Backgrounds and Pacing?

[xo1]

Is it okay to not draw backgrounds all the time? It is not that I think I suck, I just feel like drawing backgrounds takes forever. Also, I feel like my pacing is too fast. I don't want to just add panels where nothing happens or isn't important just to slow down the pace.

After this page, I move to where these two characters are in the building in the distance without showing them go in. Is this too fast or lacking?

[rachelordway]

It's fine, some panels just don't need backgrounds! Especially if the focus of the panel is on the characters and their emotions.

You do have to beware of letting a panel look too empty, though, by leaving too much white space. It can help to include some small element of a background in the panel, or a graphic device.

I'll critique my own comic "The Garden" as an example; the last panel has so much white space that it's distracting. Panels 1 and 3 don't have much background, but the speed lines in 1 and just that little bit of the bed and floor in 3 add visual interest (and in 3, it keeps the reader grounded in the environment).

I hope this helps! Good luck with your comic!

[xo1]

Okay, thanks for your information. I appreciate it.

[apurviance]

Another way to look at it is to think of how cameras take photos of different scenes.

• Wide shots usually have everything in focus.
• Closeups have blurred backgrounds with only the foreground elements shown.

[AnnaLandin]

I'm seconding @rachelordway - not all panels need backgrounds.

The readers need to be provided with enough information to know where the characters are (i.e: what is the setting? Are they inside or outside? Have they moved to another space during the course of the scene, or are they standing still?), where they are in relation to each other (is character A standing to the left of character B? Does character A face character B, or is their back turned? etc.), and just something to give the readers a sense of place - a sense that this isn't all taking place in some colourless void.

But not ever panel needs a background. Close-ups of the characters, especially if it's dialogue, can get away with having blank backgrounds.

To use my own comic as an example:

Panels 1+2 have environmental details/backgrounds. Panel one has a full background, with trees and rocks and a path and everything, establishing 1.) what setting the characters are in, and 2.) where they are in relation to one another. Panel two has a bunch of grass and dirt, and shows the two characters are now standing right next to each other, but they are still in the same environment. The remaining three panels have no background except a colour-gradient that uses the same colour-scheme as the background in the first two panels - the focus is on the characters, but the colour-choices help remind the readers that yes, they are still in the same place, without distracting the eye with background details when they should be looking at the characters.

How much details, and which details you include, depends on what you're trying to tell. Sometimes you need a bunch of detail to establish a setting or an atmosphere - and sometimes you need to minimize on detail to make the panels look clearer and less cluttered.

[Tanisha]

If you already showed a sense of place you won't need to detail everything each and everytime. Just keeping certain elements like grass, the sky, bushes, and trees when you want to show a sense of place helps. In my comic it has been raining for a few pages so if I don't want to make a background I can just simply keep the rain in certain panels.

On the first panel I drew the background to show that there is distance between the two of them. The next two panels I just kept the rain since it's become important for the next few scenes. I mostly rely on tones and such to show how characters are feeling when there is an empty background.

[mg78]

Is it okay to not draw backgrounds all the time? It is not that I think I suck, I just feel like drawing backgrounds takes forever. Also, I feel like my pacing is too fast. I don't want to just add panels where nothing happens or isn't important just to slow down the pace.

drawing backgrounds, always? no, it s not always necessary. u have to see how is it your style. if it's clean, u can avoid a lot of time to draw it. but u have to let understand where s it your character.
then there s to remeber one thing: dont cheat.
if u re skilled, dont try to be "smart" doing an easy quick sketch because u have no wish to work hard. do at your best. and if u re not skilled (u dont look like it for what i can see there), dont even try to avoid it, because it ll be more visible even with few thing in there.

[xo1]

Putting in hard work to draw comics is rather boring and monotonous drawing the same background over again.

[mg78]

u can always do copy&paste on PS if u have to repeat over and over again the same background... but that choice imho is only for a close sequence.
all the rest... imho is better to change camera angle.

[shazzbaa]

Agree with the others, sometimes choosing not to use detailed backgrounds in some panels is a good artistic choice!

After this page, I move to where these two characters are in the building in the distance without showing them go in. Is this too fast or lacking?

