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For painting backdrops, I use acrylic paints. This type of paint is opaque and dries quickly, so you can easily paint over an area if you aren’t happy with your first attempt.

I follow photo reference, but I won’t trace the exact image onto the backdrop. Instead the photo provides a palette of colors. In the case of my railroad, the colors portray an autumn setting.

I’m going to show you an easy, four-step technique that starts in the background and works forward. Each step adds just enough detail to integrate the scene.

The first step is to paint the distant hills. I start with burnt umber, which is close to the color of my foreground 3-D hills. Then I mix in gray. The muted color adds the illusion of distance.

Since I’ll be covering a larger area for the hills, I mix the paint in a paint tray, instead of a palette. The deep paint cups ensure that I’ll have enough of the final color to finish the scene.

With the color mixed I brush in the hill line. For an overlap-ping effect I paint the peaks of the hills between low spots in my foreground 3-D scenery. I’ll bring the slope of the painted hill down to where there’s a high spot.