How to Create a Matte Painting Inspired Scene

7/27/2019 How to Create a Matte Painting Inspired Scene

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-to-create-a-matte-painting-inspired-scene 1/29

A P R 2 0 2 0 1 02 1 C O M M E N T S

B YS A N T O S H K O N E R U

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we are going to go over a method for

composing a beautiful matte painting style scene. Matte paintings are

typically used in movies to create expensive or surreal landscapes and

scenes that are stitched together with regular footage. Note that we are

not actually making a matte painting that would be suitable to use in a

Hollywood film, but rather, composing a scene inspired by these great

matte painters and film technicians.

Ho w to Create a Matte Painting Inspired SceneHo w to Create a Matte Painting Inspired Scene

Preview

Tutorial ResourcesHere are various resources suggestions for you to use. Do not feel obligated to use them and feel free to experiment.

R e f e r e n c e / I n s p i r a t i o n I m a g e s

Rocky Mountains National Park landscape

Paisaje de montañas /Mountains landscape

Niagara Falls Ice Mass

W a t e r f a l l s

American Falls

Niagara Falls, New York 4

M o s q u e s f o r t h e T e m p l e C i t i e s

Grand Mosque

blue mosque istanbul

ortakoy mosque

Sheikh Zayed Masjid

Blue Mosque 4

istanbul

Sultanahmet Mosque-2Mosque

H i l l s a n d M o u n t a i n s

New Mexico Landscapes

New Mexico Landscapes (2)

New Mexico Landscapes (3)

Advertise with us

Advertise Here Advertise Here

Advertise Here Advertise Here

Articles

Digital Art

Drawing & Illustration

Freebies

Graphic Design

Icon & Logo Design

C A T E G O R I E SC A T E G O R I E S

Print Design

Photography

Text Effects

Tools & Basics

Visual Inspiration

Web Design

P A R T N E R SP A R T N E R S

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

http://designinstruct.com/category/graphic-design/

http://designinstruct.com/category/visual-inspiration/

http://designinstruct.com/category/drawing-illustration/

http://designinstruct.com/category/text-effects/

http://buysellads.com/buy/detail/34755/zone/1288343?utm_source=site_34755&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=adhere&utm_content=zone_1288343







http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1233812


http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/?ref=PDF


http://www.maxcdn.com/

http://designinstruct.com/category/web-design/

http://designinstruct.com/category/visual-inspiration/

http://designinstruct.com/category/tools-basics/

http://designinstruct.com/category/text-effects/

http://designinstruct.com/category/photography/

http://designinstruct.com/category/print-design/

http://designinstruct.com/category/iconlogo-design/

http://designinstruct.com/category/graphic-design/

http://designinstruct.com/category/free-resources/

http://designinstruct.com/category/drawing-illustration/

http://designinstruct.com/category/digital-art/

http://designinstruct.com/category/articles/





http://stats.buysellads.com/click.go?z=1272809&b=3554994&g=&s=&sw=1920&sh=1200&br=safari,533.3,win&r=0.9754075664095581&link=https://sitetropolis.marketpath.com/signup/worker

http://designinstruct.com/advertise/















http://www.flickr.com/photos/25737257@N03/4115371002/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonewackodotcom/262613556/

http://designinstruct.com/author/santosh-koneru/

http://twitter.com/designinstruct

http://feeds.feedburner.com/designinstruct

http://designinstruct.com/contact/

http://designinstruct.com/about/


http://designinstruct.com/





Up in the mountains 2

Tasman Glacier

P a t h W a y

Arches 2

M o n k

Laos meditation

T r e e

Apple tree 2

S e a g u l l

Seagull

F l o c k o f B i r d s

Homing pigeons

IntroductionTraditionally, matte paintings were made by artists using paints or pastels on large sheets of glass for integrating

with the live-action footage in film.

As the ages passed, the technology has developed and helped in creating some groundbreaking matte paintings for

the films like Avatar, Indiana Jones, created by artists such as Linwood G. Dunn and Norman Dawn.

To see more matte paintings, visit the gallery section of MattePainting.Org.

Step 1: Sketching the ideaBefore starting the matte painting scene, make a rough sketch of the world that we are going to create. It does not

have to be pretty, it just gives us a rudimentary picture of how to lay out our scene.

Step 2: Look for images to use as inspiration and referenceIt’s good to use some reference images that could help us in our matte painting for colour correction and for the depth

of field. These images might not be used in the scene, but rather, are just to serve as our guide for how things look in

the real world.

