Concept Art & Matte Painting for Film

Advanced Techniques using Photoshop, Maya & Nuke with Igor Staritsin

Industrial Light & Magic Art Director Igor Staritsin covers essential and advanced Photoshop techniques that professional concept artists and matte painters use daily in the film and visual effects industry. Topics include image extraction, blending modes, color correction, photo integration, and the core compositing workflows required to build believable, production-ready environments. 

In this 3.5-hour workshop, Igor explores how to maintain visual consistency across complex scenes, manage light and atmospheric depth, and efficiently organize layers for large-scale matte painting projects. Throughout the process, he demonstrates how to use industry-standard tools, primarily Photoshop and Maya, to build a workflow that reflects real production environments.

Once the fundamentals are established, Igor shows how to apply them in a practical, production-style exercise by creating a destroyed city matte painting from start to finish. Starting with a clean plate, he details how to progressively build a full set extension, design and integrate realistic destruction, and refine every detail to achieve a cohesive, cinematic result. He emphasizes storytelling through environment design, ensuring that every element contributes to a convincing sense of scale, history, and mood.

In the final stage, he teaches how to elevate the matte painting into a cinematic concept keyframe by integrating characters and 3D elements created and assembled in Maya. This step focuses on camera framing, focal hierarchy, and narrative impact, ultimately transforming the piece into a compelling image that communicates the look and atmosphere of a potential film shot.

Igor’s workshop is uniquely built directly on years of professional production experience in the film and VFX industry. Every technique and workflow he demonstrates is grounded in real-world practice and delivered using industry-standard tools and methods. His goal is not only to teach software skills, but to clearly explain how professional matte paintings are created under real studio conditions, closely mirroring the expectations and pipeline of a working concept artist or matte painter.