25 MATTE PAINTING TIPS
- GET IT RIGHT, GET IT REAL
“Even though, over the past years, our role shifted
more and more towards 3D, I still think that the
most essential trait for a matte painter is a keen
photorealistic eye,” says Tiberius Viris, who has
Cloud Atlas and Arrow on his CV. “Understanding
depth of field, atmospheric perspective and how
light works and interacts with the environment,
are all part of what makes a good matte painter.
I use to joke that matte painters are the human
counterpart of a render engine with the added
feat of creativity!”
According to Viris, there are classic
mistakes that people make that spoil the
realism of otherwise beautiful work: “I think
the most important aspects that contribute to
the illusion of realism are perspective, scale,
light direction and black levels. If any of them
are wrong, compared to other elements
around them, the brain will immediately know
the image is fake. For example, placing a
house that is lit from the top at noon in a town
that is lit from a low angle in the evening.TOMÁŠ MÜLLER WORKED ON
THE HISTORICAL TV MOVIE
CHATEAUBRIAND. HE EXPLAINS
SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES- THE OBSTACLES
01
BE CLEAR WHAT’S NEEDED
Your matte painting is only one part of
the puzzle. Müller says he “always needs as
much information as possible... All the technical
information about camera, optics, settings,
events happening in a scene, movement, mood
and light. There is usually a lot of information.“03
PLAN YOUR TIME
“Usually the amount of details and
other information is discussed with the client
before start of work,” says Müller. “Production
time is very dependant on techniques used,
resolution, nature of the shot and many other
things and it can vary from a couple of hours to
days, and in some cases even weeks.”02
DISCOVER HOW MUCH DETAIL
Müller enjoys learning when working
on historical projects, and obviously
Chateaubriand required a lot of research into
the period. He says: “Generally matte painting
needs a lot of details, especially if it supposed to
feel real. For movies I’m always preparing
matte paintings 2x bigger than the actual size
which is used in movie. That way I can make
sure that I’m able to paint and tweak even [the]
tiniest details without losing sharpness and
definition of shapes.”© Tomáš Müller© Tiberius Viris- OPEN YOUR EYES
“A matte painter needs to be acutely aware of
the world around them,” explains Max Dennison.
“I asked my students (those who smoke)
whether they would be able to convincingly paint
the flame from a lighter or match seeing as it is
only two inches from their face any number of
times during the day. This has yet to be
achieved... Nevertheless, matte painting, is
about gently telling the audience a story for
three or four seconds. If you can’t, then the
painting has not worked. I always say to people
who ask, that I haven’t done my job properly if
the audience notices it.” You have to be acutely
aware of the realities of digital painting too,
especially the legnth of time it takes to complete
it properly. “As I’ve got older,” Dennison adds, “I’ve
become quicker as I know the tricks to get from A
to B by the shortest means. That said, the longest
time I’ve ever spent on a painting was five and a
half months, which was painful to say the least.
Nevertheless, although speed is a significant
factor in modern day VFX production, it is entirely
relative. What is important is that the final
painting works.”© Max Dennison