The Digital Matte Painting Handbook

Final Form Layer

You need to paint one more layer to give the castle full form. To add more definition to the structure, look for areas where the forms intersect, downward-facing surfaces, and regions that receive less reflected light.

Darkening Where Two Surfaces Intersect

Create a new layer called FinalDarks at the top of the Form group. Set the blending mode to Multiply. With a brush sized to 10 pixels, 0% hardness, and 40% opacity, darken spots where two surfaces intersect on an inside corner. This resembles the natural world, because wherever two objects meet to form an inside corner, there is more opportunity for dirt to get trapped and less open area for light to illuminate the surface. Where two walls abut as described, or two towers ...