I love progression images, to see how it came together.  Thanks for sharing as you go down this path.

Isn't it fun the difference the lighting and atmosphere makes?

Looking forward to it. 

Mark

The night version of this image has two important buildings in it which are also in the day time version.  I wanted some consistency between these two images so I've been working on the daytime version enough to where I felt confident that the main tower and the crane would work in the daytime image.

I'm posting my progress on the daytime version that I've completed so far.  I'm going to put this scene to rest now and go back to the  night time version copying the crane and the tower from this scene over.

When the night version is done, I'll move back to the day version.  I have six of these matte paintings to do.  I've completed one and started two more (I'm going to croak!).

Diggn' it. 

I hope this image will be done soon.  I'm getting interested in seeing the final product.

Just in case, if you google Starbase 11, you can find the original painting of this image made by Albery Whitlock for the original Star Trek series.

There are lots of little things updated for this image but the most obvious is the construction of the city in the distance (lots of little buildings!).

I love seeing projects grow. 

I won't be able to work on this image today but I wanted to mention that if you haven't looked at the above image and it's predecessor, you won't really be able to see what I've done in detail.

Let's just say that the replicator and I are in a love hate relationship.  In total, I would guess I've added about 20,000 rocks to this image as small crookedly shaped cones or twisted around columns.

I love how the replicator can bomb a bazillion thingamagizmos onto a surface (I love it!).  However, I hate how long it takes to dial it to get things to look right sometimes.  Don't be disllusioned either.  There are lots of things about these rocks I don't like and I need to do some more work on them (how much will depend on how fed up I get working on it).

The original painting doesn't have a lot of details of things inside the buildings so I'm going to have to invent something while staying true to the original painting.  The original painting was originally flashed on screen for probably four whole seconds of air time in a couple of separate clips.  The viewers on TV's back in the late 60's could have never figured on what was inside those buildings!

However, in this day and age and given that my personal ultimate goal is to be able to print these images and hang them in my office, I can't leave the insides of these buildings quite so low detailed.

It will be a struggle to retain the spirit of the original painting while trying to satisfy a condition where people will see this image and really be able to really really really see in those buildings.  My real goal is to lean to the painting.  It will be an interesting struggle to see how I land it.

Regardless of my remaining decision yet to go, the project so far is looking really good and I'm thinking I will get a really great product out of it.  I'm pretty confident that I will be able to print a big fat copy of this thing and it will look nice and sharp.

The previous image (Starbase 11 in the day which you can find in my gallery) didn't come out so great.  It wasn't bad but it's just too plain really.

In all cases though, I'm just having a ton of fun and that's my personal interest in Carrara anyway so it's working out.

Ok, I'M DONE!

Posted the final result in the gallery.

Next, the castle from the Cage (or from Requiem for Methusalah).  The Matte Painting used in the Star Trek episode "The Cage" was also re-used in "Requiem for Methusalah".

I'm doing that one based on requests.  It's the easiest remaining of the three to do.  I kind of wanted to save it for last but other people wanted it sooner (so I'll do it).