Dream On

For everyone that is trying to get started in the industry, and having a hard time, don't give up. Dream on. And BLOG! You'll be suprised who reads your blog.

I recently received some really uplifting comments about my blog and progress from people I really look up to. (Out of respect for these people I won't say who. They know who they are.)

"I follow your blog, and I really admire your tenacity. Just keep workin on it"

"keep dreaming and keep getting stronger in your art"

"I thought you worked in the industry already!"

These kind of comments can really help give you focus and put things into perspective. If you're already in the industry, take a moment to reflect all the people that helped you along the way and remember to pay it forward. A younger artist will really appreciate it.

Recent iPhone Paintings

I have several iPhone painting programs, but I've been using a pogo stylus and paintng these with brushes

Justin "Coro" Kaufman interview on the Chiustream

Yesterday the Chiustream had a live interview with Justin "Coro" Kaufman. I'm not able to watch the live interviews at work because of the IRC chat window that opens up on the live shows, so I thought I'd post the interview here so I can watch it, and so can you.

I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Coro at Siggraph 2008. He was unpretentious, welcoming, and willing to talk to anyone.

Can't wait

I'll be in LA again to attend this awesome workshop by Robh Ruppel. Oct 15 - 17.
Contact me if you'd like to meetup.

August and September update

Wow.

It's been crazy lately. I've hardly been painting because I've been working on a freelance web site (I did some matte painting type stuff for that but it doesn't count), met some friends and one of my heroes in California, got a private tour of a great animation studio, met one of my biggest heroes here in Arizona, worked on some Photoshop javascripts, realized some of my weaknesses, and generally had fun with my family.

I met Mike Bogen during my trip to California and he is a ray of sunshine in the compositing world. He had a lot of great stories to share and he constantly smiles. Mike is one of those guys you'd love to have on your team. Not only does he have some great experience (He has used Matador...I kid you not...Matador) but he's constantly learning. Mike is currently looking for work and has just learned Nuke and set-up a studio in his home to accept freelance compositing work. If your digital show or small production needs an awesome compositor, He's the

guy to call.

While in California I also connected with one of my heroes. I won't say who it was (because I'm sure he'll recieve countless requests after I tell you this...), but he is an amazing VisDev artist. I was originally going to just get our families together but he was too busy, and instead asked if I wanted to take a private tour of the animation studio...could I say no? I spent about 2 hours seeing the visdev dept at this studio and I was enchanted and amazed. It is quite possibly the closest thing I have ever seen to a dream work environment. I can't wait to apply there.

Fast forward to the middle of Sept. I'm very close to finishing up the bulk of work on a freelance gig. I'm going to ask if I can post some of the work here. I used some of my matte painting skills for some of their photography and had some great results.

Recently I also had the GREAT pleasure of meeting Syd Mead. He held a lecture at ASU. I was surrounded by industrial designers and architects. Hardly any artists were in attendance, and I don't think there were an digital concept artists/digital painters there.

Syd is a true gentleman artist. His work has inspired almost everything we consider cool and interesting today. A lot of his ideas from the 1960's are starting to see the light of day today and we will continue to see some of his ideas see fruition within the next few years.

When I got home from the Syd Mead lecture, I couldn't sleep. I was inspired by some of the shapes I saw in his work. I am working on a random shapes Photoshop script, that generates landscape friendly shapes, directly within photoshop and with LAYERS! I got up from bed at 3:00 and painted with my shape generator till about 4:15. Here's the result:

















I have ordered a prelim copy of my printed portfolio and should be receiving it within a few days. Hopefully everything looks good and then I'm going to order 10 more to send out to my top 10 list of companies I'd like to start my career with.

Without wax,

Matthew Scheuerman

July update

I have been SUPER busy lately but it's been awesome. I've been working on a client's website, busy at my day job, my daughter had her 2nd birthday party and we enjoyed bringing my son into this world!

This latest painting isn't finished but I really have felt like showing it off. As you can see, most of it is digitally hand painted. I've really enjoyed working on it.

