Environment mattepainting - Glowing Cave

#1

First a quick sketch to get a feeling. Please feel free too comment and criticise.
Im gonna keep posting updates till final image. Cheers!

#2

you need to work more on this one, I can’t tell depth, shape, scale or composition
work with some photo reference use it as background and paint over it , that will help you paint things faster , or use 3D modeling as a start and paint over renderings as well, if you don’t have the painting skills to do things from scratch, I’m sure the techniques I mentioned will help you improve them.
if you need more help I would be glad to help you

cheers !

#3

Thanks alot jamesvfx, I really appreciate an aspect from a professionell mattepainter, Im glad for everything you can teach me. The plate/quick sketch I did was more for me to see and too get a feeling. I can understand its hard to tell what things are and stuff. Thanks for the tips and im very gratefull cheers!

Heres an update, maybe it starting to make more sense soon. The thing in the cave is a tree to make some scale. And im thinking some kind of water, falling like a waterfall from the hole next to the tree.

#4

hello there, i can imagine your idea for sure, one thing that doesn’t make sense is that you use the same texture for the foreground entrance of the cave and also for the background distant mountains. Try to use big chunks of rock for the entrance of the cave.

hope i explained myself right :slight_smile: cheers

#5

Thanks alot for the comment Ppzek I dont know if I understand you correct. Im not finish with the mountain, its not suppose to be distant mountains its suppose to be a shadow part of the same mountain its just that im not finished with the texture inbetween. And if you meant that Ive used the same texture for the front and the “distant” its not. I cant see any part of those that looks similar. Make a new try to explain if I got you wrong :wink: thanks anyways!

#6

What i meant was scale wise. If the cave entrance is closer you need to see the rock texture bigger with big chunks of snow hanging etc and not all that small distant detail like you have right now.

Sorry,i cant express myself any better. :stuck_out_tongue:

good luck

#7

Some updates. I think the story behind this is starting to take form. :wink:

The year is 2083 and an expedition of a few brave men is sent out to find a new source of energy. The blue crystal energy :P, and they found this cave in the middle of nowhere and now theyre gonna enter the deep cave to explore how much of this crystal that actually exists.

The brave men are the two tiny red spots ive just painted them in to test.
Comments and critics are most welcomed! Cheeeeers!

#8

Nice idea, but you should think a bit about the composition…firstly, the image is not that wide and that cuts from cinematic feel. On top of that, the mountain occupies all the view and thus, the eye feels very caged. Last but not least, the perspective and view is too liniar to have any drama…add some 2 points or at least one vanishing and tilt the camera a bit, to look either top-down either down-top

#9

thanks suirebit, you are right I will think about what you said and maybe make it a bit wider to make a cinematic feel, and add some distant mountains or whatever. Thanks for the critics.

#10

Any ideas how I can change the camera angle so it feels more like from above/under? as suirebit said? Maybe just lazzo out the cave hole and move it down? would that solve it?

#11

You should make a perspective grid to make it easier! Choose a vanishing point on top (or down), draw lines to it, then do a horizontal plane grid and that’s your camera view/distortion field

For this image I would really go with a 18 mm camera. If its easier for you, go in 3dsMax , make a camera, adjust it, pick a view (in your mind) then put cubes or something to match your view and you will instantly have a perspective guide

#12

Some small updates…Followed some advice about make it wider to achieve a more cinematic feel, that seems to work. And that also gives me a chance to add some background and make the image more intresting. Also almost finished the river.

Ive made a test to add some dramatic into the image by making in look like its really blowing where they are in the hole… Is it working or shouldI abandon the idea? Thanks for alla comments really appreciated.

#13

the approach to the composition makes it look very flat no matter what unless it gets switched or rotated to an angle like 3/4. the painting is fine for now as you go along i suppose but make sure you set up your stuff from the start to catch someone’s eye instead of saying “look into the middle of the picture, ok bye” with the composition.

keep at it.

#14

Update, trying some new composition, this maybe works out better? What do you think?

#15

yepp, really remaked the whole composition hopes it works better. Thanks alot to you for pointing that out, gonna try to make a really intresting sky now so the eye travels trough the hole canvas. This is how far ive come.

#16

Yea, small update, all water is handrawn and most of the sky is also.This is slow process but im gonna get a move on and finish this.

#17

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