You can have them open in Photoshop and/or another simple image viewer that you can look to whenever you need a

reference point.

Here are a few reference images used in composing the scene:

R o c k y M o u n t a i n sN a t i o n a l P a r k l a n d s c a p e




http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonewackodotcom/262613556/

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_painting










P a i s a j e d em o n t a ñ a s / M o u n t a i n s l a n d s c a p e

N i a g a r a F a l l s I c eM a s s





http://www.flickr.com/photos/25737257@N03/4115371002/



Step 3: Creating the perspectiveThe first step is to make sure that our perspective, angles and vanishing points are accurate. We will be bringing in

various stock imagery at different sizes and angles, so we need a sort of guide to make sure that they fit together well.

First thing’s first, create our main Photoshop canvas with the canvas size set to 1680x1050px.

Mark a vanishing point on the canvas and draw a series of lines from that point with the Line Tool (U), as shown. Thiswill just be a reference layer that we can switch on and off.

Step 4: Make the waterfallsImport the American Falls stock image on to the canvas and transform it (Ctrl/Cmd + T) to fit the perspective with the

Move Tool (V), using the lines we created as our guide.

Keep the work organized by naming the layer something intuitive like "niagara 1".

Then erase the edges of the waterfalls using the Eraser Tool (E).





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_point



In the similar way, import another view of Niagara Falls (you can use the Niagara Falls, New York 4 from the

Resources listing) and place it under the "niagara 1" layer. Name this layer "niagara 2".







Step 5: The making of the first Temple City Now import a mosque image (you can view a collection in the Resources listing—I used the Grand Mosque stock

image for this part), move it to a location according to our sketch and name the layer as "mosque 1".

Use the Perspective Transform command (Transform > Perspective) to tweak and align the mosque to our vanishing

point grid.

Note:for each object that we place into our composition, you will need to extract them from their background using

your favorite method (such as using the Polygonal Lasso Tool to trace around their edges). I leave it up to you to do

this for each image that we import.

Similarly, import another mosque and place it above the "mosque 1" layer, then name the layer as "mosque 2". Here, I

chose blue mosque istanbul but this process of building our mythical Temple City into our scene is very subjective,

and you should feel free to experiment with your own stock images.








Now import another mosque and place it below the "mosque 1" and "mosque 2" layers. This time, I used the ortakoy

mosque image. Keep our work consistent by naming the layer "mosque 3".







Step 6: Adding some fog

Make a new layer above all the layers named "fog 1" and add some fog into it using the Brush Tool (B) with a softbrush tip. Make sure that the colour selected is white (#ffffff). Experiment with various brush tips as well as the Flow

and Opacity brush options if the fog is too prominent. Additionally, you can lower the Opacity of the layer.

Step 7: Colour correction through exposure adjustmentOnce the fog is added, merge all the mosque layers into one by selecting them in the Layers Panel and then pressing

Ctrl/Cmd + E.

On the newly-merged mosque layer, change the exposure values by going to Image > Adjustments > Exposure. Here

are suggested settings:

Exposure: 0.00

Offset: +0.1204

Gamma correction: 1.13






Step 8: The making of the second Temple City In this step, we will make yet another Temple City, at the opposite side of the scene. This will be the exact same

process as the step for the making of the first Temple City.

Use your favorite mosques from the resource listing or experiment with your own structures.

In order to blend the structures into the scene, we have to set the Curves and the Exposure values.





http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-to-create-a-matte-painting-inspired-scene 10/29converted by Web2PDFConvert.com





Step 9: Create the mountain backdropImport a hill image that you think will be a good match for our matte style scene (I used the New Mexico Landscapes

stock image from the Resources listing).

Erase the sky in the image before importing it on to our main canvas. After copy and pasting it into our scene, name

this layer as "hill 1".

Now place the "hill 1" layer behind the second Temple City as shown.







Import another hill image (see the Resources listing for suggestions—here we can use the New Mexico Landscapes

(2) stock image) and name it "hill 2". Move the second hil l beside "hill 1" with the Move Tool (V).

As shown in the reference/inspiration images, the mountains that are furthest from our standpoint look dimmer and

paler.

To be able to do this to our matte scene, adjust its Curves (Image > Adjustments > Curves) to the values shown

below.

Now, to make the mountain look dimmer, use the Exposure image adjustment (Image > Adjustments > Exposure).