I'm also working on new Photoshop actions for digital painters/matte painters so look forward to that information soon. I can't wait to put them up for sale!

My wife and I recently became slightly depressed when we realized that we could not move to California for a while. New bills have popped-up and we are going to move into a cheaper place in order to pay off bills and save money for the move. I was originally hoping to do some interviews in August (10 - 14) in California, but now I'm just hoping to get to meet-up with some of my twitter and blogger friends and maybe even some heroes! Contact me if you'd like to meet for lunch or dinner or whatever on August 10-11th.

Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of blogging and updating this blog more. I really miss updating here and leaving comments on other artists' blogs.

Without wax,

Matthew

Illusion Arts closes its doors

This morning I heard the following news from Andrew Orloff on twitter (his twitter profile is @vfxhack)

Bummed that Illusion Arts is closing after 24+ year in VFX biz. but thrilled that Syd Dutton is coming to Zoic

And while I'm happy for Zoic, I'm deeply saddened that Illusion Arts is closing.

What do Dylan Cole , Kelvin McClwain, and Robert Scifo have in common? Illusion Arts. 

I was really hoping to add my name to the list of amazingly talented people that have worked for Illusion Arts.

Unlike some of peers, who only want to work at a company only because of it's noteriety, I wanted to work at Illusion Arts because of the people there. I've talked to a few matte painters that worked at Illusion Arts and they all said the same thing. "Syd Dutton and Bill Taylor were awesome to work for and they both really took me under their wing and helped me advance my career."

Illusion Arts, even at its height, had only 30 employees. Looking at Illusion Arts from the outside, it really seemed like a tight-knit family. In fact I called Illusion Arts before Siggraph 2008 to ask if they would be attending. Bill Taylor answered the phone. I kid you not. Bill Taylor.

There are a lot of great VFX companies in California that have outstanding matte painting departments, but Illusion Arts's primary focus was matte painting and digital environments. 

I never got my reel into Illusion Arts, I wish I would have. I am working on a new reel now, but I wish I would have sent in something. Even my 2008 reel. 

I wish Syd Dutton and Bill Taylor the very best in their new endevours. I hope someday I get to work with them. 

The Lodge

This is my first new matte painting for my '09 demo reel.

In 2006 I took some photos in Washington DC of some of the various famous sites around the national mall. One of my favorite buildings was The Smithsonian Arts and Industries building.

I always had something "Harry Potteresque" in mind for the building but after sketching out quite a few ideas, I decided to just let some of my personal interests and style come out.

I've always been interested in Secret Societies, ornate and gigantic structures in remote locations, and the very end of magic hour right before it gets dark. I decided to create and environment that would be a meeting place for the barons and baronesses of industry, power, and money.

I sketched out a few things such as the lights, the bridge, the steps leading up to the building, and then when I felt I had a good enough idea of what I wanted I started painting and laying in photos. Honestly I can say that this has been one of the hardest paintings I have worked on but it's been very rewarding. I recieved alot of great feedback/critques from DJ Smack Mackey and Hugh Macdonald and I really feel that without them this matte painting wouldn't be as good as it is.

Here are the photos I used to put this together, all (except the dated one...that was from a friend that went with us to Hawaii) are my own taken in San Antonio, Arizona, Washington DC, and Hawaii.

Director James Cameron to showcase a "making of" for AVATAR

Recently I recieved a press release from a PR firm about an upcoming conference for producers of flim, TV, and video games.  Here's the full press release:

JAMES CAMERON

TO SHOWCASE THE MAKING OF AVATAR,

THE MOST ANTICIPATED FILM OF 2009

The most innovative filmmaker to utilize 3D technology will share insight into his next blockbuster and lead a rare personal discussion on the future of filmmaking at the inaugural Produced By Conference

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (April 14, 2009) – If sinking the Titanic was a filmmaking and storytelling marvel that led to the largest grossing film of all time, then Jim Cameron’s Avatar has the industry buzzing about what the maestro of mega-films has up his sleeve with his next hotly-anticipated holiday season blockbuster. Attendees at the PGA’s inaugural Produced By Conference will get to hear first-hand from Cameron when he makes a rare appearance to discourse on “Seeing the Future in 3D,” June 6 at Sony Pictures Studios.

