Peter Ellenshaw - matte painter and VFX pioneer - documentary

[@savearhino369]

i worked for mr ellenshaw in his last years at his hilltop home in santa barbara. i maintained his little pond and shade garden weekly. sometimes he would invite me into his studio where he was working on the most beautifully detailed paintings of winnie the pooh scenes. i was bowled over by the vibrant colors. he was the kindest most gentle man always thanking me for the care of his little secret garden. it was a magical place and time.

[@pedebe100]

I love stories like these

[@adamthorntonillustration9281]

Thanks so very much for sharing that. I'm a new illustrator and Mr Ellenshaw is one of my heroes. The scenes with his paintings were always my favourite. Your comment shows the best of what KZbin is about. Adam (Sheffield, UK)

[@lithasigcau2043]

Thank you for sharing this

[@butterbean3462]

Thank you for the insight.

[@traceyreid4585]

what a lovely soft spoken interesting man... I could listen to him for hours

[@TheGhostchaser8]

Back in the 1980’s my wife wanted to become a matte artist but had no idea where to start. On a whim, she did a little research and found Mr Ellenshaw’s address. She wrote a quick letter to him to let him know that he was an inspiration to her, and asked for any advice he could give her. A few weeks later, Mr Ellinshaw graciously hand wrote a letter back. Thanking her for the kind words and gave a few encouraging words to her. She cherished that letter. What a humble and kind person he was, and sadly that caliber of artist is very hard to find these days.

[@michaelkopala3738]

Thanks to all who made this film and this who posted it. Amazing!!

[@harmonicres]

Thank you for exposing us to such a talented gent. What a humble individual Peter was and listening to his stories are life affirming.

[@petergambier]

Great story about Mr Ellenshaw getting his break in the film business. Most of us have no idea what kind of work we will do but I have always drawn cartoons and spent 2 years at a film school in South Wales learning about animation. 4 years later, by chance, a friend found a newspaper advert for artists to work on a Disney film in London, it changed my life. In 1987 I worked on Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit as an inbetweener and got my best friend a job in the matt roto department doing the shadow work, painting black paint onto cells of acetate. These were then sent off to Industrial Light & Magic in the US where the hard line edges of the shadows were softened to make them look more realistic. For over 20 years I worked on various animated feature films and animated commercials and even met my wife of 30 years because of a cartoon rabbit but gave it all up when everything went digital and studio's were shedding workers in their thousands especially those working as cell painters. One digital scanner operator can do in 4 hours what had taken a team of 5 women a whole week to do. I now specialise in Lime Putty Plastering where I slake & make my own plasters and mortars and work on old churches, castles and large stone houses.

[@TheFiown]

So you stayed within the creative world. Lime Putty Plastering is a fantastic medium, more 3D than your old job. The best jobs fall on us by chance and sometimes you can make that chance happen, sometimes it's an encounter, stories like these are always fascinating.

[@SirHosisofLiver]

Did you get to know Richard Williams on Who framed Roger Rabbit?

[@alanrothsman1751]

Hold on! Are you saying you married Jessica from "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" I obviously joke, great story, all the best. :-)

[@petergambier]

If only I could've married her, she was rather a cute sex symbol and only a couple of the animators were allowed to draw and clean up those rough drawings to make sure that they were done right. Disney as a company was a fair employer and did everything that they could to keep people working there. For example on week-ends we got double time on a saturday and triple time on a sunday and if you worked past 10pm at night you get a free taxi home.

[@petergambier]

Not really Michael, there were about 200 people working on 3 floors in Camden Town and he stuck to his own area thank fek, he was a genius with a pen and took over 25 years to make a film which Warner brothers owned and eventually took away from him he was taking so long. He was a miserable sod and made many artists lives a misery. When he corrected peoples art work he'd use a fountain pen which mean't the whole drawing had to be done again from scratch. After the film was over I worked at a German animation company in Munich called TC Studio's where I worked with his son Alex, many of the Disney animators got work at MS Studio. At TC they almost went under thanks to a fat, dodgy Russian partner called Mallakoff who stole money from my boss Wolfgang Urchs.

