In this Blog, you will find mostly matte paintings and miniatures for films. CGI and digital matte paintings are fully covered on many blogs and web sites. This small place is dedicated to the art of traditional matte painting.

The blog is organized into four categories shown on the right sidebar.

1- Articles and history of mattes and miniatures. 

2. Matte painters from all around the world in alphabetical order

3. Matte painting movies.   Titles from all countries showing samples of glass and matte paintings. 

4. Matte paintings from all around the world.

It still remains many professionals and movies I have to add, but if anyone has information that thinks it should be on this page, I'd love to hear from you.

moviemattepainting@gmail.com

Doug Ferris

Biography:

From John Grant (matte camera)

 “Doug must be accredited with the introduction of the `soft matte technique` because in the early days, the painting was used as its own matte, this made it very hard for the camera crew as they had to wait for the artist to finish painting before they could start work. The introduction of the independent soft mattes made it possible to carry out much of the photographic work before the painting had to be photographed. It also made joining the original scene and painting easier as one did not have to contend with hard join lines, it also helped with camera unsteadiness. This was a great step forward and I don`t think Doug was truly given the credit for it"

From Martin Body (matte camera)

 “The artist I worked with most often was Doug Ferris. We were both employed on Roy Field’s projects in the early to mid eighties: ‘Superman III’, ‘Santa Claus’, ‘Supergirl’, ‘Labyrinth’, ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen’, ‘The Last Days of Patton’, Erik the Viking’, etc. In my opinion, Doug Ferris was possibly the best of the British matte painters.”

Filmography provided by Doug Ferris and John Grant

Shepperton Special Effects  Matte Department

 1962 – The Day of the Triffids.

 1962- The Victors.

 1962- Heavens Above

 1963 – Lord Jim

 1963- Dr. Strangelove

 1964-Bedford Incident.

 1964- The Tomb of Ligeia

 1964- Circus World

 1964- Danger Man (tv series)

 1965-Great St Trinians Train Robbery.

 1965- The Skull

 1965- Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.

 1965- Dr, Who and the Daleks.

 1965- The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders

 1965- Monster of Terror.

 1965- Genghis Khan

 1966-Psychomania.

 1966- Family Way.

 1966- The Spy with a Cold Nose.

 1966-Half a Sixpence.

 1967-The Fearless Vampires Killers.  

 1967- Oliver.

 1967- Viking Queen

 1967- Billion Dollar Brain .1968-Best House in London (Town).

 1968- Anne of a Thousand Days.

 1969-Cromwell

 1969- Valley of Gwangi

 1970-Dads Army.

 1970- Scrooge

 1971-Macbeth

 1971- Mr. Forbush and the Penquins

1972-Alices Adventures in Wonderland

 1972- Creeping Flesh.

 1972- The Asphyx

 1972- Under Milk Wood

1973-Tales From The Crypt.

 Bray Studios – for Vee Films

 1974 – Mohammed, Messenger of God (Original Negative Painting)

 1974- The Four Musketeers ( redoing Matte paintings originally shot in Spain)

1975- Rocky Horror Picture Show (Opticals, Lighting & Painting)

 1975- The Man Who Would Be King( Snow mountainscapes paintings & Photo-Cutouts)

 Shepperton Studios in Vee Film block

 1976- The Prince and the Pauper ( Cathedral glass paintings in Hungary and split screens)

1977-The Medusa Touch (painting opticals and falling model cathedral)

 1977- Man in an Iron Mask. 

 1977-A Bridge too Far (painting aeroplanes & parachutes

In the third image, the distant bridge was painted by Doug Ferris

1978-Superman  (matte painting in association with wire removal, night shots, opticals)

The matte painting of the railroad tracks with Superman was painted by Ferris.

  1979- SOS Titanic (colouring B&W prints and opticals)

 1979- Raise the Titanic (painting by Bob Spencer)

 1979- Alien . Ferris painted several matte paintings that were ultimately not used in the final cut of the film.  The only one that made the cut was one painted by Ray Caple. 

 1980- Superman II ( matte painting)

 1980- Elephantman Man

 1982-The Keep (painting & opticals)

Optical Film Effects:

 1982-Super Girl (painting & wire removal)

 1984-Santa Claus (painting of snow scenes & stars, factories, New York streets & girls houses )

 1986 - Last days of Patton (painting of ruins and military hospital)

 1986 - The little shop pf Horrors (matte painting)

 1987-Labyrinth. Some of the matte paintings for Labyrinth were created by ILM's matte department, led by Sean Joyce and Carolen Green. On the British side, Doug Ferris created 14 matte paintings for Roy Field's company, Optical Film Effects.  