Cameron, a pioneer of digital 3D filmmaking, will unveil the craft behind the making of Avatar with its combination of live action 3D and computer-generated, photo-real visual effects. Avatar, to be released by 20^th Century Fox in December of this year, is one of the most highly-anticipated films ever and is Cameron’s first narrative film since Titanic, the biggest box office hit of all time.

James Cameron noted, "This is the perfect opportunity for me to share what I've learned from making AVATAR about the cutting edge 3-D technology that is re-shaping how people make and view movies."

The Oscar-winning producer-director plans to emphasize where filmmaking is now and where it is going, both creatively and as a business.

Cameron’s “Seeing the Future in 3D” is one of more than 30 extraordinary lectures, panels, and workshops at the Produced By Conference. Other producers on the dais and the panels for this first-of-its-kind event include Betsy Beers, Ian Bryce, Bruce Cohen, Roger Corman, Carlton Cuse, Clint Eastwood, Mark Gordon, Marshall Herskovitz, Gale Anne Hurd, Kathleen Kennedy, Norman Lear, Bill Lawrence, Ali LeRoi, Michael London, Gary Lucchesi, Jim Morris, Gordon Paddison, Sabrina Wind and more. A complete list of sessions can be found at www.producedbyconference.com.

Created and hosted by the Producer’s Guild of America, the Produced By Conference marks the first time that an educational and collegial event has ever been staged to bring producers together to advance their knowledge, creativity, resources, vision and connections. The Produced By Conference unites the entire producing profession—from acclaimed Oscar and Emmy winners, to experienced team members, to the young storytellers who represent the next generation of creative entrepreneurs 

The Produced By Conference, presented by Plymouth Rock Studios, will be held June 5-7 at Sony Pictures Studios. The conference features an incredible array of speakers, seminars, technology demonstrations, networking opportunities, social events and vendor displays.

In addition to hearing from Cameron about the latest application of 3D and motion capture technology, Produced By Conference attendees will get an up-close-and-personal look at the newest generation of digital cameras, learn the ways to finance and distribute their films, discover how to perfect their pitches and find out how the best television series are developed, produced and sold. 

The sessions are designed for both established and emerging producers, and include panels and roundtable discussions with the producers of Iron Man, WALL-E, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Gran Torino, The Terminator, Blood Diamond, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Scrubs and many more.

Seats to Cameron’s session are limited and are exclusively available to attendees of the Produced by Conference. For more information or to register for the Produced By Conference, visit www.producedbyconference.com.

About The Producers Guild of America (PGA): 

The Producers Guild of America comprises 4000 members working in all areas of film, television, and ancillary production. The Guild’s leadership, guided by its President, Marshall Herskovitz, is committed to just treatment for members of the producing team, from rigorous enforcement of workplace labor laws to fair and impartial standards for the awarding of producing credits.   

# # #

Media Contact:

Insignia, Inc.

310-777-1150

James Cameron would certainly HAVE to show a scene or two from AVATAR in order to show how they did a making of. Hopefully we'll be able to get a taste from it too.

I think what's most interesting about this is that it's almost like a "behind the scenes" type showcase that is usually reserved for DVD extras. I really think some good money is going to start to flow in the direction of the artists who worked on this film, including Lightstorm Entertainment, and Weta.

Mass Effect 2 concept environments

I recently came across some of the new concept environments for Mass Effect 2 on IGN, and You know how I LOVE environments.

What really strikes me about these is that they have that "implied detail" about them where the artist/artists have used photographs and quick brushstrokes to make you think you're looking at something that is close to finaled or finished concept art. The artists at BioWare really know their stuff

When you zoom in (click the photos) you can see some of the fat brushstrokes and low-res photography stretched beyond recognition. Awesome use of atmospheric haze and depth as well.

