Quick questions about matte painting training DVD's!

[photoshopped]

Hi there,

I just have a couple of questions regarding Matte painting training Dvd's which I would be very grateful if someone could kindly help me with please.

1. What is the best one for city,scenic compositions?

2. How much 2d (photoshop) and 3d content is covered in these dvd's.

3. With regard to any 3d tutorials within the training dvds, how much detail does it go it as I have not yet used any major 3d software. Do the tutorials cover how to use the software used for that tutorial or do I need to learn the software first?

4. Does anyone know where I can purchase these from if I want them ASAP, like now if I live in England?

Thanks again to anyone who takes the time to reply.

Jay

[thenextside]

Both Dylan Cole's and Chris Stoski's are excellent. Dylan's are all 2D but worth every penny. Chris' covers more 3D / 2.5D techniques. Also excellent and worth every penny. I still like Dusso's DVDs but the image quality isn't so hot so it's difficult to see what he is doing some of the time. Still very good.

As far as software skills go. All of these assume a certain level of proficiency in Photoshop. The Stoski DVDs require some knowledge of 3D. You wont learn 3DS Max from these DVDs.

You will need to order on line and expect a 3 to 6 day delivery.

Hope that helps.

[photoshopped]

Hi thenextside,
Thanks for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated and really helpful.

I think I will go for the Dylan Cole's dvds thanks. Take care and all the best,

Jay

[Felicity Moore]

Definately Dylan Cole's.
I got his 3 from Foyles Bookshop website and they came pretty quickly - within a week anyway :)

http://www.foyles.co.uk/foyles/index.asp

Just type Dylan's name into the search and his 3 come up - rather unfortunately logged as the same name! But hey, why not order them all at once! It's a 100-odd quid spent very well and a bucket load cheaper than an expensive 3-day course. Plus you can watch them over and over again.

:)

[photoshopped]

Hi Felicity, nice to hear from you again. So, you have been studying hard have you? ;) The Dylan Cole dvd's sound perfect for me and I think I will order some tonight. Thanks for the advise and speak soon,

Jay

[lightwell]

Trying to answer your questions in order...

1. I find that Dusso and Dylans are great for scenic landscapes but I reckon that Chris Stoskis have the edge in terms of buidlings and cityscapes. I guess it really depends what you are after.

2. All use 2D photoshop but as I remember, only Stoskis uses 3D but don't expect to learn photoshop or 3D from scratch through any of them. You will only benefit if you know some to start with.

3. For 3D...you need to know your package beforehand. Chris Stoski uses 3D but it isn't covered in a step by step manner.

4. The foyles site is a good tip although Foyles bookshop always spooks me and they are listing the delivery times as 1-2 weeks. I usually get mine direct or through cgsociety.com. If you can ignore the carbon footprint of sending a disk from USA to Australia to England its a pretty good service but you will get charged import duty i.e. VAT on top so you need to add that to your calculations.

Jim

[photoshopped]

Hi Lightwell, thanks for also taking the time to reply to my questions. Your information is very useful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks once again,

Jason

[Felicity Moore]

4. The foyles site is a good tip although Foyles bookshop always spooks me Jim

The DUST in the shop spooks me! :)

[photoshopped]

The DUST in the shop spooks me! :)

Lol. I have now order the Dylan Cole introduction to City Scapes from Waterstones. Thanks again for all your help with this one. Hopefully I will also buy the others too, when I have completed this one first.

L8rz,

Jay

[nickmarshallvfx]

Yea you made a good investment with Dylans dvds. I have over time developed a huge collection of Gnomon dvds (some 30 dvds now i think), but Dylans are still the ones i watch the most, and keep finding new things everytime i go back.
Dusso's dvds i got more recently, and very much enjoyed. His first dvd is kinda similar to Dylans, but Dusso does more sketches, but spends less time on each, more of a rough concept. I was so pleased to see the Rivendell style painting in there though, Im a huge LOTR nerd :D
His second dvd is also very good. It really shows his paiting skills are top notch! So realistic!
It does have some 3D in his sceond dvd, but he doesnt show you the process of creating the 3D model, just the finished result, and how to integrate it into your matte. Very cool stuff!

Chris Stoskis dvds went over my head a little because Im so new to 3D, and I need to learn the packages first really. I think its good that he doesn't do a 3Ds Max course in his dvd too though coz all the important matte painting stuff would suffer for it. They are all excellent artists though, so you cant really go wrong. I just think Dylans stand out because he is an excellent teacher as well as artist. You really feel like you are getting taught, rather than just watching the process. It must be very hard to try and explain a creative process and something that you try and naturally feel rather than think about, but he does a great job.

Look forward to seeing how your work improves after getting the dvds, coz im sure it will!

Nick

[photoshopped]

Hi Nick, thanks for the reply. I am still awaiting for the dvd as it is on order from the supplier ;( I can't wait to receive it now and hopefully will improve lots after seeing it to.

Speak soon,

Jay

[jcdlr]

Hey Guys!

Yah I agree, Dylan does a amazing job showing his thought process in the Matte painting DVD's. I only own the first one but I constantly rewatch that one over and over again because I get so fired up lol...

Anybody that is interested in starting to explore matte painting like I do simply can't go wrong with this Dylan Cole DVD series.

It's worth every buck...and on top of that good people...you also get the original psd plates from which Dylan does his sketches on!

Believe or not True believers...this Intro to matte painting is simply ...an Epiphany! lol