"Alien jungle base opinions wanted" Topic

Hi guys

Working on the alien jungle base for my Kurita Shadow Hawk, and would like some opinions, this theme will tie 5 15mm Battletech forces and some other sci-fi projects together, so I want to get it right now.

The description I'm using for this is "dark alien jungle horror", I chose a colour palette of green with purple accents.

Dark- I don't think I have gone dark enough with the base colour, it's the darkest rattle can I have, I think in future I'll do a darker mix and apply with my airbrush, and my green tea ground colour is a bit to light, I'll have to mix in some darker tea leaves.

Alien – I have seen a few attempts at alien basing, they are usually bright, multicoloured and unconvincing to my eye, I wanted to create something that was recognisable (jungle) yet alien enough that you can easily tell it's alien.

Jungle – I don't think I've been successful in creating a jungle theme yet, it's looking to dry, I could either spray the whole base with a clear gloss coat, or brush pant the plants gloss to replicate moister, there's not enough height to the foliage, I think I need to add standing trees, but I don't want to model full trees on the base, I might try and add a knee high trunk, how should I end the top of the trunk, to elude to the fact the tree keeps going up, just cut it flat and paint the top black? Or will that look weird? In future I think I need 2 or 3 trees for a base of this size, I need to add more vines, hanging lichen, and long grass all to give height to the base.

Horror – not sure, does it look like a terrain you would be happy to be in? I may add some alien fauna to a future base to accentuate the horror, a giant alien spider (not disguised as a clown) or some such.

Colour scheme – I think at the moment there's to much purple, however if I add more trees, vines and hanging lichen, all green, it may counter balance the purple, the blue plant is out of the colour palette, but I think it work, I may add 1 item per base that not green or purple.

Any suggestions on how to improve on the dark alien jungle horror theme?
link

I'm not qualified to give you suggestions, but my opinion is that it's dark enough as-is. I do agree with less purple and more green and going glossy. Incredible job.

First off, the look you have is good. Well, executed.

Jungle is generally thick and grown over in multiple layers. Your mech shouldn't be standing in jungle.; it should be standing on jungle. Break and bend some pieces an shove them up against the feet on both sides, like it is standing on some amount of undergrowth.

Layering plants over plants will help. The lower layers are darker colors, leading to lighter ones.

Getting several different gloss levels of finish and brushing them on will also help make the jungle look wet and alive. My palette of these is super matte, matte, satin, gloss, and super gloss.

Neon colors are "alien" to earth plants – not much and not many. Blue is actually the rarest, I believe. Especially for stuff like bark. Metallics are also rare. Gray, (pure) white, and black are also rare for foilage.

Inverting colors could help – green bark with brown leaves will "look alien" to earth people. Using some of those rare earth leaf colors for bark and stems, then dark colors for leaves. So metallic stems and bark, then black matte leaves.

Also, don't follow the shape of the plant with the coloring. You did a great job of that above. A green and khaki zebra striped entire plant (bark/stem and leaves) would work. or maybe those colors in other stripes on the stem and leopard spots on the leaves.

Most grasses don't have patterns of color in them. They're pretty uniform over an area. Giving variation in the same type of grass creates the illusion of an underlying different biology.

Also, grab some weird, not plant shapes. Bits of sprue painted to match your other vegetation would work. Also straws – drinking, coffee, stirrers, etc. – bend and curve them.

I looked through my stuff…

inlgames.com/free-arch.htm

Off the top of my head, these might help. They are full terrain pieces, but the ideas may bend to decorative bases.

inlgames.com/plants.htm
inlgames.com/koosh.htm
inlgames.com/swamp.htm
inlgames.com/mm10.htm
inlgames.com/exob.htm