Here are suggested settings for adjusting the exposure of the image:

Exposure: 0.00

Offset: +0.0469

Gamma Correction: 1.0

Since the "hill 2" mountain is cut off on its left, we have to digitally extend it using another image.







Import the extension image of the hill—New Mexico Landscapes (3) from the Resources listing —and flip it

horizontally using the Flip Horizontal Transform command (Transform > Flip Horizontally or right-click on the image

and choose Flip Horizontal ).

Scale as needed to match "hill 2" using the Free Transform command (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and try to match it seamlessly.

Colour correct the hill extension layer by changing the curve levels (Image > Adjustments > Curves).

For further colour correction and matching, use the Exposure image adjustment (Image > Adjustments > Exposure) to

change the Offset value to +0.1204.







Let’s make it colder by importing a vastly different mountain from the Nevada desert mountains: Up in the mountains

2 andTasman Glacier .

Again, adjust the Exposure of the image, this time setting Offset at +0.1857.

Step 10: Adding the sky










Step 11: Adding more fogSince the scene contains huge waterfalls, there must be some fog covering the view.

Make a new layer above all the layers and add some fog using a soft brush tip with a white foreground colour (#ffffff).

Step 12: Making the pathway to the Temple CitiesNow we need to make a pathway to the cities so that people can get to them—a pathway which is carved out of rock

(Arches 2from the Resources listing).

Cut the portion of the stock that we need using the Lasso Tool (L) and place it onto our main canvas. Position it as per

the sketch we made at the first step.







Step 13: Correct the colour of the pathway Correct the colour the pathway using Curves (Ctrl/Cmd + M).

Now change the pathway’s Exposure values. Here are suggested settings:

Exposure: 0.00

Offset: +0.0102


Ste 14: Add our monk






Cut out the monk from its original image using the Pen Tool (P), right-clicking on the path and choosing Make

Selection.

Then import it into the canvas. Resize our monk to fit the scale of our scene using Free Transform (Ctrl/Cmd + T).

Colour correct the monk using the curves and the Exposure values.






Make a new layer under the monk layer for the shadow of the monk. Using the Brush Tool with a soft-tipped paint

brush, add some black colour to resemble the shadow of the monk and set the opacity to 40%.

Step 15: Cutting out the tree from its backgroundNow we are going to incorporate an apple tree into our scene, but because the stock’s background and the tree’s

branches are a bit more complex, I’ll share with you a method of how you can effectively cut it out from its background.

First step is to open the Apple tree 2 stock in Photoshop (included in the Resources listing). Go to the Channels

Panel (if you do not have it open, go to Window > Channel first) and then hide all of the channels except the Blue

channel.

Afterwards, go to Image > Calculations.

Select Blue in the Channel option drop down list for Source 1 and Source 2, as well as set Blend to Multiply.







Now go to Select > Load Selection and select "Alpha 1" in the drop down l ist of Channel which will create an selection

around our tree.

Turn on all of the Channels again. Copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) and paste (Ctrl/Cmd + V) the tree into our main canvas,

placing it over the "monk" layer.

If done correctly, you will have saved some time manually cutting out the tree from its background.






Step 16: Use Curves to correct the colour of the treeUse the Curves image adjustment (Ctrl/Cmd + M) to colour correct the tree, making it match our scene.

Step 17: Add fog on the tree and monk In the same method as previously mentioning in this tutorial, add some fog that covers the tree and some part of

monk.






Step 18: Import the seagulls into the compositionImport a seagull or an interesting bird (such as Seagull from the Resources listing) into our matte scene and resize it

to fit our perspective. Place the seagull in the desired position using the Move Tool (V).

Once the image is placed in the position, go to Image > Adjustments and change the Curve levels and the Exposure

values.

Now using the Lasso Tool (L), select the wings and the edges of the tail of the seagull and feather the edges to 40px.

Add a radial blur (Filter > Blur > Radial Blur) with Amount set to 12.







Step 19: Add distant birdsNow import the flock of birds into our matte scene (Homing pigeons from the Resources listing) and name its layer

"birds flock".

Let us soften up the edges of our flock of birds. Having the "birds flock" layer selected, run the Gaussian Blur filter on it

(Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) with the Radius set at 1.5 pixels.







After, change the Exposure values (Image > Adjustments > Exposure) of the "birds flock" layer to the following values:

Exposure: 0.00

Offset: +0.0755


Place the "seagull" and "birds flock" layers under all the fog layers.

