Digital Matte Artist
Encyclopedia
A Digital Matte Artist, or Digital Matte Painter (DMP), is today's modern form of a traditional Matte Painter
in the Entertainment Industry. He or she digitally paints photo-realistic interior and exterior environments that could not have been otherwise created or visited.
The term 'digital' is used to distinguish a DMP from a traditional Matte Painter, although this is unnecessary, as the nature of a Matte Painter's work remains the same, regardless of the tools and techniques used.
, as opposed to a traditional Matte Painter who was member of a special effects crew, often creating Matte Paintings on set to be used as back-drops.
has been implemented into the matte painting pipeline.
Although ILM CG Supervisor Stefen Fangmeier came up with the idea of projecting Yusei Uesugi's aerial painting of Neverland onto a 3D mesh modeled by Geoff Campbell while working on the motion picture 'Hook' in 1991, projection-mapping based 3D environment matte art was until recently, like its predecessor matte painting has been, the industry's best kept secret. The involvement of 3D in this until then 2D art form was revealed by Craig Barron from Matte World Digital in 1998 after
completing their work on the feature film 'Great Expectations' when they introduced this technique as a 2.5D matte to the public.
In production today this combination of 2D and 3D is part of every Matte Artist's bread and butter.
Because of their high artistic skills digital matte artists are often also involved with the creation of concept art
work.
Matte painting
A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques...
in the Entertainment Industry. He or she digitally paints photo-realistic interior and exterior environments that could not have been otherwise created or visited.
The term 'digital' is used to distinguish a DMP from a traditional Matte Painter, although this is unnecessary, as the nature of a Matte Painter's work remains the same, regardless of the tools and techniques used.
From Traditional to Digital
Traditional matte painting is older than the movie camera itself and has actually been already practiced in the early years of photography to create painted elements in photographs. With the advantages of the digital age Matte Painters have slowly transitioned to a digital work environment, using pressure sensitive pens and graphic tablets in conjunction with a painting software such as Adobe Photoshop. A Digital Matte Painter is part of a visual effects team being involved in post-productionPost-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
, as opposed to a traditional Matte Painter who was member of a special effects crew, often creating Matte Paintings on set to be used as back-drops.
Workflow and Skillset
Through the growing need for 'moving' mattes camera projection mapping3D projection
3D projection is any method of mapping three-dimensional points to a two-dimensional plane. As most current methods for displaying graphical data are based on planar two-dimensional media, the use of this type of projection is widespread, especially in computer graphics, engineering and drafting.-...
has been implemented into the matte painting pipeline.
Although ILM CG Supervisor Stefen Fangmeier came up with the idea of projecting Yusei Uesugi's aerial painting of Neverland onto a 3D mesh modeled by Geoff Campbell while working on the motion picture 'Hook' in 1991, projection-mapping based 3D environment matte art was until recently, like its predecessor matte painting has been, the industry's best kept secret. The involvement of 3D in this until then 2D art form was revealed by Craig Barron from Matte World Digital in 1998 after
completing their work on the feature film 'Great Expectations' when they introduced this technique as a 2.5D matte to the public.
In production today this combination of 2D and 3D is part of every Matte Artist's bread and butter.
Because of their high artistic skills digital matte artists are often also involved with the creation of concept art
Concept art
Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design...
work.
Notable Digital Matte Painters
- Yannick DusseaultYannick DusseaultYanick Dusseault is a digital matte artist in the movie industry. 'Dusso' studied technical illustration at Sheridan College before entering the world of digital effects.-Feature Film Credit List:*2009 Transformers as Art Director...
- Dylan ColeDylan ColeDylan Cole is an American Digital Matte-Painter and concept artist specializing in work for film, television, and video games. Cole received a degree in fine arts from UCLA...
- Mathieu RaynaultMathieu RaynaultMathieu Raynault, is a Canadian digital matte painter, concept artist, and VFX art director. He has been producing matte paintings and illustrations for over 15 years...
- Christopher Stoski
- Dimitri Delacovias
- Jonathan Berube
- Susumu Yukuhiro
- Damien Thaller
- Alp Allen Altiner
- Yusei Uesugi
- Peter Baustaedter
- Sevendalino Khay
- Christian Haley
- Tim Warnock
- Jaime Jasso
- Kenneth Nakada
- Caroleen Green
- Ed Quintero
- Ronn Crabb
- Bryant Griffin
- Shahen Jordan
- David Luong
- Rick Rische
- Milan Schere
- Pamela Hobbs
Books
- Barron, C., 1998. Matte Painting in the Digital Age. In: Invisible Effects. Siggraph 98: Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics, July 23, 1998. Orlando, FL, USA.
- Cotta Vaz, M., 2002. The invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting. San Francisco, CA, USA: Chronicle Books.
- Rickitt, R., 2007. Special Effects: The History and Technique. London, UK: Billboard Books.
- Uesugi, Y. et al, 2008. d'artiste Matte Painting 2. Adelaide, SA, AUS: Ballistic Publishing.