This is one of those things where I feel like there's not one correct answer for it; it depends on what's going on and what sort of effect you want!

So for this page, if you go straight from "shot of them approaching the building" to "shot of them in the building, approaching [important thing]," then what you're communicating is that nothing in between was interesting or important to your characters. This is routine, like having a guy drive up to the office and cutting to him in his cubicle; we're not missing any information. It's potentially a way to show that entering the building and exploring it wasn't significant to these characters; it doesn't matter what your character thinks about the building so you don't bother to show it.

By contrast, if you cut from "shot of the strange building in the distance", to "characters nervously entering the doorway" to "characters sneaking down the hall and shining flashlight into the rooms," then you're establishing how the characters feel about this place, and also showing us something about the characters. Or like, if the guy is really pumped and excited about going inside and his little critter friend is wary and unsure, you could easily show that as they walk through the doorway and it says something about their relationship.

I think it's generally a good idea to consider having SOME kind of transition from scene to scene - depending on how much we can be expected to assume. If you have a character walk into an airport, we're not going to get confused if we cut to them on an airplane. But if you saw Aladdin looking at that Cave-of-Wonders-Lion-Head in the sand, and then cut to him walking around piles of treasure, you'd have some questions. You wouldn't be LOST -- you could figure out "oh, I guess he's inside that lion head looking at treasure now" -- but it would FEEL like the story had skipped ahead because this isn't a normal building or a normal circumstance and we want to know what it feels like to walk inside.

I agree with you -- adding fluff panels that don't add anything to the story is a bad idea. But a panel of characters walking through the doorway can tell us a lot if you're thinking about it as a chance to reveal character rather than a necessary transition from point A to point B. So it could go either way!

[letitridecomics]

This is one of my issues with a lot of 3d rendered sequential art--just because it is "easy" to include backgrounds in every single panel doesn't mean it should be done. Unsubtly used, those tools generate backgrounds that almost always distract from panels where facial expressions should emphasized.

The other extreme would be minimalist gag-a-days where without any environmental details the usual work devolves into talking heads.

[AnnaLandin]

Putting in hard work to draw comics is rather boring and monotonous drawing the same background over again.

You pretty much summed up comics right there. You're going to be drawing those characters hundreds if not thousands of times, and the same with the backgrounds. It's not always going to be loads of fun, and it is DEFINITELY going to be hard work.

Just find a reason to do it anyway.

[Doubtcent]

If you leave the story without some sort of establishing shot, it'll be mighty boring to the reader. Usually you need to have one at the beginning of scene, then have elements of it appear from time to time if needed. As many have said before, don't leave your panels too empty. (Unless that is your goal, which is what I plan to do in some time, mostly for emphasis)
Your comic looks good. Just don't go too fast when it comes to movement unless you want to show the backgrounds more than the character actions or interactions.

[Caelestie]

Honestly It depends on your art style and what type of story you have. I personally think you need more background in a fantasy story or
sci-fi compare to slice of life, because it is an unfamiliar place. Also when you draw more background usually the characters interact more with the background. It feel more like they are living in this environment they are in instead of floating in nonexistence. Though not having a background sometimes can be good but I personally think to many webcomic use that shortcut way to often. It doesn't help your webcomic after a while since they do it often because they use close ups. Close ups should not be use as often as they do in webcomics. It is way to much. But it is time consuming to do a lot of background so it really depend on what you want to do.

[xo1]

I forget where I read it, but someone said that a comic should have feet visible at least once per page.

[Caelestie]

Yes it is a good idea to do so. I go the inverse problem some would say since You can see way to often my characters feets:

Though it makes it very pretty, but you lose the characters expresions the version I do. I need to balance it out!

[AnnaLandin]

I forget where I read it, but someone said that a comic should have feet visible at least once per page.

This isn't strictly necessary, but it's a good point to keep in mind; it's all about varying how you frame your shots. Doing a dialogue-scene in which you only show the heads of the characters talking gets boring, the same way it feels kind of awkward to do scenes in which you only have full-body shots of your characters. Mixing it up is usually a good idea.