proconpictures

random matte painting goodness

2011-08-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

documentary about walter percy day

leigh took 'mattes & miniatures' episode

great 'i am legend' environment compilation by david mattingly

ronn brown's 'phantom menace' matte painting breakdown

set extensions created for the first season of 'game of thrones'

shepherds bush

2011-02-10T12:21:00.001-08:00

gouache+watercolour sketch for personal matte painting i am planning to do / wish i had the time to do / like 'barlangis' never gonna find the time to do

matte on the tube

2010-12-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

British video 'How to film the impossible' from 1985 where wizards of ILM show us the process of matte painting from films like Temple of Doom and Return of the Jedi.

Albert Whitlock: Master Of Illusion

Peter Ellenshaw 'Under Glass'

VES tribute to Albert Whitlock

Harrison Ellenshaw on TRON and Matte Painting

Filmforum: Der Zauberer von Hollywood (German Featurette on Albert Whitlock - 1986)

about matte painting

2010-11-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

matte painting is what romanticism was in 1808, or renaissance art in 1485. matte painting is neither collage work nor concept art. there is a general misconception about matte painting on the internet, wherein many young artists seem to confuse a mixture of digital fantasy painting and photo-manipulation with the fine art of matte painting, while real matte painting is far beyond any of these.
because of the high artistic skills of a true matte painter, he also functions as concept artist but matte paintings are photo-real and must serve a purpose. a matte painter can transform a concept into realism and combine his painting skills with a vast technical knowledge, reaching from 3D to compositing.
to be a matte painter you must be able to observe your environment, paint and understand how to take your work to a final shot.

traditional
a matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set or location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment which would otherwise be impossible to build or visit. matte painters paint highly-detailed images to be combined with live-action footage. the result is "seamless".

from 2D to 3D
with the advantages of the digital age matte painting has slowly transitioned to a digital work environment, involving pressure sensitive pens and graphic tablets in conjunction with software such as adobe photoshop, autodesk maya, e-on vue and the foundry's nuke. through the growing need for 'moving' mattes camera projection mapping has been implemented into the matte painting pipeline, and most modern matte painters also posses the ability to integrate 3D elements into their shots, as well as take their own reference photography.

matte painters
yanick dusseault
dylan cole
neil miller
damien thaller
roger kupelian
dimitri delacovias
emmanuel shiu
sevendalino khay
chris stoski
darin hilton
alp allen altiner
david luong
mayumi shimokawa
dan wheaton
seung ho henrik
rasoul shafeazadeh
laurent benmimoun
christian haley
mathieu raynault
sean samuels
jonathan berube
heather abels
peter baustaedter
chritian kesler

online resources
stopmo
cgchannel
cgtalk

publications
the invisible art
d'artiste matte painting 1
d'artiste matte painting 2
advanced photoshop 56
ellenshaw under glass

barlangis

2009-04-19T05:28:00.000-07:00

BARLANGIS can be reached in two ways: From the East coming by train or the West after hiking through 2 days of darkness.
The first thing becoming visible once your eyes finally get adjusted to the distant spotlights are the enormous metallic structures rising out of the solid mountain walls, ceiling and ground. The dark, cold industrial shapes seem out of place in their earthy environment. Faded and warn down by humidity and hard labour.
Whether Barlangis is unfinished or has been demolished is hard to tell if one does not know its past.
Travelers might question the mysterious bond between man and nature but soon come to understand the necessity of their connection.
Only after spending enough time underground can one truly understand the meaning of sunlight and begin to miss the stars.
For the inhabitants of these complex labyrinth of poles and strings a seemingly never ending shift work pattern, in order to secure the very existence of their home, is just as much part of their everyday life as the daily mental recreation in-front of the television, enjoying one of the endless amount of available channels offered to Barlangis' citizens.

barlangis from proconpictures on Vimeo.

projection.mapping

2008-01-17T08:20:00.001-08:00

as a DMP in the VFX industry today, my job responsibility is somewhere between an environment TD and a matte painting supervisor. i'd best describe my work as Digital 3D Environment Matte Art rather than just Matte Painting, although personally I would much rather live in a world without computers and paint with real paint, like albert whitlock. i was responsible in creating all matte paintings for the MotorStorm2 trailer, which is also the intro sequence of the final product, and there was not one single locked-off shot. please feel free to check out the cgTalk thread with some breakdowns: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=699372
my current workflow is photoshop, maya, shake; while camera projection mapping is the key technique necessary to get the job done.