The Art of Mass Effect has been on my wish list for quite some time so I may need to go out and grab it. I can only hope they do a book for Mass Effect 2.

A new space station image was just released so I've decided to post the art here. Big thanks to the folks at IGN .

brush demo/tutorial

Over the past three years I've created, collected, and edited brushes to use in my concept art and matte paintings.

I've decided to release these brushes to the wilds of the internet. Feel free to use, edit, and share them. Do whatever you want with them. Tweak them and then call them your own. Be inspired and have fun.

http://mordecaidesign.com/mattejourney/mordecai_brushdemo.zip

The concept painting I created with them:

Here's a 40 min video of me painting with the brushes

Quicktime mysteries

So the other night I finished recording my brush demo in ishowU HD Pro, and the entire video came out to be 2 hrs 35 minutes long. I used quicktime to edit the clips together, and then I used MovieFunnel to speed up the video to be 25 minutes. 

Speeding up the video through MovieFunnel was easy and it saved out a different version of the file when I selected "Full Self contained movie". But here's where the problems start. 

My original file was  660 mb. The 'funneled'  version of the video came out to be just a tad bit larger. I looked at the video and found that my 25 minute version had been added to the front of the 2 1/2 hour version. 

Ok...select in point...select out point...trim to selection...Save...file size smaller right? WRONG. 

It seems that Quicktime still keeps the original file refrenced. I've tried exporting a new ipod version of the video using VideoMonkey and got some wierd results. Instead of creating a video 25 minutes long...it referenced the old video and output 1hr of it...what the heck!?

Ok so here's what I want. I just want to export a new 25 minute version from this 'funneled' video and then send it to vimeo. Any suggestions?

Matte World Digital's Benjamin Button work

Via: VFXBlog

Matte World Digital's website has before and after pics of the studio's work for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

For which Craig Barron won an OSCAR!

Artists working on Avatar

If you really want to know how a film is going to "look", you can typically look at the artists working on a film and look at their styles. A director that listens to their artists is usually a director that makes AMAZING films. Directors like James Cameron.

James Cameron has assembled a who's-who of artist on his upcoming film AVATAR. For this post I'm not going to list everyone who has worked on AVATAR but instead list only the artists I could find substantial info on or find links to. The purpose of this post is to give these amazing artists some credit now, before the trailer for AVATAR comes out and their sites get overloaded with traffic :D

If I couldn't find enough info about an artist or find a link I didn't post them here. So please, if you have worked on this film and feel you deserve a link please email me! (mordecaidesign at gmail dot com)

Production Design

Rick Carter
Robert Stromberg

(No-one can ever find ENOUGH info about Robert Stromberg, but suffice to say that he is one of the most prolific matte painters in digital matte painting history and looked up to by just about every digital matte painter I know. His company, Digital Backlot, doesn't have a website because it doesn't need one. He's that well known.)


Art Direction

Todd Cherniawsky
Seth Engstrom
Sean Haworth
Andrew Menzies
Ben Procter


Art Department

François Audouy .... concept artist
Jim Charmatz .... conceptual design
Ryan Church .... concept artist
James Clyne .... concept artist
TyRuben Ellingson .... concept artist
Seth Engstrom .... visual concept artist
Kasra Farahani .... concept artist
Tex Kadonaga .... set designer
Gus Hunter .... concept artist and here
Darren A. Mosher .... special weapons & props
Neville Page .... concept artist
craig Shoji .... concept artist
Eddie Yang .... artist
Daphne Yap .... concept artist
Marco Di Lucca .... senior modeler: Weta Digital
Peter Godden .... layout artist
Barry Howell .... 3D concept artist
Jean-Francois Morissette .... layout: Weta Digital

Not listed on IMDB but I know they are working/worked on AVATAR

pipeline and character TD / lead stage operator / DOES EVERYTHING / All around nice guy:
David Stripinis
Robert Vignone ... Modeler
Tully Summers ... concept artist
Dylan Cole...concept artist

NOTE: I didn't list some of the compositors, TD's, supervisors etc. etc. working on this film. That will come in a later post. I'm not saying that VFX people aren't artists. THEY ARE.

