Yea, your probably right adl.. having to model everything in maya could be a pain.. its more just for the learning experience though. One thing then... if you have distant lands in the background or something like that.. model the ground, the trees or w/e around your model.. everything really important and so that it looks like 80-90% of your render will be totally CG, then feel free to chuck in a Matte painting.. yea... makes sence adl. So, matte paintings allowed for skys, distant lands, etc.. ask first though before you starte your matte paiting .