Vegetation Grows on Malbaie River East Bank

Simple scenery yields the best results when handled carefully

For years, probably a decade, Malbaie river east bank was bare ground were nothing grew. While it was certainly attractive to add scenery elsewhere, I thought that unifying the river scene would help a lot to motivate me to complete Clermont once for all. I certainly don't regret it.

Tying together a signature scene is a powerful motivation factor

While it was a relatively straightforward (I reused the same methods), I decided to add more layers of texture to create a deep 3D unkept vegetation effect. To achieve this, I glued several grass tuffs into wet Celluclay before adding any grass. These tuffs acted as large bushes under dead grass. I also added twigs here and there that were later buried in grass, as is so common in the springtime.

Tuffs are barely visible, but they add volume to vegetation

A big deal of realism with grass and vegetation is achieved by addressing volume. If you don't, it's like carpeting the landscape, which is generally not what we want to achieve. It is also important to create contrasts in colors, representing various type of vegetation. Plants growing under trees aren't the same than in open air and vice versa. Dead leaves also accumulate in different spots, generally recesses, helping to add "shadows" and underline the relief just like a dark wash on a model define the nooks and crannies. Even dirt sprinkled and gently brushed over grass can enhance that 3D rendering of nature.

No solid colors, but gradients