Expedition ruins digital matte painting

Here is a personal piece I been working on for sometime. I been working on and off on this one and I am quite happy with the end result.

Hope you guys like it and thanks for taking a look.

Cheers,
Rahul

Grey Goo (RTS) game cutscene DMP

A matte painting I completed along with my dear friend and fellow matte painter Igor Staritsin for Grey Goo (RTS) game cutscene under Axis Animation, Glasgow Scotland.

Vancityscape Value Study

Here is a quick value study based on a photograph I took from my apartment here in Vancouver.

Fjords matte painting breakdown

This post is going to be the first one in the series of breakdown / tutorials that I would be doing here in my blog. The purpose is to share my technique and thoughts process behind these personal projects. 

Inspiration 

My main source inspiration for this piece came from the The History channel series 'The Vikings'. I was really captivated by splendid scale of the fjords and I really wanted to capture sense of that vastness in the landscape. 

As you can see sense of scale of these mountains are quite breathtaking and I wanted that to be the main focal point of this matte painting. I also took some color cues from the second screenshot. I really liked the earthly tones in the palette and I wanted to go for the same balance but with more warmer tones. 

Conceptualization

I started with a very loose value sketch blocking out my composition, scale and shapes. At this point, I wasn't sure about the final direction as I was still exploring different variations in scale and shapes. I wasn't keen on putting any details here as all of this will be replaced by different textures I would use from my photo references. It is a good idea to establish your light direction at this stage so it helps while you look for your photo references which you may use as textures to fill these shapes. 


Photo References

This is most important part of digital matte painting and it might take lot of your time finding the right photos which can act as your textures. I always approach this from a set extension point of view. By that I mean, I will find a hero reference plate (photo) and use that as my main element  and work my way from there. I think this method is very useful because most of the times in a production environment you would end up matching all your elements / textures to a particular shot plate (footage).

Hero plate

 

I really liked the sense of scale this photo and the clouds had a very surreal feel to it. And here is a collage of other main references I use for this matte painting. 

 

Please note that I do not own copyrights for any of these images but I have made sure I have used them in a way that it is no longer fully or partially resembles it's original form. And since this is a non-commercial personal project I believe I am on the safe side. When you work on a commercial project, please do double check the copyrights of your photo references or make sure you use them as textures and make it unrecognizable. 

Photo Collage and Image manipulation

I started building the matte painting by deriving different photo elements from the references I collected from Google Images and I used them as textures to fill up my concept sketch. It is very crucial to note that you have to keep the sense of scale, linear perspective and lighting uniform during this process. 
 
At this stage, I realized I was not happy with the scale I was going after and I wanted to keep my matte painting close to photo realism so I decided to make minor changes to my initial concept sketch

As you can see now the composition is more relaxed and balanced. With most of my personal projects I keep experimenting with composition until the last moment. I don't get this luxury when I do freelance work or when I am on a contract job. 

Above you can see, I brought in more rock elements for the foreground and I arranged them in such a way that it helps to lead the viewer's eye to my hero mountain. I made sure my rock elements were fitting into the scale and perspective.  The most challenging aspect of this matte painting was getting scale right with all the elements.

Here is the final photo montage with sky and water. I usually work on the sky first as it plays huge role in defining the lighting of the scene but in this case I knew the kind of cloudy sky I was going after with hints of directional lighting so the sky came a bit late in the process.

Color balancing and lighting

Using adjustment layers, I have non-destructively color corrected all the layers to neutrally balance their colors to the main hero element. The step below is where I have spent most of my time in this matte painting. I have used adjustment layers and hand painting techniques to add lighting, shadows and better integration for the elements. Below you can see I have moved towards more earthly color tones matching  to my inspiration references.

 Atmosphere, Lighting and Finishing 

In the final stage I have worked more on the atmosphere, lighting and refining the elements especially on the foreground. I would say the most time consuming process was the beginning and finishing stage since I have to finalize and make decisions on every minute details. 

I hope you enjoyed the breakdown, please feel free to comment here or ask any questions.

Cheers,
Rahul

Vancouver

I moved to Vancouver last month and started working here at MPC as a Digital Matte Painter. It's been a great experience so far and I really look forward to learn from the amazing pack of artists here.

