I haven’t posted here in forever, but I started working on this and realized I could use the input. It’s great there’s a matte painting forum now!
This is my first matte painting, so I’m still trying to figure out techniques and such. I’ve gotten a few tips from a matte painting friend, but as far as I’m concerned the more the merrier.
The concept here is basically an abandoned Chicago, Life After People style. It’s definately a work in progress at this point. CC welcome!
welcome to the forums and to the art of matte painting, you have a good start but I would suggest that always work in 16:9 aspect, that will look way more cinematic and will give you more options to play with visual composition,
in this one I think the bottom looks too flat, you need to play with light and shadow more to define the shapes down there, brake some of the perfect lines on the buildings,break m,ore the architecture and structures, also when doing some broken windows try to do something more realistic , like partially broken windows, or just change the values in brightness on them, some trees or more fooliage on the buildings would make it look more natural,get some reference in I legend or movies like that, hope this helps, I’m looking forward to see the final image
Hi Altheia,
willcome here in the MP section.
For your first Mattepainting its a good work and a nice illustration.
What your picture needs is depth, jamesfx already said it.
You could reach that by brighten up and reducing Saturation the far away buildings in the middle of the screen.
I have sometimes the same problems with giving a picture depth.
(Sorry for my English 
A little dust or fog on the ground would look cool too.
Greets rasher73
Thanks for the tips guys! I’ve been fighting with those stupid windows. I really dont’ like the way they are now, but wasn’t quite sure how to deal with them. I think adding a few more broken ones is the way to go. I think I also need to hint at being able to see the interior of the building through some of the foregrond broken windows.
I’ve really been focusing on the overgrown-ness, but I think it’s time to head into the actual buildings and destroy them a little more. As for the foreground, it definately needs something, playing with the light will probably help. I’m thinking about breaking one of those foreground lamps as well so there will be a little more of a focal point in the foreground…
I think I’m also going to work on forcing the atmospheric perp. a little more to get a little more depth. We’ll see!
Thanks again guys, gotta get back to painting!
So, here’s a little update! I’m starting to get to that point where I’m not sure what else to do… ideas?
it’s getting better but you need some aerial perspective, atmosphere, everything is so clean, also some bright reflections over the water could help the viewer understand each element, some fog, foggy low clouds, you need a mood here, some of the black levels in the background are too black, that will be fixed when you add these elements
looking forward to see the final
Added some fog, adjusted the gamma, and mocked up some lighting. I’m not really happy with the fog, it’s just kind of rough at this point. Lighting is pretty rough as well (haven’t added any shadows really), but it seems that the warm/cool contrast is helping with the depth issues! Anyways, an old tour boat has been recommended, so I’ll add that and fiddle more with the buildings after work!
Hi Altheia,
I like your progress very much! I myself is an aspiring Digital Matte Painter, so I guess, my critiques might not be that perfect as jamesvfx’s, but still, can point out some! 
I like the low-level fog that you have added; it looks much better than the earlier versions! You need to follow rasher73’s suggestion of brightening-up the buildings in the middle of the screen! Also, take a look at jamesvfx’s reference images on adding the fogs & clouds! I’m not quite happy with the current lighting, it looks like two separate images; try blending the light & shadow more!
These were just my personal comments! I really like this matte, & as a first attempt, I feel, you’ve done a good job!
Will be eagerly waiting for more updates!
I’m getting to the point where I think I need to take a break from staring at this for a while I kind of like it the way it is actually, but I know it’s got a few issues. I’m still not happy with the lower 1/8th… it seems to get pretty flat.
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.