The piece you see is a combination of 2d and 3d techniques. First, I painted a fairly simple sketch to get the look and feel for the scenery. Once it was approved I started to work on UNSC ships, building main 3d assets from scratch. There are a few Pillar of Autumn models available online, but they either incorrect or lack any detailing, so I literally roll up my sleeves and modeled my own version. Some Halo fans may notice differences here and there, as I used both Digic cinematic and in-game screenshots for the reference. Nevertheless i343 approved this version.



I opted for 3d because I wanted a cinematic look and feel, like a shot from Halo game or CG movie. It is possible to paint everything in 2d, though you may spend too much time laying out correct perspective grid for space ships. Also you don't need to model everything, just get the basic shapes and paint the rest. Here I did quite a lot of geometry, but all of the ship lights are painted.



The background is a traditional digi matte. I used some orbital imagery as a base and painted in all the missing details, changed colors etc.