1990-A Kiss Before Dying (painting of the factory)

 1990- Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (painting of castles)

 1990- Ironclads.

JJ Images:

 1986-Princess Bride (painting with Bob Cuff)

 1987-The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (painting with Bob Cuff & Leigh Took)

1988-Eric the Viking (painting and effects with Bob Cuff)

 1990-Batman. With Derek Meedings serving as visual effects supervisor, the matte paintings were created by  Leigh Took, Doug Ferris, and Ray Caple.  

   Other work during this period .Comercials : Green Peace Mont Blanc Wonder Green Power Foot-Locker Winalot Vitaweat Camel Cigarettes.Shepperton –

 Magic Camera Company :

 1990-Les Amant (paintings)

 1993-Never Ending Story 3 (paintings)

 1993- Princess Cariboo (paintings)

 1994- Return of the Native

 1994- Brother Cadfael (tv series)

 1994- First Knight

 1994- Judge Dredd  (Prison matte painting)

 1994- War of the Buttons

 1994- Charlemagne (miniseries)

1995-  Wind in the Willows

 1995- Muppets Treasure Island

 1995- City of Joy

1996-The Borrowers .

 1996- Hamlet.

 1997-Seven Years in Tibet.

Doug Ferris working on  a glass painting for Seven Years in Tibet.

Emil Kosa Jr.

Biography:

Date of Birth 28 November 1903 , Paris, France

Date of Death 4 November 1968 , Los Angeles, California, USA

 Son of Emil Kosa Senior. At 1933, he entered at Fox matte department under Fred Sersen supervision.Although he only started receiving credit in 1958, Emil Kosa Jr. was a matte artist at 20th Century-Fox for thirty-five years and was responsible for the painting of the famous 20th Century-Fox “searchlight” logo, a variation of which was originally done by Kosa in 1933 for 20th Century Pictures before they merged with Fox Film Corporation in 1935.With the introduction of CinemaScope the logo was altered, also by Kosa and was used till 1981.

Member of the National Academy of Design and the California and American Watercolor Societies. 

  Self portrait of matte painter Emil Kosa Jr.

Filmography.

- Star! (1968) (special photographic effects)

- The Sweet Ride (1968) (photographic effects)

- Bandolero! (1968) (special photographic effects)

- Planet of the Apes (1968) (special photographic effects)

One of the most iconic images from the movie “Planet of the apes” is this matte painting by Emile Kosa.

-The Flim Flam Man, (1967) (special photographic effects)

- Doctor Dolittle (1967) (special effects)

-The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) (special effects)

-A Guide for the Married Man (1967) (special effects)

-Caprice (1967) (special effects)

-In Like Flint (1967) (special photographic effects)

-Way… Way Out (1966) (special photographic effects)

-Stagecoach (1966) (special effects)

-Fantastic Voyage (1966) (special effects)

-Sand Pebbles (1966) (special photographic effects)

-The Sound of Music (1965) (special photographic effects)

-Von Ryan’s Express (1965) (special effects)

-John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965) (special effects)

-The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) (special photographic effects)

-Dear Brigitte (1965) (special effects)

-Morituri (1965)(special effects)

-Our Man Flint (1965) (special effects)

-Goodbye Charlie (1964) (special effects)

-Fate Is the Hunter (1964) (special effects)

-Shock Treatment (1964) (special photographic effects)

-Cleopatra(1963)(Special photographic effects)

-Take Her, She’s Mine (1963) (special camera effects)

-Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) (special photographic effects)

-Tender Is the Night (1962) (special effects)

-Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961) (special photographic effects)

-The Story of Ruth (1960) (special photographic effects)

-North to Alaska (1960) (special effects)

-Tender is the night(1961)(special effects)

-Voyage to the center of the earth (1959)(special photographic effects)

-The Gift of Love (1958) (special photographic effects)

-Rains of ranchipur(1955) (special effects)

-The robe (1953) (special effects)

-Hell of high waters(1954) (special effects)

-The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (effects team) (uncredited)

-Deep waters (1948) (matte art assist)

-The razors edge (1946)(matte art assist)

-Crash Dive(1943)(matte art assist)