2025 | WINTER REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Make sure to Enroll Today!


Matte Painting and Concept Art for Production

Matte Painting and Concept Art for Production

This class is designed for artists willing to dive into the world of concept art and matte painting for film.
cover image

Design and paint a believable matte shot

Design and paint a believable matte shot
This class will go in-depth into essential fundamentals of successful concept art for film as well as what it takes to create an epic and believable matte shot on your own. The course begins by diving into fundamentals of successful painting, studying compositions, lighting, color, perspective and much more. We’ll discuss how to come up with strong ideas for a painting, focusing on what should be taken into account when designing your shot. We’ll cover essentials from traditional art that are crucial to artistic success—starting with black and white sketches, you will learn design, composition as well as how to utilize lighting to tell the story in the best way possible.

We cover lots of different techniques and software, however, tools are just tools and everything can be done in any package of your choice. This is a perfect class if you want to learn how to be extremely fast and efficient when creating concept art for film. You will also gain new skills of producing film quality matte-paintings that are eventually translated into final moving shots. By the end of the class each student has at least three high quality portfolio ready paintings as well as final moving shots (optional).

Course Format

Standard

Skills Level

Intermediate to advanced

Duration

8 weeks

Q&A

Once a week

Feedback

Individual recordings

Lecture Type

Pre-recorded
Assignment
Deadlines each week
PREREQUISITES
Good understanding of perspective, composition, lighting. Good knowledge of Photoshop is required. 3D for 2D Artist course or a working knowledge of a 3D software is also required. Recommended courses: Environment Concept Design and Environment Painting & Design OR advanced digital painting and environment design skills.
MATERIALS
Computer, Adobe Photoshop, Foundry Nuke, 3D Software (Maya, Max, ZBrush, 3D Coat), Wacom Tablet

The more you know, the better.

Introduction and course overview. | Lecture on the history of matte painting and the masters to get a better understanding of matte painting.
Coming up with ideas for the paintings | Composition in depth | What is bad composition? | Types of Composition | Examples of good compositions | Thumbnails | Working on black & white thumbnails | BONUS VIDEO: Perspective
Moving from black & white thumbnails to color sketches | Working up your color palette and lighting | Understanding & referencing lighting | Understanding Color | Painting color studies
Analyzing photography, choosing references, reducing noise | 8 bit vs 16 bit | Aspect ratios, general film resolution and dmp resolution | Extracting techniques | Blending modes and color correction | Color correction demonstration | Brush setting
Creating a clean plate | Set extension using a plate photo | Destroying the city. Working on final matte painting | Demo: Destroyed City matte painting
Going through the steps of creating the painting from the very early ideas to the very final look | Demo: Step-by-step creation of cityscape concept painting | Destroying the city | Moving into photorealistic concept keyframe art | Demo: Destroyed city keyframe painting | Adding snow | Demo: “Adding snow” into painting
Demonstration of landscape matte painting | Going through the steps of creating the painting from the very early sketch to the very final look
Introduction to camera projection | Setting up camera projection for landscape matte painting | Compositing of a final shot | Spaceships animation | Composing spaceships | Final touches
Finishing up your matte paintings | Real Project – Creating Cloudscape matte painting, using it in the final shot | Process of creating “Snowy Base” Matte painting

Prepare to meet your master.

For specific questions regarding TBA instructors, please contact CGMA Admissions Department at registration@cgmasteracademy.com

PRICING SCHEDULE

Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education, these finance options allow you to focus on your goals instead of the barriers that keep you from reaching them.

3x Payments

$233

2x Payments

$349.50

Full payment

$699

Winter TERM REGISTRATION Now Open
Oct 09, 2024 - Jan 27, 2025
Matte Painting and Concept Art for Production

What makes this learning experience unique?

PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK

Receive personalized feedback on all assignments from the industry’s top professionals.

LIFETIME ACCESS

Enjoy lifetime access to the spectrum of course content, including lectures, live Q&As, and feedback sessions.

CERTIFICATION

Show off your Certification of Completion when you turn in 80% of course assignments.

FLEXIBLE LEARNING

Learn anywhere, anytime, and at your own pace with flexible, online course scheduling.

Testimonials

I didn’t have much knowledge of matte painting before taking the course. I think in the past 8 weeks I have learned a lot both in Matte Painting and art fundamentals.

Sudipta

Igor was going above and beyond to provide us with feedback and arm us with knowledge we needed to tackle each task. On top of that he is really cool and open guy. I had amazing pleasure to learn and grow along his side. Thank you Igor!

Arthur

Need guidance? We’re Here to Help.

We can help with admissions questions, portfolio review/course recommendations!

What are you interested in?