The Digital Matte Painting Handbook

Creating the Sky

You’ll create the sky through a layering process, arranging different sections of clouds on top of each other to achieve a complex sky. You can find the photo reference for the sky on the DVD in the www.cgtextures.com folder. Open FullskiesSunset0106_1_L.jpg, and copy it into the project just above the SkyMultiply and Plate layers. Name the new layer Sky. Position and scale it behind the castle until you find a section of the clouds you like. In order to concentrate on the sky, turn off the visibility of the castle (Figure 7-67).

Figure 7-67: Adding a photo reference of clouds

Fill the sky with the same dark blue color you used ...