Monday, July 5, 2010

New York City

This painting goes back a few years. OK, it goes back over 20 years. Way back, when I was an apprentice Matte Painter, my mentor Mike Lloyd gave me a training assignment to get me ready for all the cityscape paintings we were going to be doing on Dick Tracy. The assignment: find a bunch of photographs of New York and Chicago, and make painting copies...one a day (8 hours max.)...black and white only. Of course, as this was matte painting training, it went without saying that the paintings needed to look like photos.

Up until this point, I'd never really dealt with architectural rendering on this level, and was pretty lost as to how to include so much detail in such a relatively short period of time. As I progressed from painting to painting however, I discovered that the secret wasn't in the detail you included...but in the detail you left out. The trick was to edit and indicate. Keep it loose, but accurate. Big brushes. Big brush strokes. Practice, practice, practice.

This went on for about a month and culminated in the painting below.

Acrylic
at

47 comments:

  1. DanielJuly 5, 2010 at 9:26 AM

    Awesome painting - as with a lot of your work I like the way it's painted so freely yet so much 'realism' about it. That sounds like a good assignment and one I think I might have a go at myself.

    Thanks for the 'pro tip' about editing out unnecessary details as well.

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  2. A. RiabovitchevJuly 5, 2010 at 9:35 AM

    Really beautiful!Small one look like photo!:o)

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  3. Adam TempleJuly 5, 2010 at 11:28 AM

    Amazing! I can't believe this is 20 years old!

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  4. Martin BergquistJuly 5, 2010 at 1:26 PM

    stunning... mattepaintings did look better before.

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  5. PointpusherJuly 5, 2010 at 2:12 PM

    Digging the new layout to the blog, and this painting made me homesick! Great work as usual.

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  6. Avner GellerJuly 5, 2010 at 2:48 PM

    really beautiful and inspiring story too :) thanks for sharing!

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  7. NickJuly 5, 2010 at 2:52 PM

    Wow, this is so good. Fabulous lighting and idicative detailing. Do you have any more of the earlier attempts that didnt go so well? It would be great to see that progression!

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  8. UnknownJuly 5, 2010 at 3:07 PM

    I wonder how long would it take you now? ... just amazing...

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  9. ZacharyJuly 5, 2010 at 5:08 PM

    This is really impressive. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. UnknownJuly 5, 2010 at 7:38 PM

    Amazingly inspiring. Thanks for posting! =)

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  11. Alex CampbellJuly 5, 2010 at 8:20 PM

    Wow, A lot cam be learned just from looking a this painting. Thanks!

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  12. David CampbellJuly 5, 2010 at 11:35 PM

    This is mindblowingly good! Amazing.

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  13. AlexanderJuly 6, 2010 at 12:28 AM

    Good image, atmosphere and color kid !!

    with 20 years old ?!?!?!?!?!?!?! X_X

    Amazing!!

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  14. AnonymousJuly 6, 2010 at 1:04 AM

    Very intersting post , thx for share Paul !

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  15. Vj ArumugamJuly 6, 2010 at 1:11 AM

    loved the lines....
    "I discovered that the secret wasn't in the detail you included...but in the detail you left out"

    and its a brilliant piece. hats off!

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  16. Paul LasaineJuly 6, 2010 at 3:59 AM

    Probably several weeks:)

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  17. TooninatorJuly 6, 2010 at 5:32 AM

    bloody brilliant. You're an unstoppable force (even 20 years ago)

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  18. CarolynJuly 6, 2010 at 6:29 AM

    WOw that is is so cool! I love it, very well done. I totally thought this was a photo

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  19. samacleodJuly 6, 2010 at 10:32 AM

    Wow, awesome, great story. So inspiring.

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  20. Romain JouandeauJuly 7, 2010 at 3:43 AM

    Ouch! stunning work, very impressive!

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  21. Davidk214@gmail.comJuly 7, 2010 at 1:46 PM

    Wow thanks for sharing! I love reading past stories about your career.

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  22. DaveJuly 8, 2010 at 6:46 AM

    Nice painting. Seems like people always respond to this kind of selective detailing in paintings because it looks so real to us from a distance but up close it's not detailed. This approach to doing a matte shot seems a lot harder to do on the computer, but I guess the same principle can apply. Everything would have to be painted a lot bigger than final resolution though, right?
    -Dave

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  23. AnonymousJuly 8, 2010 at 12:14 PM

    Now this why I love this blog! (and all the other ones)

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  24. Manoj a menonJuly 10, 2010 at 1:21 PM

    wow...
    paul..can you pls post a Photoshop demonstration....wanna learn how you do this.
    Its just killing me..
    pls do post a video ..
    pls..

