I don't know what it is about traditional matte painting, but I just prefer it. I just feel it works better on film than digital mattes have so far. Yes, of course, digital mattes are more detailed and can be manipulated in 3D for different angles etc, but there's just something about painted mattes...

Maybe it's the work that goes into them, I know the artist has painted every bit of it, but with digital art, that's rarely the case any more. Is digital stuff technically more accurate? For sure. Does it look more real? Often, no. I feel the same about digital animation over hand drawn. Most of us are aware just how much work went into traditional animation, and how much the machines have taken that skill away. Oh, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish a workload like that on anyone! But people used to do that, every frame of it, and I can't help feeling they deserved higher praise than someone who does theirs on a computer, like me.