matte painting tutorials

[meth]

Here is one matte painting i did long time ago. I thought some people want to see how you can create matte painting and maybe to clear some tings about it.

Let's start with "original plate"(term that most people use in movie/tv commercial industry for image that needs some correctures or complete redesign)



Next one is additional image i have used to extend scene



From now i have started "patching" and cleaning this images to fit, some color correction, sort out lens curvature, etc. Here is result



Now i added some buildings in back and repaint some missing building parts



In this step i added building in foreground, sky to get better atmosphere , sorted all electrical cables(witch was difficult part because i first needed to erase original ones that was covering buildings) and added rain just for fun



And now fun part begins. Because i was chasing "28 days later"(movie) feel i wanted to see some demolished/abandoned buildings. First were streets



Next i have "demolished" foreground buildings(take a look at left, right and middle buildings) and also added a bit of haze to background buildings for areal perspective



Next was some elements like cars, lamp posts, small details that make this scene even more deserted.



More details. I have sorted out some car scales, added more of them. Also some mist. But i thought something was missing that can be striking point of this image, something cool i wanted to see in it. So i added this huge building fall on another.



final image



Then some people gave me cool critics that maybe it was to dark and that maybe light can be off to get better feeling of abandonment, so i made some changes and this was final image. Also i have changed sky to get more light and to get some "better tomorrow" feel



This image is done in 4k resolution that is most common size for matte paintings. Here are some details from first final version.













If you have any question i will be glad to answer you

Here is also my demo reel. My friends helped me to create camera projection with this matte( take a look at 43sec)
http://www.vimeo.com/7923103

M

[meth]

Here is another tutorial. This one was tricky because of heavy perspective distortion, but again i had one month to do it.

I am going to start again with original plate, photo that my friend took.



Some color correction, added wave and building in background needed to be replaced.



In this one i have started to block in some buildings. This was hard because i needed to find buildings that match this camera angle as well as architecture style



Next



This step i have done some building and added some details



After many hours i finally finished buildings



I brig back wave and did entire street, and added some details like trees, traffic lights, etc.



More details added. I wanted to add more "action" so you can see some flying cars and stuff like that(this can't be used in matte painting, because these are moving objects, but since this was challenge i did it like this)



final image, also some color correction, contrast, sorted all details.....



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[Jockemon]

Awesome stuff thx for sharing!

[conte]

that's amazing, Mateja!
thanks a lot.

[meth]

Thanks Jockemon and conte, glad you find this interesting

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[Blaise]

Thanks for posting this. Fantastic work!

[meth]

Thanks Blaise,

If you or anyone have some additional questions i am here to try to answer

M

[meth]

Thanks Blaise,

If you or anyone have some additional questions i am here to try to answer

M

[Dagoelius]

isnt this photo manipulation more than "painting"? sorry not trying to discredit, just think the topic is decieving when you come across it in the forum titles.

[andrea.bianco]

Awesome stuff mate, truly interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[meth]

Thanks Andrea.bianco glad you like it
Dagoelius, i don't know why you think it is "deceiving". Technique name is matte painting(painting in title does mean you can paint, but it is optional, it could be just photo manipulation or even 3d) . Still there is some parts that is faster to paint in, then to use photo manipulation technique.

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[Ivan Turcin]

This is what I need Mateja, thx!
You are able to achieve great results in your work.
Cheers mate!

[meth]

You are welcome Ivane, and thanks. If you have any question don't hesitate to ask

M

[geronimo66]

While this is some very nice work, this is far from what I would call a tutorial... it would be nice if we could better understand in more detail how you get from one plate to the other...

It would allow the tutorial to appeal to a wider range of skill sets. As is stands now it is a neat, though quick time laps of a job, not a tutorial.

It is great work though! It would just be nice to see behind the curtain a bit more.

[meth]

While this is some very nice work, this is far from what I would call a tutorial... it would be nice if we could better understand in more detail how you get from one plate to the other...

It would allow the tutorial to appeal to a wider range of skill sets. As is stands now it is a neat, though quick time laps of a job, not a tutorial.

It is great work though! It would just be nice to see behind the curtain a bit more.

Cool man, this is reason why i said " if you have any question....". Feel free to ask what you want to now, and i will try to answer. I am here

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[distinct]

BEST...AWESOME WORK...

B MY FRND...

and teach me AS a TEACHER
thanx....

[ceasar]

Wow so thats how it done. I still have no idea how to do it myself but, this is still great thanks.

[meth]

Wow so thats how it done. I still have no idea how to do it myself but, this is still great thanks.

Let me try to explain better every image so that everything get more understandable

M

[rendition]

wow nice, thanks for sharing

[NanoBlack]

Id love to see some more detail in these- various photoshop techniques that you've used to get that "just right" look- filters, blend modes...etc... and how you pulled elements from various photos and stitched them together so they are seamless. Also, show us how you painted in the distortions on the buildings or took photos and merged them- I WANT TO KNOW, DAMN IT!!! What are your tips and tricks? A beginner's guide? Talk about it as if we all had no idea how a matte painting worked on the most basic level.

Help me understand one of my favourite art forms even better so next time I look at Dylan Cole's masterpieces, I can sit back and understand the hours of work that went into it.

[meth]

Id love to see some more detail in these- various photoshop techniques that you've used to get that "just right" look- filters, blend modes...etc... and how you pulled elements from various photos and stitched them together so they are seamless. Also, show us how you painted in the distortions on the buildings or took photos and merged them- I WANT TO KNOW, DAMN IT!!! What are your tips and tricks? A beginner's guide? Talk about it as if we all had no idea how a matte painting worked on the most basic level.

Help me understand one of my favourite art forms even better so next time I look at Dylan Cole's masterpieces, I can sit back and understand the hours of work that went into it.

Ok i will. I will extend this tutorial, or make new one. Currently i am busy, but will try to find some extra time

M

[sanya]

Wow, I've never see anything like this; how cool!

[lokispec23]

I love how you made that and have been wanting to try and make one like this what do you use I know prolly photoshop but do you use wacom or do you use like just mouse? awsome thank you for posting this can I ask you more questions reguarding this?

[meth]

I love how you made that and have been wanting to try and make one like this what do you use I know prolly photoshop but do you use wacom or do you use like just mouse? awsome thank you for posting this can I ask you more questions reguarding this?

Hey man, sorry for late reply, i haven't check this thread in a while , my bad.

I use wacom, i never could work anything with mouse any more
Sure, ask any question and i'll give my best to answer it

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[Saracen]

That reel is tight, Mateja! Congrats!

[Jyoung]

hi great work, were the cars in the top painting, hand painted or are they photos? is most of your work photos with small amount of hand painting?

[meth]

@Jyoung, for both matte paintings i have used photos(cars as well), i painted on top of entire image some things i wanted to change.

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[meth]

Wow, Very nice. I know this is a noob question, but what software can creat them?

Photoshop plus any 3d application

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[Dizon]

This is awesome, man. I'm starting to get into matte painting as well.

Question though. How did you make the buildings look like rubble? How do you add all that detail there?

Thanks!

[meth]

This is awesome, man. I'm starting to get into matte painting as well.

Question though. How did you make the buildings look like rubble? How do you add all that detail there?

Thanks!

Thanks.
Well entire trick is to find matching perspective of demolished building, or just angles you are chasing(want to demolish)
Then place demolished building layer on top of original building, place mask(so that you can see original one intact) and paint in the mask parts you want to be seen as demolished

Hope this make sense

M