    Manoj
    ( still waiting to hear from Kim)

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  25. Dilanka SamaratungaJuly 10, 2010 at 1:49 PM

    Amazing work! So inspiring Paul.

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  26. paulJuly 13, 2010 at 5:43 PM

    this guys is not bad eh?

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  27. UnknownJuly 13, 2010 at 9:55 PM

    Damn Dude! Inspiring!

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  28. OV!July 23, 2010 at 10:55 PM

    WOW!

    you are insane.

    period.


    >oVi

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  29. AnonymousJuly 31, 2010 at 2:08 AM

    You make me want to practice more.

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  30. AnonymousJuly 31, 2010 at 10:11 PM

    Real cool stuff I gotta say.

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  31. rivamonteAugust 3, 2010 at 9:43 PM

    Wonderful work. Can you tell us what is the size of this piece? Thank you for sharing!

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  32. Paul LasaineAugust 4, 2010 at 12:24 AM

    This piece is 14" x 18".

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  33. mellowsmootheAugust 4, 2010 at 8:19 AM

    Nice work Paul! At first I thought this was a photo you took and then it expanded to be a well-indicated painting. Great work... yet again. :) It's great how the colors are limited but seem to make it more vivid somehow.

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  34. hansAugust 7, 2010 at 6:37 PM

    it is so refreshing to see this 'idea' of realism in a time where nearly every design is overloaded and killed with detail. and what you write about the secret you discovered should hang on the wall in front of us.

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  35. GraciaAugust 14, 2010 at 8:48 AM

    wow! the small one really looks like a photo!! it's amazing! in only eight hours! I can't believe you just practiced during one month and got there!!
    with acrylics!
    ASTONISHING!
    thanks for sharing!!
    :)

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  36. AnonymousAugust 15, 2010 at 9:21 PM

    Do you know an illustration of moby dick turned into a jigsaw puzzle from 25 yrs ago?
    I am looking to collect one, it's for sentimental resons. I appreciate it.

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  37. Richard SmithemanAugust 16, 2010 at 5:26 PM

    It's beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

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  38. KennethAugust 19, 2010 at 4:22 PM

    @ hans, yes, it's extremely annoying when people ask you to render your designs to death. This painting is beautiful, nice and loose.

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  39. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2010 at 5:17 AM

    The finished product looks incredible. What I wouldn't give to have artistic talent (I'd probably give my two arms, which render me a little artistically deficient!).

    I'll be travelling to NYC (and the USA for the first time) from Ireland - Until then, I think I'll stare at this creation and let my imagination flow.

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  40. NZPeteOctober 8, 2010 at 11:13 PM

    Hi Paul

    I've admired your traditional matte painting work for years - though it's been years since I've seen any.

    I've got a blog dedicated to old school matte painted effects and cover many artists, genres, studios and titles. I'll be doing a Dick Tracy special sometime soon.

    Peter
    http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com

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  41. Chelsea OddJanuary 24, 2011 at 1:27 PM

    Wow! wow!! wow!!!

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  42. Kevin SherbrookeJanuary 24, 2011 at 8:56 PM

    Looks great Paul....almost as good as the one we did in high school!

    Best, Kevin

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  43. AdamApril 9, 2011 at 12:19 PM

    What a great assignment. I definitely need to do stuff like this. I can't believe this painting is 20 years old! I was like, 2 when you painted this. Your experience in the industry is impeccable.

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  44. Fernando TeixeiraJune 15, 2013 at 6:38 AM

    Man your work is great!!! Please continue to post!

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  45. Background RemoverMarch 27, 2015 at 4:16 AM

    Is this a painting !!! OMG! You are awesome :)

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  46. Clipping pathJune 17, 2015 at 3:01 AM

    Great work. I appreciate your work. It's really nice. Thanks for sharing.

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  47. Clipping Path ServiceAugust 28, 2015 at 10:54 AM

    This is an image of long before. How could there was so tall buildings ? Really amazing. New York is always first in technology and instruments.

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