20 Stunning Matte Paintings of Cities

You may not realize it but you see matte paintings almost every time you watch a feature film or television show. Matte paintings are used in film whenever the filmmakers need a background that can’t or doesn’t exist in real life. In this showcase we will feature stunning matte paintings that include cities. Let’s take a look!

Tropical City by Dylan Cole

Master matte painter Dylan Cole brings us the first city matte painting, this one features a very cool futuristic city perched on the side of a mountain in a very tropical climate.

The Tower Above Stone City by Jaime Jasso

The dark environment set in this matte painting looks amazing, and once again we see a futuristic cityscape that perfectly blends in with the rugged mountain region.

Spirutal City by Jaime Jasso

Here we have another matte painting by Jaime Jasso but this time we see an elevated city surrounded by massive waterfalls. This is a perfect example of how matte painting can bring environments together into harmony for an illustration.

Spaceships Sky City by Marta Andres

This is one of the more original and unique matte paintings featured in this collection, the whole city here is on a space ship floating thousands of miles above the ground. What makes it even better is that Marta decorates this scene even more with intricate spaceships and beautifully compositioned clouds.

Duel by Vlado

This matte painting features a destroyed city in the midst of an epic battle between what looks to be a robot and a few fighter jets. This designer created a very complete environment that definitely blends with the events unfolding in this piece.

Lava City by Dylan Cole

Here is another Dylan Cole matte painting but this one isn’t as calm and scenic as the last one. Here he paints a whole futuristic city that is surrounded by lava rivers which zig-zag throughout the whole city. Another incredible full shot by the talented matte painter.

Homeworld by Zane Bien

The city in this painting might be small compared to the others in this list, but this is definitely an original matte painting that is put together perfectly. The environment was fulfilled perfectly and the atmosphere is breathtaking.

Futuristic City by Kenneth Dingens

The futuristic city is definitely a favorite among matte painters, and this one is no different. An incredible composition that features towering buildings in a very unique environment that features everything from rivers to mountains.

Futuristic City by Jaime Jassi

This intricate futuristic city created by Jaime Jasso is definitely the most creative one out of the bunch. Jaime spared no detail in creating this city as every billboard is there along with its neon lights and unique ad. This is truly a top class matte painting with perfect composition and atmosphere.

Future City by Huiyen

This matte painting takes a very cool shot of another proposed city in the distant future. The designer decorates this high angle shot with a cool looking spacecraft zooming through this city.

Enviroment FJORD by Daniel Kvasznicza

This stunning matte painting features a somewhat unusual place to build a city, but it doesn’t really matter when its put together this well. Every element in this painting looks perfect and works extremely well with the overall painting.

Colony Revision by Roman Honz

This matte features an array of interesting elements mixed together for a superb piece. The blending of various elements such as mountains, lakes, buildings and spacecrafts looks seamless making this another stunning painting.

City Matte by Mortalitas

This huge painting is a stunning look at amount of detail an artist can put into his work. Every building in this matte looks original and blends in with the atmosphere perfectly.

City Below The Dam by Travis

This painting might not be as detailed or realistic as the others featured but it definitely has an original and unique scene that is very cool to look at. The whole orientation of this city surrounded by a mountain and waterfall is very originative and the execution is still top notch.

City Above The Clouds by Chris Korn

Here we have another stunning and unique matte painting that features a civilization in an extremely unfamiliar place. This huge city floating above the clouds looks too perfect making for another great matte painting.

Canyon City by Zack Fowler

The city featured here isn’t as high tech or architecturally sound as the others in this list but the idea and execution of this matte painting is definitely still unique and the environment’s colors are uniform throughout the whole piece.

Another World by Radoslav Zilinsky

The beautiful sunset in this matte painting is only one of the many things that is perfect about this piece. The whole environment looks very realistic and gives the viewer a stunning scene that we could just stare at for days.

2210 by Huiyen

Hopefully our cities will look something like this matte painting 200 years in the future, this depiction of a futuristic city by the matte painter is another stunning example of perfect composition in the midst of many different elements.

2063 by Vlado

Not as far into the future as the last painting featured but this one definitely still ramps up the technology in this matte set in 2063. Even with all these new elements inserted into the frame the element of realism is still kept making for a great matte painting.

Babel Myth by Frederic St. Arnaud

Our last matte painting features an array of incredible elements that work perfectly with each other to give us a whole beautiful futuristic city. The spaceships zooming through the city give it a nice touch, as well as the many towering buildings that are seen in the backdrop of this piece.