Reader Project - Castle Dracula Matte

  • CGNetworks Reader Project
    Castle Dracula Matte
    7 March 2005, Brenton Cottman

    Concept
    This painting was done around Halloween as a personal piece and exercise. I had wanted to paint some sort of establishing shot for a while but was drawing blanks for subject matter. Someone suggested that I do something festive for Halloween and Dracula's castle immediately came to mind.

    I began doing research on various stories and images based on Dracula and started to refine my Idea of the story behind the painting. The angle I was interested in a style similar to "Castlevania" and "Vampire Hunter D" where evil is a plague scenario and the castle becomes a character embodying Dracula.

    Design and Composition
    Before beginning I gathered together a number of images that I thought depicted the castle in an iconic way. From there I started drawing a number of quick sketches focusing on the castle's outline. I thought the scene should be at night with a dramatic full moon casting the castle's shadow over the village. This created a primarily back lit scenario so I wanted to create a strong silhouette that would immediately read.

    The composition of the painting was designed to frame the silhouette of the castle. I keep these initial composition sketches rapid and create numerous versions developing from the last. Keeping sketches loose helps me focus on the structure of the image without getting precious about a composition that isn't working. When I find a basic layout I am happy with I scan it and begin doing value and color studies over it.

    With the moon as the only light source for the image, I developed the color in a primarily monochromatic blue green palette. Reinforcing the silhouette composition, I let the darkest values create the frame of the foreground and castle and saved the middle and high key values for the atmosphere and moonlight of the distant background. Also, placing the largest range of values around the castle helps strengthen that area as a focal point.



    Concept sketches and reference material for the matte painting.


    Source photographic elements (above) were used to build the collage, which was subsequently painted over (left).

  • Reader Project - Castle Dracula Matte - Cont'd
    Painting progression for Castle Dracula.

    Integrating photographic elements
    I like to develop a solid framework for an image before I begin working with photographs. Finding appropriate reference can be time consuming and distracting. Searching for high quality images can take days. And once you start sorting through reference it can be tempting to compromise your original idea in favor of available Images. I think its important that the reference serve the composition so I try to have as clear an idea of the final as possible when I start.

    Initial layout
    I approach the layout similar to how you might create a texture map over UV coordinates. Starting on top of the sketch I lay various photographic elements together, swapping, transforming and adjusting them until the basic composition is laid out. A primary concern is that the architecture, vegetation and geography feel natural together. Also, the perspective, scale and focal length of the various images needs to correspond and fit the composition. Another concern is matching the lighting and resolution of photos within the collage. However, there is more flexibility with this because I will be painting over most of these elements in order to resemble the original sketch and changing some lighting shouldn't be a big problem.

    Painting
    After the various elements were laid out and color corrected I went back over the collage as a painting. Focusing on the image as a whole I worked broadly across it in semi opaque layers to restate the feel of the image. Once the painting worked when zoomed out I began to go into specific areas to develop and restore details. Using primarily a soft round brush I blocked in areas between photos, continued details across seams, changed lighting and add atmosphere effects. Throughout the development of the painting I continued to use both collage and painting techniques while resolving specific areas. For general textures I often will paste in a photo element, whereas for specific details it is usually easiest to just paint it in. Most often it is a combination of the two. Either painting in a form and then pasting in textural elements or starting with the texture and mimicking it with paint to create a desired shape.

    Finishing
    When the painting was consistently resolved throughout I took a step back to assess how the image was working as a whole. Making sure that the contrast levels throughout didn't conflict with the aerial perspective and atmosphere I had established. I reworked any area that distracted from the composition. Using adjustment layers I experimented with various changes to the curves, color balance and hue/ saturation until I found a combination that complimented the drama of the image. To finish off the painting I added some subtle lens effects and grain to aid in making it appear photographic.

    The Artist
    Born a Virgo in 1978 in a coastal town of Rhode Island. Brenton grew up during the 80s with an affinity for Saturday morning cartoons, side scrolling video games and fantasy movie trilogies. Inspired by the matte artists from that period, he moved to New York at 21 to study classical painting and illustration at the School of Visual Arts. He has since been working in video game development as a texture artist and continues to paint traditionally when time permits. Brenton currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife.


    Once Brenton lays out the collage and paints over it with values, he progressively adds detail until the final matte painting is complete.

    Related Links
    Castle Dracula thread on CGTalk
    Brenton Cottman's website

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