Joe's Matte Paint

Toward the end of the previous term I discovered that Joe Steel needed a matte paint for his short film. He already had artists working on the backdrop at this stage but was unhappy with the progress they had made with regard to the images. He told me that he wanted the buildings to have a certain three dimensional quality. Looking at the current images he possessed I realized that they lacked any kind of atmosphere and distance and there was no sense of the image being three dimensional. I showed Joe some of my matte paints and showed him what I could do. Although I showed him various images that had a science fiction element to them the same techniques would still apply.

I told him that not only could I produce something that had an element of distance an atmosphere but I could separate the city layers as well as the atmos and smoke layers so that he could animate them when it came to compositing the image in post. With these options available to him he would be able to create something that apperared to be three dimensional and believable whilst being able to manipulate certain aspects of the painting with regard to the animation side of things. Joe supplied me with the relevant material I needed to create a believable atmosphere. He suggested that I use red, blues and yellows to capture the beauty within the city. His story was all about finding beauty in things that we would normally overlook, so it was important to harness this and add a element of character to the painting. I was only too happy to help as this was my area of expertise as I loved painting landscapes and I wanted to take a break from Maya.

While working on the painting I kept Joe informed of my progress and updated the painting to suite his needs to be consistent with his three dimensional work. When I sent the image via email Joe was very pleased with the outcome and the effort that I had put into the piece. I was pleased with the work and thoroughly enjoyed working on the painting. I learnt that by keeping a consistent dialogue with the director I was able to accommodate Joe's needs for what he wanted to achieve with regard to the visuals and animation. By having constant dialogue I was able to generate quick results to a professional standard. I knew exactly what to do because all the information was available to me which sped up work flow. Because the information was made available to me I was able to juggle Chris's project while doing Joe's. This allowed me to work effectively despite a short deadline.

I have included some screen grabs which should show my thought processes and progress towards the final image. I was very happy with the final image. I believe that it demonstrates my skill as a painter who is able to translate the vision of a director from fiction to a reality. I believe the image boasts some strong composition skills as well as good use of colour and light, however some of these aspects took some trial and error. The priority when creating this matte was to satisfy the director. Joe was overjoyed with the results, so I think we can assume that my efforts were successful in achieving his targets.