Narnia matte painting

[dylan]

Here is a painting I did for Narnia. It was a big panorama that was used throughout Aslan's return at the stone table. I also did the reverse of this. They director and sups wanted a slightly storybook look, hence the lighting and colors.

http://www.dylancolestudio.com/Matte/personal/images/LWW_AAseq_MP.jpg

Also, for those of you who might be interested, there is a link on my site to an interview I did with 2D artist online magazine.

[dylan]

and here is a detail. I had to paint in a lot of that backlighting....
http://www.dylancolestudio.com/Matte/personal/images/LWW_AAseq_MPdetail.jpg

[wib]

is there a little photo ref ? details looks painted, and god there's a lot of detail !

[SquarePixel]

Dylan,

Excellent, this is truly beautiful piece. One question though. Why did you decide to choose painting in the highlight side rather than pulling a contrasty highlight side through photo ref? Was this a creative choice? The painting in the image is seemless, very very Outstanding.

[zoki]

awesome , this is truly in the spirit of Hudson river school
great work
z

[cserbuj]

Amazing, great details....i think that details are the difference between a good work, and a master piece....

[Echoes]

Mr. Cole, this is amazing. It will stay as my wallpaper for a long time!
I'm very curious to knowhow did you make it.
Which parts are photo refs and which ones are painted??
It would be nice to see the starting sketch too, but I guess I'm asking too much. :D

[Kan]

Hi Dylan,

Could you tell me how long did it take, from the briefing to the approval, inkcl. sketching etc.?
I find it sometimes really hard at the end phase because, strangly, most changes from client start to come at the point of no return.
Are You having the same problem? Or is that normal?

Best regards and big respect,

Kan

[de gerardo]

:wink:
Hi Dylan, next your amazing work friend! I like this colours and atmosphere. And I want to ask you, that what you say to my works?
I want a critique from professional MATTE-PAINTER, and you are MASTER!
My brother... :lol: and I am only servant :? :wink:
Here is my link: www.degerardo.szm.sk (http://www.degerardo.szm.sk)

Please send my your help-critique, becasue I want to work better...

thank you friend.

[carbonmatter]

Hey Dylan

Very nice work! For such a symetrical piece, you've got some subtle pushes and pulls in the composition which work really well. And that ton of noodling details makes a huge difference. It seems though like the rocks in the detail shot aren't as integrated or grounded as the rest of the enviro?

Good interview too btw.

[smooth]

nice! Not sure about that dark patch of forest in the foreground towards the left though. Nice painting Dylan. I like the look.

Now show us some Superman mattes ;) lol...yeaaaa righhht.

+smooth+

[dylan]

thanks everyone.

wib-yes, there is quite a bit of photo ref, I just painted a lot of backlighting.

squarepixel- the main reason I didn't do the whole duplicate layer, screen on, and then paint in the mask thing is that there wasn't much range in the original photo ref and I would just have contrasty grain. I alsu usually only do that when there is a lot of texture to preserve, and this was more about lines. It just made sense to me at the time to paint it.

zoki- thanks, I was definitely thinking about Bierstadt anch Church when I did this.

cserbuj-thanks!

echoes- thanks, I am glad you enjoy it. It is impossible to say which is photo and which is paint as you can see in the detail. Basically, I collaged a bunch of photos as a base and color corrected and then painted whatever lighting ordetails I needed. I had a startiing sketch but it got absorbed into the final painting. I need to get in a better habit of saving out my sketches separately.

Kan-It is hard to say how long this took, I did the bulk of it in just a few days, but then there were client comments for quite some time. I probably worked on this off and on for a month or so. As for client comments, I have learned to use many layers and adjustment layers so that I can easily change things. If you need to merge a bunch of layers, save out a separate file with your original assembly. Yes, I think it is normal to get mmost comments at the end because those are final tweaks to make sure everyone is happy.

de gerardo- thanks. I am far from a master, but I appreciate it. I will take a look at your work and send you a PM.

carbonmatter- Hi Dan, glad you like the painting. I didn't worry about the symmetry, because it was never going to be seen as a whole. You are right about the rock, but the painting was never seen this close, it was always at least 50% of that detail.

smooth- yeah, I know what you mean about that dark patch of forest. Believe it or not that came directlyt from the reference photos I was given and told to use. I will agree that it might be balanced a little better, but I never tweaked that area because it was never seen in the film.
lol...no superman....sorry...still cranking away on that.

[ecsdesign]

beautiful stuff Dylan,
your style is definately coming through in this piece. I still havent seen Narnia, was this shot projected at all?