This week I also noticed REDHOT VFX has posted a glimpse of what I worked for them during last year, you can check out the video here  and here is couple of screenshots.

DMP

Final Comp

Fjords Matte Painting

I'm sharing my latest matte painting here, inspired by Norwegian fjords and landscapes and also closely followed color palette of Viking TV series.

concept sketch for blocking the composition

 final matte painting

 Thanks for taking a look!

Cheers,
Rahul

Monolithic city sunset

A personal piece started off as an entry to CGsociety August 2014 matte painting competition, I couldn't finish it on time due to my freelance commitments but I picked it up couple of days back and called it final today.

                           

Mars Orbiter Mission Tribute

Here is quick one I did couple of days back as my tribute to the success of ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission.

Glenfinnan view DMP

Inspired by the magnificent view I had visiting Glenfinnan, Scotland last month. Loch Shiel is also heavily influenced the fictional Black Lake near Hogwarts in the film versions of the Harry Potter series.

Hope you enjoy it. 

Details

Concept sketch

 

Alaska sci-fi city landscape matte painting

Here is my latest matte painting based on a concept I did few years ago.

Photo reference

Details

Cheers,

Rahul

London Calling

It's been a busy couple of months and I haven't updated anything on this blog for a while. I moved to London last month to join as a Compositor at Double Negative Visual Effects. It's been a quite overwhelming experience here both at work and with life in this beautiful old and modern metropolis.  I hope to make the best of my time here and try to finish up some personal work. 

Mountains sunset

This one is based on a rough sketch I did, I tried to focus more on lighting while keeping composition and details simple.

(update, here is another version. Thanks Faisal for the comments)

Hope you guys like it :)
Rahul

The Great Indian Creative Dilemma

According to various estimates, around 1.5 million engineering graduates emerge from India each year—significantly more than many Western countries, including the U.S. Yet, India is still struggling to make a lasting global impact when it comes to innovative products or services.

And this isn’t limited to the tech sector. It’s even more apparent in inherently creative industries like film, animation, and architecture.

Having worked in the film and commercial industries across five countries, including India, I’ve seen this issue up close. The difference isn’t talent—we have that in abundance. The difference lies in culture and mindset.

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Entrepreneurship Is Growing, But Innovation Still Lags

Yes, India has seen a steady rise in entrepreneurship over the years. But innovation—true, game-changing innovation—is still rare.

At the root of this are two key issues:

• Our education system, which often discourages curiosity and exploration.

• Our cultural values, which reward obedience over questioning.

We build our values on fixed dogmas, but the world around us is rapidly evolving—interconnected, transparent, and open. In such a world, lacking a creative culture leads to mediocrity. Only businesses that offer authentic solutions will survive.

Innovation today isn’t just about great ideas—it’s about redefining economic value and shifting consumer mindsets. Companies like Apple have understood this for decades and built their core culture around it.

We have the talent, the infrastructure, and the potential. What we need is an environment that nurtures creativity.

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Hierarchy: The Silent Killer of Creativity

One of the biggest blockers of creativity in India is the rigid hierarchy in workplaces.

Drawing from our cultural values, people are often afraid to speak up to someone above them. This suppresses the creative flow of ideas and encourages people to play it safe. Over time, this results in mediocrity, and our ability to compete at global standards weakens.

Creativity thrives on open communication and psychological safety. When team members feel safe, ideas flow. When they feel judged or silenced, innovation stops.

Leadership plays a critical role here. It’s not about control, but about creating space—loosening the reins, not tightening them.

At Pixar Animation Studios, for instance, Ed Catmull, President of Pixar, shares:

“Within Pixar, members of any department can approach anyone in another department to solve problems, without having to go through ‘proper’ channels. Managers understand they don't always have to be the first to know about something going on in their realm, and that it's okay to walk into a meeting and be surprised.”

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Our Fear of Failure Holds Us Back

Another cultural roadblock to creativity in India is our attitude towards failure.

We stigmatize failure. We hide it. We rarely analyze it. And as a result, we don’t learn from it.

But failure is essential to innovation. Every breakthrough idea is the result of multiple failures and iterations.

We need to build a culture where failure is treated as a step forward—not a dead end. A place where people are trusted to experiment, take risks, and recover when things don’t work.

