If you live in the Midwest and just got hit with all the snow we did here in Chicago, it’s a perfect time to grab images for matte paintings.  Especially if you are doing snow scenes!  So it’s time to grab images of snow blown fields, piles of snow in parking lots, and shear cliffs that come from cleared driveways.

Try to get shots from low angles and high, close ups and wide shots.  That way you can bring a lot of images together in Photoshop.

Even if you can’t paint out the elements that give away the scale of the snow banks, you can use it as a lighting study or as a foundation of your painting.

Once elements are removed that give away the scale of these snow banks, it might be pretty hard to tell these are just piles of snow in a parking lot somewhere.

Don’t you think this could be some alien world or some place near Outpost #31?

I’ve created a set of images on my Flickr page called “matte painting raw” just in case you live somewhere where you don’t get snow.  I also have clouds in there too.  You just never know when you might need to do some sky replacements.  Feel free to use mine.  If you do, please send me link so I can check it out!