Traditional Matte Paintings

John Terebetsky

Hi, I’m interested in traditional matte painting.  Any thoughts on doing a course on old school matte painting on glass or Masonite?  I would love to see one!

John Terebetsky

Here’s a background on Masonite I recently made for a short film.

Chris Ellerby

We are also big fans of classic matte painting, and a course on it would be a lot of fun.  The challenge is that traditional matte painting has been almost entirely replaced with digital matte painting, so a course on this subject, while fun and informative, would not be as useful to students looking to gain skills they can use to find employment.

Traditional matte painting is still used, but it is uncommon.

/Chris

TJ makes stuff

Hey John it is cool you made an old school matte painting! I am a matte painter …is my 30th year working as a painter and lots has changed since I started …but I too love looking at old film matte paintings …you may know this website but this guy has done a great job archiving and blogging about many older films and older painters works …

https://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/

There is also a great book … it looks like it is out of print now but is an outstanding resource and history of matte painting.

https://www.ebay.com/p/1859136

Hit me up if you have questions, I am happy to talk more about it. When I first started working I got to work with a few artists who came from traditional matte painting on glass they had a lot of great stories. The issue with working traditional is you need to shoot it so it is exposed without reflections or picking up light in the room. The resolution of digital and the fact that you can incorporate photo elements very cleanly really makes it possible to create a professional level image with photoshop at home. 

John Terebetsky

Thanks! It was a fun process!  On my next short I intend to use more shots like this.