You can definately see those Bierstadt and Church influences.
________
Michigan Medical Marijuana Dispensary (http://michigan.dispensaries.org/)

[smooth]

Forgot to ask you...
What kind of monitor are you working on? LCD? Or CRT?

Just bought a SONY Trinitron 24" GDM900 CRT refurb. like new....wasn't sure to go with LCD or not...I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake.

+smooth+

[wib]

ok. thx

[EdBabb]

god im glad i bought your dvds...

[tobiasth]

wooow, this is so amazing! great details and light! .... :shock:

[kmblackbear06]

Wow, very Hudson River School like :)... Of course with your own twist. Very nice Dylan, I can always learn something from looking at your works. Just a couple questions I had about this masterpiece and how you work.

1. When filling out the details, (I know you work at 4096 or larger) but for something like this finished work for film, are you ripping out every single pixel? For instance a 1 px brush zoomed at 600% or more? This is somewhat of a hard question as each image has their own level of completion.

2. I also am wondering what your using for a machine? Sadly, I am looking into having to buy something newer/bigger/better... I am trying some compositions at double film res, and my current system sadly bogs down (no smooth flow of brushes,etc etc)

3. I know your a matte painter/traditional painter, and I assume you put all your time into it, roughly how long would this shot for narnia take, and how many hours are you doing this a day typically? I heard in your interview the 3rd Gnomon DVD took around 18 hours?

4. How much of this shot is your touch vs the directors touch? Happy medium? or were you given free control? I'm sure there were partial guidlines, but just wondering how strict film makers usually are when coming to you for your talent.


Dylan, thanks for your time and sharing your art with us, I know we all appriciate it. Sorry I'm so long winded, hope my questions aren't too much. Once again,a masterful job. Dude, your talent will be remembered for many years like the matte painting gods.



Edit: I just watched your latest interview, and answered some of my questions Dylan.

[stefan]

Hi Dylan,

What a lovely piece of work indeed! (oh dear..I sound sooo English here)
I've got a question about reference photos. Are you always given reference photos taken from the right perspective in which the matte painting should be? In this case from the air?
Or do you go out and photograph things yourself after you've done a sketch (in order not to let the photographs dominate the concept).
Many thanks.

[Sebastian Kaine]

Wonderful work dylan ! The light ... the light always this great light on your work ! :wink:

[P.Nagle]

Hey Dylan,

was the oxbow type river a concept that they gave you or was it your own creation...it seems like a stretched out version of Cole's, View from Mount Holyoke, Northamptom, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow) but from the opposite end of the valley...

Awsome lighting and composition!
Pat

[Espnetboy3]

This is a wonderful and magical piece. My one question is was this a 2d still you created and then basically they brought it into a compositing package and zoomed in a slight bit then maybe panned or pulled out to add a small sense of camera move? If it wasnt just a still shot wouldnt the reflections from the river have to move with the cam motion? Unless of course it was very tiny bit of motion. Amazing stuff man. Always inspiring

[s0nkite]

omg first i see this crazy image, then i see the awsome Dylan Cole looking sky and colors, and then i see Dylan name and then www.dylancolestudio.com (http://www.dylancolestudio.com), Omg men, i m really glad to see you here Dylan,! really love you men,
omg omg,omg!!!

[Madme]

hi sonkite

your link is not working ... take the , off


cheers!

[Akajork]

hi Dylan! I think it's so cool that a pro like yourself is active on a board:) Giving pointers to others! awesome!

I have a question though.. I just bought your matte painting book from D'artiste.. its really great but something still stay's vague.. Its explaind in some threads but not very clear.. How do you start the progress? is there a wireframe render first or do you start with painting and then make it in 3d? Do you use 3ds max for animations or Adobe's AE?

Thanks a bunch.. hope to see more of your amazing work soon:D!

Akajork

[photoshopped]

Very nice work, I love the sun coming through the clouds.

[Mks]

Just awesome ! Really like your work on the lighting.

[mzhong]

I like you work,and i saw you DVD,i learning for you.ok!
can you give me some advice?
http://www.mattepainting.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3135

[jamsession]

top notch, my particular favorite is the light reflection on the river which makes the overall piece very convincing.

[avisrobin]

Amazin art work..... featured beautifully

[bambanx]

beatuful work men.

[karmadesigner]

I would like to express my admiration for your work but I understand that words are useless... If we were living in the "Rinascimento" you surely have a "bottega" and I surely wanted to be your "apprendista"....