lol
the leaves are eaaasy guys. the ones in the base are fake aquarium plants. you can buy little packs for about $4 containing one fake plant with a few branches. selection is key! the ones on the ground with dead leaves under them are the very tops of a fake Elodea sp. - they make great skunk cabbage type plants. to get the right look i typically apply several washes of different colors to differentiate the plants if i am using several varieties of the same brand (which usually have the same base plastic color). ill also paint on veins and exaggerate depressions by painting them on more thickly. the key, though, is thin washes so that the leaves are still nearly translucent - giving them that fresh look. for the dead leaves on the bottom i used actual plant matter - sepals from a dried out flower, and painted them to match. tin foil is another excellent way of representing dead leaves (esp. when you would expect them to lose rigidity). simply template out the original leaf on to the tin foil, weather and paint as needed. ill post some pics of leaf prep stuff in the diorama base thread - you can really do some neat stuff, like yellowed, dying and damaged leaves (its the little stuff that makes it work). if you take you time it looks much better than what i did here.
