Back ground annoyances

[mariusthered]

most of us agree that drawing backgrounds are annoying. and sometimes we go that step too far...
I recently added extra dolls to a bedroom to help the character, but i already am so sick of them I'm starting to think about scenes of these god dam dolls thrown out of the window!

have you ever taken stuff back out of scenes or tried avoiding scene in a place because the back ground is so annoying to draw?

[J.Lovelace]

I have a PhD in avoiding backgrounds LOL
But when I have to draw it once, I make it as detailed as needed for the objects to be somewhat recognizable (for example drawing a laptop but without detail on the keyboard, just few lines here and there, if you can tell it's a laptop without taking a second guess then my job here is done).
I don't really take stuff away if I have to draw the same bg multiple times, more like I make them less detailed than before.
I don't think I avoided a scene just because of the bg being tedious, more like I procrastinate royally to draw that scene =v=

[MST3KFan]

My comic rarely uses backgrounds simply cause I try to make my pages kind of pay homage to newspaper comic strips in a way, so basically backgrounds are colors.

Though with some of my recent story arcs, I did do backgrounds to help enhance scenes and they were quite a pain to do. I also did them because I wanted to test myself in a way. See if I could do backgrounds if needed.

[Shanny8]

Only time I've drawn stuff out of a background was when it wasnt in the original background scene to begin with. Other than that, I try to stay consistent.

[Damatris]

Let's just say that working on the 10th page situated into a dense forest has left me quite fed up with trees. Too bad there are at least another 10 pages to have similar backgrounds.

[UrMom]

Pfff I feel you! Especially when you decide to draw something really complex in the background, not thinking about the fact that you have to redraw that several times until it's too late. When I get tired of drawing a thing over and over I change the angle. Sure, you still have to draw the same thing half the time, but other things are added to the background in that scene which helps. Plus changing it up fleshes out the environment. Sometimes if it's a close-up shot, I don't even put in a background, just the general colour or a random colour so things aren't so samey. Taking things out, though? Nah, not consciously at least, sometimes my memory escapes me and something is forgotten.

[indagold]

backgrounds are the easiest part for me. I wish I could get rid of the characters and only keep the backgrounds. Drawing characters is way harder.

[mariusthered]

you need a forest fire!

[artsy_oleander]

For me, trees were the easiest part since they're organic. I had one page with a house and that page was the annoying one

[candaceandco]

I draw by hand, but I color digitally. Sometimes, rather than draw a background the old fashioned way, I will add it with Photoshop. I have gone too far on backgrounds before, but sometimes I can make all the clutter fade partially away with Photoshop. It can definitely help.

[MidZM]

I don't have an issue with adding too much, I have an issue with not adding enough most of the time. Like other characters walking around in the background, extra items to make it feel more lively, or something else.

Like this:

I feel like I should have put more items on the top of the dresser besides the hair clips and the face down picture, but those two items were the ones that are relevant to the story later on so I didn't think much else of anything being there :\

[Damatris]

I too do generally prefer organic backgrounds to houses / rooms. : D It's just the sheer volume of spruces and other trees I have to keep drawing. Usually I don't have to draw the same backgrounds for this long. I just counted that it's going to be total of 21 pages with this setting. :''D I really do feel like causing a forest fire on my pages just to get to draw something different behind the characters.

[mariusthered]

see knowing me i would have added perfume bottles and books and make up and dozens more items and then just annoyed myself.

[haleymewsome]

Reuse assets! Seriously it's so helpful, anytime there's like, a poster on the wall or a shelf with a bunch of stuff on it, draw it on a separate layer from a straight on view, then just use the transform tools in photoshop to fit it back into whatever scene it needs to be in. Not only is it easier, but it'll be exactly the same in each scene so you won't have weird continuity problems.

[novasiri]

My main issue is that I have this image in my head, and no matter what I do, I can never get it out perfectly. I usually draw ALL my backgrounds in each panel. With a few exceptions such as parts that are really close to a character or have some sort of emotional tension.

But I've had to come up with 7 different biomes, and architectures to use for my comic.. and remembering what goes where can be a chore and a half.

[WakaXO]

I've never taking elements I didn't want to draw out of a background but I have gotten so tired of drawing my characters outfits that I've written in them stripping layers off.

Usually for backgrounds I draw the background once and re-use it over and over much like what @haleymewsome 's post was saying to do. It saves a lot of time.

[SirHellsir]

my characters are about to enter a forest and be there for the next 15+ chapters, already draw two chapters of forest and I'm not even sure if it's better than just a void of black instead of the repetitive trees and more trees

[SynCypher]

Man backgrounds are simultaneously fun and the bane of my existence. I try to mix it up, but when a huge chunk of my comic takes place in a forest, there's only so many times you can draw trees before your hands hate you and your eyes can't bear the green anymore. That being said, hahah, I'm the one who wrote the thing so I have to try and make it right. (Doesn't mean I have to like drawing every blade of grass or something like that though, XD)

[Pleaki]

I find backgrounds very fun, but they are unfortunately very time consuming. I admit that I have done "scribble versions" of the background from previous pages/panels for the sake of efficiency and making deadlines. >o>;

[dojo]

Well, speaking as someone who actually enjoys drawing backgrounds, I'll still sometimes do panels where the background isn't present partly to save time but also partly for staging/composition purposes. And there have been times I've straight up changed the angle of a panel purely because something was giving me trouble to draw and it seemed better to just change the drawing entirely rather than wrestle with something that's just not cooperating. (Usually I end up liking the composition I came up with for the new panel a thousand times better)

Any major details that are suddenly missing from my own BGs are purely mistake (happened on a couple recent pages of one of my comics and I haven't gone back and fixed it yet cuz I've been really busy juggling other stuff)

HOWEVER, as much as I like drawing backgrounds, it mostly extends to new ones. If I've drawn the same BG too many panels in a row, I get really bored of it, because it's hard to add fun new details to something that's in your face. I try to do what I can, but sometimes it can't be helped.