Cinematic Matte Painting Techniques

Concept to Final Comp using Photoshop, Nuke & Blender with Liane Xuelian Li

Learn how to create a professional cinematic matte-painting shot for your portfolio using Photoshop, Nuke, and Blender. This 3-hour workshop by Senior Digital Matte Painter Liane Xuelian Li will guide you through the core design and composition principles that form part of Liane’s professional toolset. You’ll walk through the complete process, from analyzing film, concept sketching, and building 3D assets in Blender, to achieving a photorealistic painting in Photoshop, and finally projecting your renders and matte painting into a three-second cinematic shot in Nuke.

This workshop is designed for artists with a basic understanding of Photoshop, Nuke, and Blender, as well as for those who already have the technical skills but want to elevate their work to a cinematic, production-quality level. Artists will gain a clear understanding of a matte-painting workflow, including how to prepare for a project, how to gather resources, and how to implement industry-standard methods. 

By following this workshop, artists will discover how to create a complete matte painting, including the 3D assets required, and how to transform them into a polished cinematic environment. Additionally, the workshop offers insights into industry pipelines, workflows, and the different types of digital matte painting work commonly seen in VFX studios. As well as developing sharpened technical skills for matte painting, artists will also develop their eye for creating cinematic shots, learning how to make them stand out at a professional level. 

Liane has provided her Photoshop files with this workshop, along with her Nuke Indie comp file.