Tutorial How to make cheap water/canal/river tiles

Couldn't figure out how to make a new thread in the tutorial subforum because the "post new thread" button didn't show up for me, so here it goes.

Step 1: Designing your tiles.

I really like making my terrain interchangeable and able to be used in multiple different combinations. This makes each board I put together slightly different than the last one. For inspiration as you make your river or canal tiles, I recommend doing some internet searching first. Here is some of the inspiration I found when coming up with my river tiles.








ALSO CHECK THIS OUT! @n810 made an epic river way back when too.



Step 2: Cut out your tiles.

I made my river tiles in two parts. The first half mostly had straight pieces, while my part 2 of the project had some curved pieces too. I used foam board you get out of a craft store.


Careful measuring is important to ensure all the tiles will line up. All of my tiles are exactly 5 inches thick at the connection end, with a 1/2 inch border of sand glued to the foam board to represent the edge of the water feature.



Step 3: Basecoat

I always paint my terrain black to start, so that is what I used here. It provides an extra layer of stability to the foam (paint both sides, two coats each) and helps hold the sand in place.

 

Step 4: Base color layer

Since my river tiles are to represent jungle rivers, I used a river I saw down in Belize as inspiration.

Spoiler

It was very green, so that is what I tried to make.



Base paint layers are of course green for the water features, and brown for the sand on the sides. Also during this step I added mud coloring to the sand to make it truly look like a jungle.


Step 5: Painting the water features

This step was probably the trickiest one. Because I was using acrylic paints, I had to move quickly in order to get the blending that I wanted. The objective is to make the center of the tiles darker, with the sides lighter to give the effect the water is "deeper" in the center and more shallow at the shoreline.


To do this, this is the general color scheme I used:

edge--> mid-depth --> center/deepest <-- mid-depth <-- edge
light green/brown --> green --> blue/green/black <-- green <-- light green/brown

You may need to attempt this a few times to get the colors you like. Don't worry about how it doesn't look shiny yet, as that is what the next step is for.

Step 6: Adding the shininess

This is the step that makes the project come together. I used Realistic Water from woodland scenics. Just lather the stuff on and let it dry for a while.


When applying, ensure you are moving your paint brush in the direction you want the water to "flow." This is easily done by only moving the paint brush in one direction when you apply it.

Also be careful not too add any realistic water to the mud on the side of your tiles.





7: Add details

Last step. Go crazy with it. You can also add realistic water effects, I highly recommend @Crowsfoot 's tutorial to make this happen.



Personally I added a bunch of moss, tiny ferns/leaves, and a ton of little lilly pads made from cut off leaves from other jungle looking plants I bought at a crafts store.

Also added some frogs, snakes, some alligators to some leftover bases, some "rocks" for minis to cross the rivers with, and other stuff.

Some examples:

 

A few more idea pics for you. Lots more here.











And the complete set of water terrain tiles: