CGMA Matte Painting Demo Breakdown

I've had some requests to see some breakdowns for the shot below, so here's an ambient occlusion (AO) pass showing the geo that was modeled for the shot. Very simple geo, I didn't want to spend too much time modeling since I would be painting on top in Photoshop. I rendered light passes and comped it together and textured it in Photoshop.

CGMA Matte Painting Class Demo

This was the final demo for my CGMA Matte Painting class, a Star Wars inspired matte painting. This painting was created using a combination of 3D modeled elements that were lit and rendered out of Maya with a few lighting passes then textured using photos in Photoshop and photo reference to complete the shot. Lots of different techniques on this one that could apply to concept work or matte painting.

CGMA Matte Painting Master Class

New semester starts Feb 4th for my CGMA Matte Painting Class. I saw some great work develop last semester and some serious improvement in the quality of the students work. Its always gratifying to know that people are taking something useful away from the class. 

If you're interested take a look here:

http://2d.cgmasteracademy.com/matte-painting.html

Color Studies

A couple of color studies done for a story moment. I'm in love with old classic western movies, actually it doesn't have to be old anything done really well like True Grit, 3:10 to Yuma etc. anything with cowboys and Indians.
Playing with different palettes and exploring mood, these studies usually take 1-1.5hrs.