Matte Painting of Imaginary Worlds in Photoshop

Matte Painting of Imaginary Worlds in Photoshop

“Congratulations! You have reached the end of this Domestika course. Thanks for taking part. I hope you enjoyed learning all the steps to make a realistic landscape. Now, you should be able to plan your own painting according to what we've covered. Before saying goodbye, let me outline the process to complete your project.

• First, draw your thumbnail sketches to plan out your composition and mood. Never underestimate the importance of this step. Refer to everything you’ve learned in this course and in your wider reading to find the best composition to suit your visual story. These thumbnail sketches should be fast and ideally very basic, as later they will be reviewed to decide how best to proceed.

• Once your sketches are ready, select your favorite. Then, gather high-resolution reference images to use for the painting. Refer to the links I shared in Unit 3. If you can’t find suitable options, don’t be afraid to take your own photos.

• At this stage, many ideas should have taken form in your mind. Now it’s time to bring these ideas to life! Begin your matte painting. Start out with your basic landscape: the sky and the ground.

• Then, crop in your middle and foreground elements. Once you have the main elements complete, incorporate the smaller details. Follow the process I took in Unit 5 with the Drakkar: I added weaponry, shields, ropes, a flag, etc. What details can you bring to your landscape to embellish the narrative?

• As you progress further into your painting, pay attention to important visual aspects such as lighting, color, and composition. Check your cast shadows. If you need a new perspective, remember to flip your canvas. This can help to reset your eyes and home in on any mistakes.

And that’s a wrap. It has been a pleasure to guide you through this course. I hope you feel confident and enthused to approach any subject matter in your matte paintings. I can’t wait to see your work. You can share your process by clicking on "Create your project" above. Remember to share both the final result of your painting and the steps that have led you to it. It would be great if you showed a picture of each step and added a brief explanation about what you have done in each one. Experiment, be playful, and have fun! Also, I encourage you to help and give advice to other students in the forum – working together can be very helpful and inspiring. I'll be reviewing your work too, and I'll give you feedback as often as I can. See you there.”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Congratulations, you've completed the course. You learned all the steps to create a realistic landscape. Now, you can plan your painting according to what we studied. We began studying with photographs, different times of the day, different lighting conditions. How things are different in the morning, the afternoon, or in the sunset, in overcast weather or broad light. Understanding this will make us ready for any type of lighting. We can now tell our story through our compositions. Remember, you have to study composition more than anything else. You have to read about it and ...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Matte Painting of Imaginary Worlds in Photoshop

• Level: Beginner
• 95% positive reviews (85)
• 2555 students
• 5 units
• 20 lessons (3h 26m)
• 2 downloads

• Category

  Photography & Video

• Software

  Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Matte Painting, Photo Retouching, Photography Post-production, Photomontage