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The concept and inspiration
I’m constantly inspired by rusty old buildings and factories, places that once had life, a purpose and strong place in society, gears of the industrial world that have long since seized and become forgotten, consumed by nature, painted with a new shade of beauty where machines made of steel are bent with vines and plants climb high up walls and through rooftops.
Fallen Beauty was taken from this inspiration and a number of ancient wonders such as the lost cities of Cambodia and other parts of the world where civilizations had sunk into the sands of time over thousands of years and the idea that nature has slowly begun to tear down the world built by man in an effort to heal and repair itself from centuries of abuse and neglect. |
How it came to life
The original photo plate was taken while on a business trip in London, I was asked by a client to photograph a few financial buildings, when that was done i used the rest of the time to take in the sites.  It was always a childhood dream to see a dinosaur in the “flesh” or bone as the case was so I took a trip over to the Natural History Museum and began shooting lots of pics.
Choice of the photo itself for the final artwork came from a Matte painting contest over at CGtalk.com For a few months fellow members were expressing a wish to undertake a new challenge, so feeling a little daring I decided to take on the challenge myself.
I set a brief to take the museum and depict a setting thousands of years in the future where the building had become consumed by the natural world.
Overall the contest had a very positive response and was a great success. The final entries were outstanding and met with high praise.
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Creating the artwork
The process of creating the artwork was done with a combination of digital techniques using 3d, photographic elements and paint. I began by cleaning up the raw plate, removing the people and all signs of contemporary furniture. This was a pain staking process and took a few days to do, once this was done it was time to extend the photo in all directions to give a little more room to play with. That cause added problems with perspective issue which needed to be corrected.
When the plate was finally cleaned up iI started to add in the leafs, moss, plants and foliage carefully building up the environment taking care not to overdo the effect to the point that it became too dense. I was aiming for a location that would be completely over run with plant life, trees breaking through the stone floor, vines growing across the ceiling, it had to seem like a secret haven of life in the middle of a dense jungle.
Composition was always very important, I decided early that my focal point was going to be the stairs leading up to the lone statue. Everything had to lead the eyes in this direction, the composition of the plants, the placement of the flowers in the pool are all placed to direct the viewer in one direction. 
Once the elements were all in place I began the final process of color correcting and lighting, this was key to establishing a sense of realism. The lighting was also used to re-enforce the composition, again directing the eye with different values, creating a corridor of light for the viewer to move through.
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Conclusion
So to conclude i was fairly happy with the final results, i'm never 100% happy, there's always something else that can be done, another brush stroke here and there :) But in the end i feel i acomplished the original vision of what i set out to create. Time permitting i'd love to add a 3d camera move into this one, though i've never attempted one with so much foliage. I'll probably give it a try soon. Watch this space.
I plan on following this theme though a few more mattes, i've always wanted to recreate an old abondoned subway station with ornate victorian decor complete with classic train and maybe a water fall pouring down from the streets above, lots of ideas :)
View the final version in high def: here.
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