[@cxiv]

An unreal story literally. I'm blown away as to how cleaver they were. Great job

[@ahmadvand1]

I really enjoyed from every second of this documentary . thank you

[@davidwootton683]

This is very interesting, and very well done. Thankyou for sharing this with us. If any Netflix people are watching this, after seeing your ad for the 4+ time. We have got the message!

[@MichaelinLosAngeles]

God Bless the greats like Peter and Walt, who made such a Beautiful experience and such magical memories in so many of our lives..

[@jharris947]

What a talented and humble man. Magic.

[@davidwebb091370]

Peter Ellenshaw was a one-of-a-kind genius, a VFX artist with unparalleled perspective and painting skills. He was the miracle worker in an impossible maze of tricks and illusion that is cinema magic.

[@GregBreden]

Totally. I mention Peter Ellenshaw in the same breath as Ray Harryhausen for sheer breathtaking achievement and innovation. With Ellenshaw I'm thinking how important his work was in those Disney films to the look of the whole film not just the quality of the art. Albert Whitlock brought a level of realism to matte work but it's hard to think of anyone other than Ellenshaw where the images were so well known without people knowing they know them because they featured so prominently in those classics (except Michael Pangrazio's Raiders Of The Lost Ark warehouse shot). It's always more fascinating to me to see how the old masters performed true camera trickery from an era when you would often be left wondering how they did it. There were times in the past when seeing an effects laden movie would be exciting just because I knew I was going to see something special and not know how it was done (but as a kid be desperate to find out). Most of the times nowadays effects are taken for granted. They're just everyday effects, not special effects.

[@michaelbauers8800]

Really enjoyable and informative!

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

What he did is not just unbelievable, but his talent as a painter seems head and shoulders above that of any other artist!

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

Only Albert Whitlock was equally good. How many others could do this?

[@kennyburnsfan]

'Was blown away by Peter Ellenshaw's matte paintings ever since my mum bought me a book on the Art ofDisney when I was a nipper. 'Didn't know he was English and his achievements and also his prowess in the art of special effects makes him legendary, especially considering his lack of formal education and lack of father figure, growing up. Wow. Incredible and inspiring. And what a joy to paint like that.

[@vegannotvogon8656]

What a fascinating documentary.

[@ronaldhomer4235]

what a beautiful little documentary.

[@Kayaz48]

What a lovely story. I was lucky to apprentice to a great artist as well, and it changed my life so much for the better. I still hear his advice in my head 40 years later.

[@LukeFaulkner]

Fascinating documentary. Thanks for sharing!

[@marsoelflaco5722]

Artistry, ingenuity, and creativity at its best.✌🏾

[@knuppsli]

Thanks for posting this inspirational documentary

[@davidkramer333]

I am not watching a 53 minutes video about a matte painter......nevermind I just watched the whole thing :)

[@osheamediauk]

I did exactly the same thing - fascinating

[@jumperstartful]

@@osheamediauk I got "drawn in" and couldn't stop watching.

[@wildebeest_77studios55]

I just wanted to say, in my school i had to make a documentary about breaking barriers, and i chose matte painting. This was a SUPER good research reference. I just wanted to say thank you and keep making amazing videos and inspiring others.

[@mbgrafix]

*_UNBELIEVABLE!!_* *_OUTSTANDING!_* I am humbled.

[@minuscolochao1557]

Its so inspiring when he says matte painting done in the right way is to leave more imagination rather than completely photo realistic!

[@hover-fly5668]

I went to a lecture by Ellenshaw at the British Film Institute, followed by a showing of The Black Hole, when it was released. Excellent lecture.

[@ArsPraestigium]

Two of my most prize possessions are a book and a print created and signed by Peter Ellenshaw. If I someday win a major cash prize, I’ll spring for an original Ellenshaw painting. The prefix _gen_ (meaning birth, race, or origin) appears in the words genuine and genius. Peter Ellenshaw _was_ a _genuine genius._ such men are extremely rare.

[@MicaRayan]

Definitely imaginative.... I love how the spaces becomes 1000× bigger than it is, just like magic utterly

[@blaucop06]

Thanks for this view of a great man an his fantastic work.

[@Viridisdaemonis]

What a genius and true legend!! Impressive!

