Can you help me please what short of format and colours should i use , i have built some walling out of cardboard so that it looks like slate, i have seen layout like CORRIS and the slate walling is very good , what colours and sequence of colours should i put on the wall . many thanks for your help Robin Roll Eyes
There are so many possibilities that it is a matter of finding out what works for you. Some like to use a dark base coat and drybrush lighter tints over it and others prefer to start with a lighter colour and add darker washes. Some with pick out individual stones in different colours, others will use artists chalks and weathering powders.
Also the colour changes markedly depending on whether you want to depict a dry sunny summers day or a dark damp winter one, and even the time of day and angle of the sun. How you light the layout has an effect too.
It is probably best to avoid black and white and "plain" grey. There may be hints of green, purple, blue, brown or other colours depending on location and conditions. There may be moss or lichen on it too.
I don't think there is a definitive set of colours you should use.
Slate comes in many different colours depending on the region it was quarried in. My observation has been that in any given area, all buildings are likely to have been built from slate quarried from the same vein and therefore will display a uniformity of colour throughout the region. I think it is something of a mistake to think of variable greatly colours in one building or area. Also, it doesn't tend to weather to different colours being remarkably stable and consistent.
Rod
That may be true for roofing, but I thought that the buildings were constructed from slate waste which would not be a uniform colour.
Also the slate quarried from different levels would vary to a certain degree, and the way the material was cut and laid would alter its appearance - the end of a saw-cut block would be a vastly different colour to the split face of such a block.
Its like saying that all the hand made bricks produced by a firm using a particular clay/sand mix would all be the same, whereas they obviously are not. (but not for the same reasons, I hasten to add) :-)
Thank you all for the info , i will be starting soon
Sorry, my impression has ALWAYS been as stated, slate walling far more often than not, displays a uniformity of colour of material. I am sure people will leap up and yell at this but as far as I have seen, the manner and direction in which blocks are dressed does not noticeably alter their colour.
Rod
As Rod has said, worked slate seems to end up largely the same colour (with subtle variations) over a wall, roof, whatever. Here are a few examples:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/8689499712_0ee1bbf3f9_z.jpg)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7043/8687587863_87831d9b07_z.jpg)
But in natural form it can vary quite a bit...
(https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6059/6257938252_df0e837f65_z.jpg)
Having previously written in the "News" regarding rock colours and slate in particular, I agree with both Rod and Tom. The only sure way to get it right is to study the prototype and observe. Whilst Rod is right about dressed slate being fairly uniform in colour, close study of Tom's photo of the derelict quarry building (which appears to be so-built), must have twenty or thirty different shades of grey. (Maybe that should be fifty and I write a book about it.....?!)
Martin
I find that the easiest answer is to use 'Google Earth' for a suitable location - i.e. Corris or Bethesda, and then go into 'Street View' - that will then give you examples of the colours and type of slate/stone that was used in construction.
Shaun.
The problem with only using photos is that every camera will have different image settings that will impact the colour of the image. Then monitors/screens we use to view them have the same issue.
Streetview is great, as are websites like Geograph, but there's no substitute for field work if you're able to get to the area you're modelling.
True, if you were to take the colours in isolation from a photo in the way in which some software allows the user to use an "eye dropper" to pick colours. However we perceive colours in their context. If there is other information in the photo to guide us then it gives an impression of what is correct.
There was a silly news story recently about the colour of a dress which is related to this optical illusion:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbcimg.co.uk%2Fnol%2Fshared%2Fbsp%2Fhi%2Fdhtml_slides%2F10%2Fillusion3%2Fimg%2Fillusion_dhtml_6_v2.gif&hash=b97d1f4107e741b40a46e104719564e92235e03e)
- what colours are the middle squares?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11553099 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11553099)
People do not have "perfect colour perception" in the way some people apparently have "perfect pitch". Colours are relative. Yes, they can be measured and reproduced, but how we see them is different. Even trying to be scientific and placing a colour chart in the scene you are photographing is likely to upset the way you perceive the colours in that scene.
Don't mention the dress, i heard enough about that thanks to Facebook! :o