Many of the images that we accept, almost without question, as the backgrounds for scenes in motion pictures, are in part or in total the creation of matte painters.

These image can make us believe the action is taking place in a fantastic other world, or in a slightly modified version of this one.

DUSSO is the professional handle of Yanick Dusseault, a matte painter and production artist working in the film and, to a lesser extent, television industries. I wrote a short post on his work back in 2005.

Dusseault has worked for major special effects houses like WETA Digital, where he was Senior Matte Painter for Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Since 2003 he has been working with ILM (Lucas Digital), for whom he is a Lead Matte Painter and was responsible for many of the striking background images for Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith.

Other film credits include The Island, War of the Worlds, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and Terminator III.

His web site includes galleries of his matte painting, production art and personal work. Many of the images in the Matte Painting section include photographs that were the basis of altered backgrounds, along with the finished matte painting.

There is a special gallery for his work on Star Wars: Episode III, in which you can see large images of his wide aspect, sometimes 360° panoramic background paintings for that film.

Dussseault works digitally and the level of detail in his images is striking, as is the mastery with which he creates imaginary landscapes and cityscapes, and imbues them with the realistic feeling of sunlight, dusk or the scattered light of cloudy skies.

I love the luxurious detail he has lavished on the image above, top (I don’t know what film is was for), and the wonderful building that takes its design cues from a 1930’s radio. In looking at the large version in his Production Art section, I was also impressed with the way the sunlight plays across the tops and edges of the building’s form, and the rather daring darkness in which he casts the shadowed areas of the building and the streets and plaza below.

In order to achieve the effect of a projection of physical reality, matte painters must exert precise control over tonal values and subtleties of color, any deviation wide enough to be noticeable can “break the spell” and remind you that you are seeing a mock environment, rather than a believable setting for the story.

Dusseault is at that top level of matte painting artistry that can make you believe the unreal is real, and transport you to other worlds, times and places.

Matthias Lechner is a German born art director, production designer and visual development artist living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

He is currently Art Director for a 3-D feature from Vangard animation called Space Chimps, but what I found most fascinating in his online galleries are the production and design drawings for a range of European (I think mostly German and Belgian) films that have unfortunately not made their way “across the pond”.

These mey be more familiar to European readers than they are to me, and include titles like Little Dodo (above, top), The Little Polarbear 2, Laura’s Star, Derrick (above, bottom), Globi and the Stolen Shadows, Troll-Story and Help, I’m as Fish, as well as several television productions.

Lechner’s monochromatic drawings for these are nothing short of wonderful. Mostly environments and backgrounds, they are simultaneously lush with detail and beautifully free, sharing the characteristics of a finished tone painting and a sketch.

His control of value and texture give these wash drawings an ability to evoke a place, atmosphere and time of day that could hardly be improved on by the addition of color. Lechner wields his monochromatic “palette” with uncanny aplomb. You will find a bit of color work for one of his productions; but as nicely handled as those pieces are, I don’t miss the color when looking through the rest of his portfolio.

What strikes me most is his ability to completely master the particular environment he is constructing; whether thick jungle foliage, craggy seacoast rocks, undersea pools lit by shafts of sunlight or the rich architectural details of European cities.

[Link via Man Arenas (see my previous post on Dodecaden/Man Arenas)]