Matte Painting: When Landscapes Come to Life

Project Overview

Matte painting is an essential technique in the fields of film, animation and visual effects. It enables the creation of spectacular or otherwise impossible-to-film settings by combining photography, digital painting and compositing. Used since the early days of cinema, it is now central to many productions, helping to create immersive and believable environments.

Through this project, third-yearstudents on the 3D Animation and Film course explored this discipline by creating imaginary landscapes in which natural elements take the form of monumental figures. Each composition plays on the interplay between the natural and imaginary environments, transforming the setting itself into the main subject of the image.

Assignment brief

The exercise involved designing an originalmatte painting based on a natural environment, incorporating an extraordinary figure directly into the landscape composition.

The aim was not to add a character or creature to the landscape, but to design an environment in which the relief, volumes and natural elements themselves form a spectacular figure. The challenge was to create an image that was at once clear, immersive and believable, where the landscape and the subject become one.

This approach required meticulous attention to how the image is perceived, so that the figure is identifiable whilst remaining perfectly integrated into its surroundings.

Learning objectives

The aim of this project was to introduce students to the techniques and challenges of professional matte painting.

In particular, they worked on:

the composition of complex environments,
the seamless integration of multiple visual sources,
the management of light, colour and atmosphere,
the creation of narrative and evocative images,
striking a balance between realism and imagination.

The exercise also enabled them to develop their artistic vision by learning to draw on natural forms to construct an image rich in interpretation.

Techniques used

To create their works, the students utilised the main tools of matte painting:

digital painting
image retouching
compositing
lighting and atmosphere design

The students approached this project with great rigour and attention to detail. The quality of the compositions, the subtlety of the integrations and the consistency of the atmospheres are testament to a genuine process of observation and image construction. Their work demonstrates a fine command of the conventions of matte painting whilst allowing scope for rich and unique visual worlds.

barreaumainson lara — *BARREAUMAINSON Lara Project*

achwag nyrmine — *ACHWAG Nyrmine Project*

jacquet elodie — *Elodie JACQUET’s project*

kerbati clara — *The KERBATI Clara Project*

rousseva karina — *ROUSSEVA Karina Project*

vaillant orane — *VAILLANT Orane Project*

vulliez nathan — *Nathan VULLIEZ Project*