Step 20: Paint the rainbow As the last step, we are going to paint the rainbow. As seen in the reference/inspiration images that we used in the

beginning, there was a rainbow near the waterfalls. So let’s add one in our matte painting style scene.

Make a new layer for the rainbow (name the layer "rainbow").

Press B to activate the Brush Tool, set the brush tip to a soft, round brush, the Master Diameter (the size of the brush)

to 18px, and then select an orange foreground colour (#ff940a).

Now select the Pen Tool (P) and make an arc; we’re using the Pen Tool first because it is easier to create a good arc

with its Bezier curves than doing it freehand with the Brush Tool.






After creating the arc path, right-click on the path and pick Stroke Path.

Select Brush for the Stroke Path option.

Similarly, add a few more colours like red, yellow and green.

Still on the "rainbow" layer, add a Gaussian Blur filter (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) with the Radius set to 26.1 pixels

to soften up its edges and also to blend the colors together.






Place the rainbow layer under the fog, "monk" and "tree" layers.

To give it a bit more transparency, reduce opacity to about 75%.

Tutorial Summary Thank you for following along. In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, I shared with you many tips and techniques for

composing a surreal and matte-painting-like scene. I discussed a technique for using images as reference and

inspiration, having them open in Photoshop or an image viewer just as a grounding point for our work.

You saw the need for making a vanishing point grid to help us align the stock imagery that we bring into our matte

painting style scene. We used a variety of processes to ensure that the elements we use in the scene are consistent

in colour; particularly, we relied heavily on Curves and Exposure image adjustments.

We covered a technique of cutting out a complex object (an apple tree) from its complex background using the

Channels Panel and the Image Calculations command. I also showed you an easy way of painting a rainbow into a

scene.

If you have questions, thoughts and opinions, please do not hesitate to share them in the comments!

Download Tutorial Source Filesmatte_painting_tutorial (ZIP, 16.3 MB)




http://cdn.designinstruct.com/files/41-matte_painting_tutorial/matte_painting_tutorial.zip



Author: Santosh Koneru

Santosh is a freelance graphic designer based in India. He recently completed his college

courses majoring in 2D Animation, and has decided to continue on to Film Production. His

weapon of choice: Photoshop. You can see more of Santosh's work via santosh' portfolio.

Connect with him through Twitter .

Tweet 9 77

21 Comments ( Add yours)

Aaron Kato

APR 20 2010REPLY TO COMMENT

Love it! Pretty nice work man!

Q

APR 20 2010

REPLY TO COMMENT

Really nice looking art work.

Although just mentioning vanishing point and going to the wikipedia page

isn’t very helpful.

zxh

APR 21 2010REPLY TO COMMENT

Wow , Great work!

Pam

APR 23 2010

REPLY TO COMMENT

The tree leaves s till have a blue halo around them where they go in front

of the monk. What’s the best way to get rid of that?

santhosh

APR 25 2010

REPLY TO COMMENT

After selecting the Calculations change the levels from

Image>Adjustments>Levels(Increase the darkness).

killer

JUN 06 2011REPLY TO COMMENT

are u mad or something dude it’s not like that

santhosh

JUN 06 2011

There are several ways in achieving a similar effect.

If you have any other method share it.

´

advertise hereadvertise here

Like 32




http://www.lazarro.de/news/

http://designinstruct.com/digital-art/how-to-create-a-matte-painting-inspired-scene/?replytocom=5943#respond



http://www.pamgriffith.net/




http://www.aaronkato.co.uk/

http://twitter.com/santhoshkoneru

http://santhoshkoneru.daportfolio.com/

http://designinstruct.com/author/santosh-koneru/

http://buysellads.com/buy/detail/34755/zone/1288344?utm_source=site_34755&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=cpmadhere&utm_content=zone_1288344



APR 24 2010

REPLY TO COMMENT

, , ,

learn :) thanks for sharing this thoughts …

ammar

MAY 16 2010REPLY TO COMMENT

amazing tutorial :D

mahesh sutar

AUG 02 2010REPLY TO COMMENT

Nice work.

Prasanth

AUG 18 2010

REPLY TO COMMENT

Good work but why you have mentioned vanishing point i doesn’t get dude

cos matte paintings are done without any vanishing point with the help of

our eye view & imagination more over to put a rainbow effect on the layer

instead of your idea try out my idea with gradients in tool pallete – fill the

required color – radial gradient & decrease the opacity simple, it seems

that you have used pen tool a lot but with the help of brush tool you can

make this matte painting in simple 6 to 7 steps. Try out … Cheers.

shruti nanda

SEP 15 2010

REPLY TO COMMENT

great -great work.

i’m glad to see that most of the tutorials are yours. great.

