Looking for smoke or vapor basing effects

[thewarriorhunter]

I am going to be painting up some Tyranids in a synth/vaporwave scheme and am trying to find some smoke or vapor effects for the bases. I've considered casting resin bases with color blending into the resin but I feel that might be too flat looking. I've seen some stuff done with cotton but am not sure that will look how I want. I could sculpt greenstuff into passable vaporish shapes but that's a lot of time and material.

 

I'm looking for something more whispy, not billowing like a burning wreck. Think fire or fog, those types of shapes and flow. I know I'm being picky and am open to DIY or purchases if they'll work.

 

Any thoughts or links to direct me towards?

[tychobi]

I found the poly fill in cheap stuffed toys make better wispy fog and smoke effects than cotton. A quick grey airbrush highlight to bring the fog some depth and tie in the model helps. The method was to crazy glue down large tufts and tear off and tease until it looked right. Made for a misty ground cover that you can still catch glimpses of lower leg and base through. Good luck!

[PeteySödes]

I like to use cotton swabs and white glue for thinner vapor/smoke:

As Tychobi said the cotton fill works too, though i do like it for thicker or oily smoke.