As William L. McKnight, former President and Chairman of 3M, once said:

“Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it's essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow.”

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Creativity Can’t Be Controlled—But It Can Be Encouraged

If we want to push innovation beyond the usual boundaries of functionality and design, we need to let go of control.

Yes, that sounds risky. But great teams are often unpredictable by nature.

You can’t force creativity. You can only provoke it—by creating the right environment.

That means encouraging:

• Radical thinking

• Freedom of speech

• Cross-functional collaboration

• Constructive criticism

• Playfulness and fun

• Risk-taking (with support)

Companies like Google famously allow employees to spend 20% of their time on personal innovation projects. 3M did it before them, with their “15% rule” and even an “Innovator Award” for employees who created profitable ideas during that free time.

In India, Tata Group’s Innovista program is a great example of homegrown innovation culture. According to Sunil Sinha, Chief of Group Quality at Tata Sons:

“Tata Innovista has become a great indicator of the success of the innovation drive in the Tata group — and of the inherent capabilities of its people. The trends observed in the 2013 edition signify a growing culture of innovation in the group with elements of technology-orientation, cross-pollination, and risk-taking ability.”

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It’s About People, Not Just Outcomes

Creative work culture isn’t about short-term goals or fast results. It’s about the process and people.

If companies build strong, well-functioning teams and give them a creative platform, the products and services will follow naturally.

As Tony Hsieh, the late CEO of Zappos and author of Delivering Happiness, put it:

“It’s not me saying to our employees, this is where our culture is. It’s more about giving employees permission and encouraging them to just be themselves.”

A truly creative workspace is about making the day-to-day experience fulfilling. It should value:

• Employee well-being

• Shared ownership

• Mutual respect

• Love for the work itself

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In Conclusion

I believe all humans are inherently creative. But in India, due to cultural and social conditioning, that creativity often needs to be reawakened.

We need to create spaces—schools, offices, studios—where curiosity is encouraged, risk is supported, and diverse voices are heard.

Let me end with one final quote from Ed Catmull:

“The phrase is important in the community, but it just doesn't have any effect on the behavior.”

It’s not enough to say we value creativity—we have to live it.

Golden Horn Matte Painting

This one was inspired by wonderful times I spent in Istanbul last year, I tried to capture a bustling Ottoman cityscape in the shores of Bosphorus Strait.

Matte Painting

Details

Before & After

So that's it for personal art from this year 2013 and I hope to do much more next year. 

Happy New Year!

Paul Debevec keynote talk at Smithsonian X 3D conference

Here is something really worthy to bookmark. A very good talk on history of Photogrammetry, HDRI and Surface Scanning by Paul Debevec. 

Matte Painting : Alien Chemical Plants

A personal piece based on the idea of high altitude chemical plants in an alien planet. Hope you guys like it.

Concept video - Goldfish, a wish out of water

Here is an experimental video done by me and my friends based on the below quote by Terence Mckenna.

"Well, we are fish swimming in consciousness; and yet we know it's there. Well, the reason we know it's there is because if you perturb it, then you see it"

Octhorber campaign promo for Disney XD channel

Last month I had the privilege to work as a freelance matte painter on the project Octhorber for Disney XD channel under A Post Office, Singapore. I really had a great time working with Faisal who is the art director and managing founder at A Post Office. I did almost ten digital matte paintings which served as backdrops throughout the promotion video. Here are two selected ones from this project which was super fun to work with :)

A screenshot from the final comp by Faisal

matte paintings

Comp reel 2013

I have updated my Comp reel with few shots from the last gig I did, 'Olympus Has Fallen'. Do take a look and note that I have took off all the matte painting shots from this latest reel since I finally decide to keep separate reel or portfolio for both.

reel2013 comp reel from Rahul on Vimeo.

I have updated the matte painting portfolio section with couple of commercials work I have done and I will be adding more in this section from the freelance work I been doing recently.

http://www.rkvfx.com/#!mattepainting/c199t 

Some classic examples of Rear Projection Matte painting techniques

Worth a watch, it's really a reminder of how much the techniques have improved  from the days of optical compositing but the fundamentals always remains the same :)

Matte Painting from Star Wars which used rear projection technique

Click here to watch the video in viemo