Could any one help me and my son paint a forest scene?

#1

I wonder if anyone artistically gifted and kind could help me and my 6 year old son paint a backdrop picture of the forest of Endor on a big piece of white card, a forest floor on a sheet of plywood? I’ve nearly finished the Lego storage unit and play table that I’m making him and this will be the final step.

Also, what kind of paint would be good? We have poster paint in various colours which should be fine for the cardboard backdrop but would it also work on plywood with maybe a coat of clear varnish over the top to make a smooth surface? It doesn’t have to last forever or be perfect, just look cool enough to make a six year old happy. :slight_smile:

Around 4pm any weekday except Monday would work well, then I could bring him down straight from school.

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#2

I don’t have much canvass painting experience, but I’ve painted a lot of miniatures and 3D tabletop scenery, so I know my way around acrylics pretty well. What sort of dimensions are you looking at?

You could always get an actual backdrop image of Endor printed at a print shop – or is it more fun to paint one yourselves? I also know of some PVC gaming mats you could buy with forest motifs that are really durable and super easy to clean.

If you’d rather paint everything by hand just for fun, I’m sure I could help out somehow :slight_smile: Unless anyone with more landscape painting experience wants to offer their superior skills.

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#3

Would love to help with this but I just dont have time at the moment. Poster paint is ok but quite low in pigment saturation. For scenery we use a high pigment emulsion but it really depends on the scale of the piece. (Sorry I’m not sure what size you said). Acrylics are perfect if it’s not a massive piece as they work out to be expensive in large quantities. You can get the tester pots of emulsion. Are you priming it first?

If you are worried about how it will look you can use a picture and scale it up using the grid method.

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#4

you could always use the plotter machine to print a large scale forest and heat transfer to card or wood and then colour it in.

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#5

Hi Sarah, I’ve painted huge and small murals as part of a team, indoor and outdoor and would love to help. Fun☺! All replies above are true and perfect suggestions of how to achieve it. Main thing is size & type of design - realistic or stylised and getting your son involved as much as possible, thinking about what he loves of the forest, how his paintings & drawings are the most important part of it. I have paint, brushes, paper, all from donations. Thurs n Fri good for me, tho not this week. Next? Such joy.for a kid to make this. And us😀

#6

Thank you all so much for your ideas and suggestions! The size of both the backdrop & play surface is around 1m x 50cm.

@danleblanc01 thanks for the tip about gaming mats, I’ve never heard of such a thing and and can think of other projects they would be useful for. Some of the space ones look amazing.

@beth thanks for your thoughts. Would you recommend priming it first? I was going to use MDF sealer on the plywood first to stop the paint soaking in.

@StudioNelle that sounds fab, I didn’t realise the vinyl cutter can do drawing as well. I should learn how to use it!

@jackiekeane that sounds amazing, thank you!!! Could you do Friday 10th after school? I will bring afternoon tea to say thank you. :slight_smile: And if else wants to join us too then would be brilliant. :slight_smile: Yay! I’m excited!

#7

Yeah anything to stop the paint soaking in would be fine.

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#8

Do you think I should do the same on the cardboard?

#9

Yes, after 4?

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#10

image.jpg3024×4032 1.89 MB

This is how the unit looks so far. With huge thanks to @joeatkin2 for interrupting his own work just before Christmas to help and supervise me cutting the shelves to size on the table saw. I love that the finished thing is going to be a real makerspace team effort!

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#11

Great design, clever. What a good MS collaboration by posts and onsite 10 Feb. I think a 2nd session too as the design needs a bit of planning and testing before final input. This is even better for William, he is right in the middle of it, creating and making and really designing it. That’s what its all about, he will be delighted with himself :slight_smile:

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