Hi all,
hopefully I’ll find time to both start and finish this!
Feels like a challenging brief, so not sure how well mine will come out 
First two concept thumbs attached - finding it hard to come up with a unique viewpoint that feels interesting!
My concept painting skills aren’t a patch on the other folks here, so you’ll have to use your imagination a bit… 
Any thoughts? I’m worried neither of them are interesting enough…
Hey Derek, I dig the mood in the first concept, but wasn’t one of the requirements to make the city look like it extends without limit? Maybe you can make it look like there’s another huge side of the city behind that canyon?
Hello derek. The color from the first thumb catches me more, but when i opened it up, the color’s already bleeding. you might want to start doing thumbnails from the original color of the plate and just do your desired grading after doing the final matte. it will be much easier to deal with
Right, third concept attached. It’s kind of a development of the first, but showing the canyon disappearing round the corner and closing off any view of a horizon. I’ve lost the sense of greenery, but could maybe bring it back in at the base on the banks of the river.
There’ll be a central aerial walkway suspended between the cliff faces, with paths leading to it every now and then. I’ve also placed a series of vertical lifts / railways to allow people access between levels.
(Went for hand drawn sketch at this stage just to test composition - I’ll have a go blocking this out as a greyscale thumbnail next)
Here we are - colour version of the sketch attached. I’ve added in greenery along the bank of the river.
Would I get away with a huge waterfall, or would it count as a moving element?
Having trouble getting my head round the lighting - hard to place where the light source is in the original plate…
I think this has the most potential of the three - any thoughts?
hey nice concept! I think you can get away with a waterfall, it would be a cool element to feature in your composition.
Maybe consider a more dynamic perspective to the left side so that it matches the angle of the right more, just to pull you further into the background.
I’d say the light source is fairly high in the sky and a little to the left based off the original plate. Those are my thoughts!! 
If you’re having trouble determining the lighting in the given plate, use the cast shadows as direct indicators for your light source. Also watch your perspective when you start laying in photo elements into your Matte Painting. Hope to see some updates. Good luck.
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.