Update on my lost photos

So I've been able to get everything back but some photos from DC and some vermillion cliffs photos. I'll get these from Cliff

I've declared organization bankruptcy and have decided to re-organize everything.

On deleting photos

I might not be able to describe what happened this weekend so I'll start out with these three photos.

They do a pretty good job of giving you a pretty good idea of how I felt:

I deleted my entire directory of matte painting photos/reference. But not to worry. I can get most of them back.

I decided to organize my matte painting photos directory over the weekend. I went into 2 of my external drives and deleted what I THOUGHT were two directories that were the same, and that didn't have matte painting photos in them. Well, one of them was my collection. I emptied the trash to clear up enough space. Oh no.

Really, you can get back almost any thing from any drive if you want to spend the time doing it. I started to use this program called photorec, ran it in terminal (DON'T I SOUND SMART!), and preceded to get back some of my files. photorec takes a LONG time so I called my buddy Cliff and asked if he still had my photos. He does. I'll just get them from him. I think I only need my Washington DC photos (the ones I'm most worried about are some Harry Potterish Smithsonian photos, which I have anyway), and some Vermillion Cliffs photos. I still have ALL of my photos from both trips to Hawaii and a trip to Saing George. The DC photos were a little different because I kept them seperate from family photos. This week: Some freelance work and some matte painting.

Rocketeer speedpainting

My buddy Cliff and I used to play "tag" before Siggraph to keep each-other accountable. He and I would send emails with the subject of "tag". If I recieved that email I had to stop what I was doing immediately, and send Cliff a screenshot of what I was working on. This gave us the the chance to review each other's work.

Cliff "tagged" me today and told me to do a Rocketeer painting. I was only supposed to spend two hours.

I spent EXACTLY two hours painting this and though I feel pretty good about the composition, but I noodled with it. There's also some

problems with the depth.

It was a good exercise though and much needed, since I've been busy with a lot of freelance lately.

Original

Next up, something using photography.

Monster Commute Character Concepts

Recently Bobby Chiu commented on my "Unbridled Optimism" post (Oh snap! Bobby reads my blog?). It got me thinking about his Whaleboy painting. Bobby's painting was actually a "re-imagining" of Patrick Morgan's WhaleBoy.

This inspired me to do some free work for a friend. I've been reading/inspired by Daniel Davis's webcomic Monster Commute. It's about two characters, a red-goat like character named Beastio Wand, and a skull enclosed in a glass-dome-robot body named Chadworth Machine. The plot and suspense is REALLY starting to build on the comic so if you haven't checked-it-out, you should.

I looked at his characters and thought, "what would I do if I where creating concepts for a live-action film of Monster Commute?"

I approached this work with a Martin Laing flair. I love how his technique is approachable. Much like a great matte painter, when you really get up close you can see all the little brushstrokes and differences in image resolutions. But looking at it in its intended size, everything tightens up. You can't tell the difference between a piece of leather and a

brushstroke. I decided to work loose, but at a very large resolution , and just try to blend a bunch of different brushstrokes and photos together.

I started collecting the needed photos from sxc.hu (and used only royalty free non-attribution photos). For Chadworth I used a bunch of tractor parts, steam engines, and a grain silo. I painted the glass bubble myself because I know that you can never find good transparent glass that is even close to the shape you want. After I positioned these parts on the canvas I just started painting them together till I was happy with the result.

The same pretty much went for Beastio. He's made from several goats and bears. The funny thing about the smirk on his face is it wasn't there in the original white goat photo I swear. It sort of just emerged and I accentuated it.

The methods I used for matching photos and painting were really matte painting techniques.

Here's the final results:

I sent the results over to Daniel and he even liked them enough to post them to his blog.

This was a really great exercise and I really recommend supporting your friends by creating something inspired by their work.

