How to Get Craggy, Textured Bark on Ficus and Schefflera

[KingJades]

I've been looking at some inspiration posts/photos of trees and noticed that some people have craggy bark on their ficus and schefflera bonsai while others have smooth, white bark.

Is there a special technique to get the craggy bark or is it just a matter of age/luck/genetics?

These are craggy and have texture and character:

These are white and bleached. Mostly smooth with little character:

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Different species aside, a lot of the earlier trees have had more work done to them, and are lumpy due to healed scars.

Here's the bark on a tiger bark ficus I have that looks different from my other ficus:



Here's the bark on a 25 year-old schefflera in my landscape:

 

[aphid]

On the aboricola in the first picture, repeatedly cut everything back hard annually in the summer leaving no leaves behind unless there's a new bud you want to extend. Then leave it in full sun. They'll bud back 2 to 3 buds in the end of each tip. Doing this every year will create all sorts of bumps and bends all around the tree. It's a very forgiving tree. Literally impossible to kill unless you forget to water it or leave it in the cold.

For ficuses, it's mostly genetics.