Lynda - Digital Matte Painting Essentials 1: Concept

Learn to create new worlds, both fanciful and totally realistic, in our series on digital matte painting in Adobe Photoshop with David Mattingly, a matte artist for many groundbreaking motion pictures such as Tron and I, Robot. In this installment, he shows you how to set up your palettes and workspace, tone the underlying plate, create silhouettes in your background, and paint in light and other details. Plus, learn to paint waterfalls, smoke, and other elements that make for fascinating movie backdrops.

software Photoshop CS6

level Beginner

duration 1h 40m

releasedJul 29, 2013

Introduction 1m 2s

Overview of the course 2m 50s

Using the exercise files 41s

What is a matte painting? 4m 12s

1. Starting Your Project15m 33s

Setting up your Photoshop workspace 4m 23s

16-bit color 2m 28s

Prepping the plate 6m 13s

Concept painting basics 2m 29s

2. Toning the Plate16m 46s

Extracting the hill 4m 26s

Applying adjustment layers 3m 17s

Examining transfer modes 9m 3s

3. Finding the Silhouette11m 8s

Silhouette: Rectangular forms 5m 25s

Silhouette: Domes and towers 5m 43s

4. Light and Detail30m 59s

Finding the light side 4m 41s

Drawing internal forms 5m 31s

Crenellations 5m 14s

Finding more details 5m 20s

Creating a cloud custom brush 10m 13s

5. Rendering the Environment16m 56s

Painting the sky 2m 53s

Bringing in the mountains 2m 7s

Adding volcano smoke 2m 12s

Adding waterfalls, lights, and the entryway 3m 55s

Finishing the details 5m 49s

Conclusion23s

Goodbye 23s