Unbridled optimism

Maybe it's because I lack some sort of chemical in my body, but I find it really hard to be cynical. Even when things are at their worst, I see life as something that is filled with hope and magic. I do sometimes catch myself whining (hopefully mostly internally), but it's only because I want to make the current situation better. 

I find that having a positive outlook can really help to achieve life goals, and there's nothing like great music to put us in that mood. It has to be the right kind of music though. "Walkin' on Sunshine" is a great track but it doesn't neccessarily put me into hopeful, looking toward the future kind of mode.  The kind of music I need is the kind that makes you smile, laugh, and then cry, and then laugh at the fact that you're crying.  

I've heard this "style" of music categorized as uplifting, heartfelt, and emotional, but I think that Jeremy Elder said it best: 

"Simply put, this song is what it sounds like to fly. All of the light and happiness and unbridled optimism I can imagine are wrapped up in its melody."

So I'm calling it music for unbridled optimism. Thanks Jeremy. 

Here's what I want to share with you. Hopefully this music fills you with joy, if it does I think that you'll find a smile crossing your face and you'll have to use the excuse that there is dust in your eye. But more importantly I want this music to fill you with a positive outlook, and hope for the future. 




This song is great but it REALLY hits home when set to Star Wars



The good stuff stars at 3:00



A really well edited piece that compiles themes from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Randy Edelman's best work. The beginning really makes me think about the achievements Bruce Lee made in his life and makes me hopeful about mine.



My Mother told me that she wants this song played at her funeral. She's gone from a little girl who lost her father at a young age, to losing a child, living as a farm wife/stay at home mom, being divorced twice, and then following her dreams and becoming a CPA at age 55. I can't think of a more fitting song. But now every time I hear it I get dusty eyes.






No doubt you've heard it a million times before, but I promise. This version is well worth a listen. The end of this film had me choked up real good.

Amazing Grace
Uploaded by coljakesg1

Timeless theme from a movie of my childhood. Craig Safan's best.



IMO James Horner's best theme.



Heat. Epic movie, epic song by Moby.


There's more but these are some of my favorites.

Matte Painting is Back! (in the VES's eyes anyway)

Really, matte painting has never taken a hiatus. The growing number of matte painting jobs in VFX houses is a true testament to this fact. 

However, in recent years matte painting has lost favor because it's become popular to lump matte paintings in with "environment design".  Environment design is a blanket term to mean procedural terrain, 3d environments, HDR panoramic photography, and many other cool techniques. 

Even the VES (Visual Effects Society),  has grouped matte painting in with "Created Environments" for the past 4 years .  At the 4th annual VES awards Star Wars Episode III was nominated for this award yet 3 out of four of the recieving members were matte painters:

Jonathan Harb

Yanick Dusseault

Brett Northcutt

And the next year the same thing happened with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, with 2 out of 4 of the artists working as matte painters:

Chris Stoski

Susumu Yukuhiro

(my apologies if I missed anyone's names)

This year the VES has decided to do the RAD thing and bring back the awards for Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Broadcast Program or Commercial. Here's the full list (with links to the matte painters portfolios!  :D  Sorry compositors. This is about us for now) :

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture

CHANGELING - 1928 Downtown L.A.

Romain Bayle, Abel Milanes, Allan Lee, Debora Dunphy

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Richard Bluff, Barry Williams, Yanick Dusseault, Yusei Uesugi

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK - Matte Paintings

Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

SPEED RACER - Overall Matte Painting Presentation

Lubo Hristov, Dennis Martin, Ron Crabb

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

DOCTOR WHO - SERIES 4 - Silence in the Library

Simon Wicker, Charlie Bennett, Tim Barter, Arianna Lago

GENERATION KILL - Episode 2

Christian Irles, Yannick Bourgie

MERLIN THE MARK OF NIMUEH SERIES 1 - The Mark of Nimueh

Dave Early, Simon Wickers, Bryan Bartlett, Sara Bennet

Awesome job everyone! 

Thank you VES for bringing back the matte painting award!