The secrets of matte painting: 10 top tips

A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape or other distant location used in movies to create an environment that would be either too expensive or impossible to build - such as alien worlds or fairytale lands.

In traditional cinema, matte paintings were painted onto large sheets of glass and integrated with the live-action footage, famous examples including Dorothy’s approach to the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz and the tractor-beam set of the first Star Wars movie.

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Creative Bloq Staff
All things Creative Bloq

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson, Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The ImagineFX magazine team also pitch in, ensuring that content from leading digital art publication ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.