or scrap cardboard to bulk up the shape, then go over it with plaster cloth or a thin layer of paper towel soaked in diluted white glue. It dries surprisingly solid.
For cliffs, I like carving foam insulation board with a utility knife and then hitting it with a wire brush it gives that rough, chipped look without much effort. Riverbanks are usually just sculpted plaster, smoothed with a wet brush, and then painted in a few muddy tones before I add any water effects.
The big thing for me is avoiding symmetry nature doesn’t do straight lines or perfect curves. A few bumps, dents, and random angles go a long way.
