In this Course
We will go over the technical and creative skills to create matte paintings and environments for Animation
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Students will learn key techniques and skills to create portfolio level work
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Build the necessary foundation to help you in your journey
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The lessons can be applied towards Feature Film, Televison, and Game Cinematics work
Course Content
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Overview of the Portal
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INTRODUCTION
FREE PREVIEW -
Animation through the years: Traditional Studios
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Animation through the years: New Media/Games Cinematics/Etc.
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History of Matte Painting and Background Painting
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What is Matte Painting?
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Walking thru a shot in an Animation pipeline
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Reference Library
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Photoshop 101
FREE PREVIEW -
Let's create a digital painting
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Lasso Speed Painting
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Assignment 1: Digital Painting and Lasso Speed Painting
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Upload Assignment #1
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Creating a Matte Painting Shot
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MAYA 101
FREE PREVIEW -
NUKE 101 and Basic Projection
FREE PREVIEW -
Nuke 101 and Multi-layer Projection
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Launched on your shot
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Beginning setup in Maya
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Onto your Nuke setup
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Photoshop - Painting your projection
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Clouds
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Dealing with Gradients
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Photoshop - Quick sketch and using Photos
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Compositing your first Shot
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Houdini 101
FREE PREVIEW -
Houdini VDB Clouds
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Maya VDB Clouds
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MAYA and HOUDINI for Layout with VDBs
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Houdini Solaris and USD
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Houdini Solaris Setup
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Stylizing Elements
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Finishing up shot
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Assignment #2 - Static Matte Painting shot
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Upload Assignment #2
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Cityscape Establishing Shot
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Aspect Ratios and Camera Lenses
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Projection Camera vs Shot Camera
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Projection Patch Setup
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Projection Camera Filmback - Pixels
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Setting up the scene
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3d Assets and Simple Texturing/Modeling
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Houdini Solaris Material X shader
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Going from BlockIn to Assets
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Lighting and Fog/mist in Maya
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Lighting up the City
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Renders AOVs and Layers
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Projection Camera and Layers
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Review of Assignment
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Assignment #3
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Upload Assignment #3
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Creating Multiple Matte Paintings for Several Animated shots
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Reference Board
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Landscape Drone Reference
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Assets
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Maya Scattering with Mash
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Getting started on your multi-shots
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Nuke and Photoshop
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Choose your FG Element
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HDR Element for Reference
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HDR Backplate
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Nuke Setup pt2
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Rock Assets placed
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Mash World Node
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Fine Tuning Things
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Photoshop Projection Paint Work
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Nuke Color Corrections
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Assignment #4
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Upload Assignment #4
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Shot 1 and 3 Setup
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Combining Projections
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Scattering with Houdini
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Houdini - Scattering with hand painted mask
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Houdini - Scatter Grass on Rock Cliff
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Layout and Render Setup
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Wrapping up Avatar Project
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Assignment #5
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Upload Assignment #5
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About this course
- 89 lessons
- 22.5 hours of video content
Meet Eric
Instructor

Student Testimonials
“This class was such an amazing learning experience and really helps you expand your knowledge on industry standard programs. I had a wonderful experience learning from Eric, he was very understanding of all experience levels and made the class feel really comfortable!”
“You can't find the knowledge contained in this course anywhere else! Trust me, I was looking around for quite some time. Eric's veteran experience is very evident in every step of the way, from explanations, problem solving, to the individual feedback. I felt like I had an incredible supervisor for the duration of the course, as well as a class of colleagues I could learn alongside through the forum, which I now miss! I can't recommend this enough for anyone heading into or curious about mattepainting for 3D animation. ”
“It has been a truly wonderful experience to have Eric as an instructor. He has provided guidance and thoughtful feedback throughout our class. Eric cares about the students and want us to be successful. I definitely feel more confident in my skills after doing the assignments. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn matte painting/set extension for animation!”
“Super glad that I had the opportunity to take Eric’s course. His attention to detail and passion for the subject shines through the course material and projects. This class gave a very comprehensive breakdown of matte painting—giving us exposure to industry standard programs, allowing us to practice 3D skills, providing repetition through projects and demos to improve digital painting skills, and walking through how to tie all elements together. I learned so much across each discipline within Matte painting, and was challenged in a way that allowed me to feel my growth throughout the course. The quality of the course is topped by Eric’s instruction and I would highly recommend anyone who is interested multiple parts of the CG pipeline and learning 3d and 2d take this class. ”
“I had a great experience in Eric's matte painting for animation class! Learning about the history of matte paintings in film through the century was foundational as we started out in the course. From Disney's golden age animated films to the movies we see on screen today, Eric was a great tutor in helping us learn and see the potential of matte paintings and set extension work in animated movies. His guidance and expertise in the artistic and technical aspects of matte painting have helped me to take the next steps in my own work. With hands-on projects, professional instruction, and constructive feedback, I would recommend Eric's classes to anyone!”
“If you want to learn matte painting, but don't know where to start Matte Mentors is the perfect class for you. I am so glad I had to opportunity to take this class and learn from Eric. Prior to taking this class I had no experience with programs such as Maya or Nuke, but after Matte Mentors I feel much more confident navigating those programs and can even create my own projects from scratch. I highly recommend this class.”
“I wanted to learn more about animation and Disney great background which match so well. I thought at first time that the matte painter make some BG, like as the sky, cloud, and some city with some photos and paints stuff but not at this extent. I'm not a good painter but event a beginner as myself can still do something nice with Eric as mentor. He is a great teacher :) I learn a lot and I want to do my own layout/previs with some of these techniques for dress up the scene et render some beautiful image. :)”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the class. There was so much content to absorb! My favorite part were the video critiques and paintovers. It was great having a professional of Erics caliber critiquing everyones work and we could view each others critiques. You learn more from mistakes, even if they aren’t your own. Thanks for the hard work Eric.”
“Really awesome course. Eric goes above and beyond to help us out and explains really well all the steps involved in the projects.”
“Eric is extremely kind and honest with the way he delivers feedback, I probably sound like a broken record when I say this because I say this about anyone I choose to learn from, I really seek it intentionally. I think it's because that's what I look for when i'm trying to learn something new, and I think that's one of the best skills a mentor can have, is the ability to develop an artist constructively. Eric taught strong fundamentals about painting, values, creating convincing leading lines, and a stunning image while also teaching us a few fun compositing tricks to level up shots. It was complex material, and ones that I will continue to go back to and constantly level up ”