Chapter 7

Texturing and Color Correction

In the previous chapters, you built the foundation of a castle by establishing the perspective, light side, dark side, and shadows. Now you can enhance the realism of the project through the application of photographic textures.

By avoiding the use of photography up to this point, you’ve sidestepped one of the most common pitfalls of digital matte painting: the montage approach of piecing together photos to make a composition. If you become overly reliant on photographic material, you won’t experience the creative freedom of designing a composition from scratch. Starting with photographic images can stymie your artistic vision in the initial design phase. Falling under the influence of a photograph’s existing realism, you won’t mine the rich vein of imagination that lies within you. By taking the time to work through the basic steps, you won’t be a slave to photography. Rather, the reference photos will serve to advance your vision.