Thank you soo much.

i ‘l try all of your tutorials, for sure.

Thanks.

rumaiza

fathima

MAY 20 2011 REPLY TO COMMENT

done a good job.. cheers..

Sasi

AUG 21 2011REPLY TO COMMENT

Fantastic Work.

satnam

SEP 01 2011

REPLY TO COMMENT

thanks so much for this information…. will try to make this one.. very

soon….

Amgad Ibrahim

NOV 30 2011REPLY TO COMMENT

FANTASTIC and WONDERFUL !!!

Divyesh Patel

JUN 15 2012

REPLY TO COMMENT

superb work…and thanks for sharing…

thanks again..

hitesh verma

JUN 29 2012REPLY TO COMMENT

so great work////

kate

FEB 03 2013

Hi. Great looking picture! But can you please explain how you made the

vanishing point grid? I tried other tutorials too, with not much help. I find

the vanishing point very hard to work with in PS. Please tell me how you





http://www.gmail.com/







http://www.shapeitbig.blogspot.com/







REPLY TO COMMENT

make a perspective grid.

Thanks in advance!

Edi Liu


Very great design idea :), give you 5*.

Chiru


Great Work. Thanks alot

Y O U R C O M M E N TY O U R C O M M E N T( R E Q U I R E D )( R E Q U I R E D )

Y O U R R E A L N A M EY O U R R E A L N A M E( R E Q U I R E D )( R E Q U I R E D )

Y O U R E M A I LY O U R E M A I L( R E Q U I R E D - K E P T P R I V A T E ) U S E D F O R( R E Q U I R E D - K E P T P R I V A T E ) U S E D F O RG R A V A T A R SG R A V A T A R S

Y O U R U R LY O U R U R L( O P T I O N A L )( O P T I O N A L )

Submit Comment

C O M M E N T R S S F E E DC O M M E N T R S S F E E D

N O T I F Y M E O F F O L L O W U P C O M M E N T S V I A E - M A I LN O T I F Y M E O F F O L L O W U P C O M M E N T S V I A E - M A I L

E X P L O R E T H E S I T EE X P L O R E T H E S I T E

About Design InstructAbout Design Instruct

Advertise with UsAdvertise with Us

Writing GuidelinesWriting Guidelines

Contact UsContact Us

Upcoming FeaturesUpcoming Features

FAQFAQ

FreebiesFreebies

Freebies Usage TermsFreebies Usage Terms

Our FriendsOur Friends

W R I T E F O R U S W R I T E F O R U S

Are you a Are you a talented designer talented designer eager toeager to

share your expertise to a worldwideshare your expertise to a worldwide

audience? We want you to write for usaudience? We want you to write for us

real bad! Read our real bad! Read our writing guidelineswriting guidelines andand

contact uscontact us any time, we'd love to talk.any time, we'd love to talk.

C O N N E C T W I T H U SC O N N E C T W I T H U S

Get our Get our RSS feedRSS feed

Follow us onFollow us on Twitter Twitter

Become a fan onBecome a fan on FacebookFacebook

Browse our Browse our Flickr Flickr stuff stuff

Join theJoin the Flickr group poolFlickr group pool

Check us out onCheck us out on deviantARTdeviantART

C O P Y R I G H TC O P Y R I G H T

© 2010-2013 Design Instruct and its© 2010-2013 Design Instruct and its

respective owners. All rights reserved.respective owners. All rights reserved.

O U R O T H E R O U R O T H E R

Six RevisionsSix Revisions Check it out, it'sCheck it out, it's

awesome.awesome.

http://sixrevisions.com/


http://designinstruct.deviantart.com/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/designinstruct/

http://www.flickr.com/people/45998584@N04/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Design-Instruct/260139537853

http://twitter.com/designinstruct



http://designinstruct.com/writing-guidelines/

http://designinstruct.com/our-friends/

http://designinstruct.com/freebie-usage-terms/


http://designinstruct.com/faq/

http://designinstruct.com/changelog-upcoming-features/


http://designinstruct.com/writing-guidelines/

http://designinstruct.com/advertise/

http://designinstruct.com/about/

http://designinstruct.com/digital-art/how-to-create-a-matte-painting-inspired-scene/feed/

http://en.gravatar.com/




Documents

How to Create a Matte Painting Inspired Scene