[@stoimendimitrov]

So inspirational! Thanks for sharing!

[@jackprice6426]

Wonderful piece about.my.dear,dear Uncle.

[@amerfilmstudios9292]

Imaginative Matte Painter Artist Huge salute & respects 🎬🎥☑️🙏🏻

[@thomasdykstra100]

An absolutely consummate theorist of the believable image!

[@doktor_ghul]

Peter understood the basic fact of old school matte painting; you don't want a photo realistic shot. You want a realistic image of a photo. There's a subtle difference between the two. The imagination can fill in so much; it's a question of putting what the eye needs in the image, and letting the viewer's imagination fill in the rest.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

That's what makes it art. Digitizing cannot do that.

[@naqabposhniraj]

Thank you so much for this Video! It's not only a video but like a special effects class!! So glad we get to see this via your channel! Hats off to you man!💯💯🥳

[@theartist124]

This was really really wonderful, thanks for posting!

[@usmale4915]

Absolutely amazing. This video is very well put together. Never knew much about matte painting, so I actually learned a few things. Thank you for the fantastic video upload!

[@sohanblues]

In 2024, as a digital artist.....i learned so much from this documentary.

[@BillHosko]

Wonderful, production. Thank you.

[@chillyam]

Man, this channel is pure Gold! This videos should be share. Thanks a lot, great videos. Cheers from Colombia (South America).

[@GravityBoy72]

Absolutely fantastic.

[@hazonku]

Mary Poppins was a huge inspiration to me as a kid, as were a lot of the other films Ellenshaw did.

[@abhijithvb3]

Thank you for uploading this video This was really sweet an heart warming Enjoyed every bit of it This man really process shear amount of talent and golden heart Huge amount of respect for him

[@gizarules9431]

Wow, thanks so much for the upload.

[@108hugh]

Coool just finished whole doc, I've learned so much : ) thank you !

[@EricTViking]

Absolutely amazing. I wish it was in HD though.

[@MrCryptler69]

Its the hard work, artistry and imagination from artists like Peter Ellenshaw whose dedication to his craft is never recognized and his laurels was always credited to Walt Disney! What a shame, because I've never heard of him, until today!

[@randyjohnson3412]

What an incredible life. I love a story with a happy ending :)

[@gstapleton]

I love the technique of matte painting. Such a cool skill to have.

[@SamuelHulick]

Actually starts at :40 (and the robot voice goes away)

[@oalternativo]

Great documentary!

[@Marius-vw9hp]

Now I am going to watch all those movies he worked on. I havent seen any of them, except Spartacus.

[@clurkroberts2650]

Please provide credit to original source, this was excellent and deserves recognition

[@VFXGeek]

Unfortunately I don't know the original source of this documentary. I found it cut into pieces online, and decided that it's worth sharing.

[@richardbello5732]

Peter Ellenshaw is a great artist 💜

[@flybobbie1449]

What everyone needs in life..a little bit of luck in meeting the right people.

[@alanrothsman1751]

Like how Stephen J Cannel and Mike Post meet, now that's a crazy start to a life long friendship as told by Mike.

[@flioink]

Great story - that guy was great!

[@brstfr7126]

Lived to age 93. A great life.

[@millichips1]

Loved this, thanks for posting :0)

[@Bonkikavo]

Well, being super talented, hard working, ambitious and a lucky guy will get you far.

[@ankitkumavat3740]

thnks for such a good inspiration and art now i understand the importance of mette panting in vfx thnx VFX Geek

[@truBador2]

Thank you for sharing!

[@patricioarte]

this video could be transformed/restored to 4k, and the sound could also be improved... The quality of Peter Ellenshaw's work is spectacular.

[@dimitreze]

can you upload on a lower resolutiom next time? I don't like to know what I'm looking at

[@stebunn]

What an extraordinary gentleman!

[@Welther47]

This. is. so. nice. to. watch. here. on. youtube.

[@CallousCoder]

A good apprenticeship is better than any college or university education. I studied EE/CS and that allowed me to make my own effects for my mentalism/stage hypnosis show. Which then landed me a project as effects engineer for a TV show where mentalists battled to become the Next Uri Geller. Since I made the effects and trained the performers I also wrote their patter. But I’d written only for stage. So the AD would then rewrite and coach me to make it TV friendly. That show landed me more projects as a consultant in hypnosis and magic shows. And at one production company I ran into their vfx supervisor. I had developed image enhancement and tracking algorithms for solar telescope (that was my final year project). And I also did similar things professionally for Ct/MRI. So when he told me that these days it all is done with nodes and no line of code needs to be written, I got curious and wanted to see that program. Which was Nuke. So I basically walked in every Friday and get tutored on compositing and I automated their pipeline to do slap comps. And I learned digital mattepainting and colour theory. 6 months on Friday’s, and of course my tech background made me a compositor. Doing commercials and TV bids on my own. Then 5 or 6 years later he called me to help him out. He was a subcontractor of DNEG working on Dunkirk and he had a very tricky shot that needed some automation and he knew one guy when his request to get TDs involved was denied to help him out. So now master and pupil were at odds, it was so cool.

[@AndyP85]

Fascinating.... so why are there thumbs down?

[@rifftipton7709]

Fascinating stuff.

[@Roman-ey3yi]

dam i gotta go back and watch his whole filmography

[@VonEssek]

Fascinating!

[@FilmFloozy]

Terrific!

[@blakhhh]

He was ambitious, met the right people at the right time but most of all he worked fucking hard at his craft. If you get really good at something by working your ass of everything else comes.

[@mikef.p.8314]

amazing!!!

[@jamesvfx]

Hope you could get the Albert Whitlock one! thanks for this!

[@dougg1075]

Amazing artist

[@TheFiown]

Died at the age of 94, he was doing something right ! When your work is your love then you live forever.

[@ottoconceptart895]

So inspiring and thx

[@watchth1ngs]

NZPete would love this!!!!

[@wado1942]

I love his site, learned so much and even did some of my own painted matte shots as a result!

[@StereoSpace]

Fascinating.

[@python7275]

What a legend!

[@goodwood-rc4nx]

the voiceover is john lee enjoyed many hours listening to audiobooks he read out

[@topdeckdog]

the voiceover is a computer

[@VFXGeek]

No, it's not.

[@Great.Milenko]

@@topdeckdog see, what we got here is a failure to watch more than the first 30 seconds before commenting.

[@jumperstartful]

This is why I love YT.

[@TheCombatartist]

More of this !

[@orzelw]

Technically, the quarry scene representing the prison camp at Rorapandi was not filmed in Cucamonga. Cucamonga may have served as a jumping off point, possibly with the nearest adequate motel facilities, but the location of the quarry was farther south in Alberhill, just north of Lake Elsinore.

[@Uhfgood]

This is pretty cool. I get the impression that the static matte painting is pretty much history by now.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

Only it's not static. CGI makes every moving thing look like ants.

[@davemckay4359]

Brilliant

[@enzorocha2977]

Had to output the audio to mono because this episode is only left-channel dominant. Shame.

[@sverrearnes7769]

To sad with the sound, that is so disturbing. Would have loved to see it all!

[@VFXGeek]

?

[@HyperAxoloto]

wonderfull

[@subasurf]

Do you have the credits for this documentary? Is that John Lee doing the narration? (Not the very first part of the narration, that's someone else)

[@deanbean317]

His son Harrison went on to have quite a distinguished career himself! Strong gene pool!

[@camban]

44:21 thumbnail - the painted scene from Spartacus.

[@InnerSunshine]

Includes a rare long look at the masterpiece of practical VFX, Darby O'Gill... No Peter Pan involvement?

[@jujusparrow]

Anybody knows which book(s) about perspective are displayed in the video (at 7:02)? (e.g. the page about graphical construction of arches). Thanks.

[@lingonberriesofwrath1836]

Anyone knows where this documentary is from? The narrator speaks in a way that suggests it's a pretty old documentary. Or am I wrong?

[@jmalmsten]

I really wish we could see the top and bottom of the image. :/

[@DoFeedThePigeons]

What a lucky life

[@4CardsMan]

Victory At Sea in the background during the war sequence.

[@chris-hayes]

For a second I thought this entire 53 minute documentary was going to be narrated by a robot, thank god it wasn't.