Backgrounds and Settings in Comics

[UrMom]

I like or hate drawing backgrounds depending on setting, and how many times I've been drawing it. I really like drawing organic stuff like forests, and drawing expressive living areas is fun when you don't have to do it too many times. Cityscapes, most interior places, anywhere with a lot of technical straight lines I really hate doing. I'm not very good at scaling, and they're a pain in the ass.

How I approach backgrounds, I just do it? Like, I draw out a grid, and the 1-4 perspective points so I won't have to use the ruler throughout sketching the page. I draw the foreground, then background, ink, color, and I'm done. Sometimes I study a bunch of city pics to get a good idea of what I want, or objects like crosswalks, cars and public trash bins.

Assuming you're a digital artist I can't really give you any useful tips, I draw everything traditionally so we pretty much live in totally different worlds. (What is easier or me may be hard for you, and what is easy for you is 98% impossible for me. Lol) I guess for general stuff, do a lot of studying and practice perspective, the more you do it the easier it will get. If you're having trouble coming up with stuff draw your living areas, go to the park (if you can, given current circumstances) and draw, maybe draw different areas of your town. Stuff like that can be intimidating, but as your experience grows so will your confidence.

[thecrystalrook]

I try not to go crazy with backgrounds. Mainly because I'm drawing by hand and it uses a lot of ink. But, when I do do a background, I try to establish as much of the scene as possible. Then let the reader's imagination take care of the rest in the following panels.

[artamazon]

I also hate drawing backgrounds, lol. I know enough about perspective to be able to make stuff work together. If it's not organic, I lean very hard into 3D and photobashing. These days I spend a lot of time in 3D to make a scene, especially if it's one I need to draw over and over, it's too complicated to free hand, or I need different angles. Then I dump the models into Clip Studio, make lineart out of them and then draw and embellish those lines.

[BeautifulDoubt]

I think having a bit of background is good and ground the character but like not every panel needs it.
just when you feel somethng important is nearby draw that. or if theyre gonna interact with a thing draw that. we dont need every single tree in the forest but haha.
heres my very basic examples admittedly.
first panel (what hes there to do)

Last panel used so the reader gets a sense of kinda where theyll be in the world, a mountainous town

This is for reinforcing the feelings of the character.

usually when I put in the effort to do BGS im asking Why is it here? Am i trying to show or express something? or just to look cool?
looking cool is a totally valid thing btw. but dont beat yourself up over not having them lots have little to none and they still work.

[Lady_T_Musings]

I think you are pretty correct there. I really don't think of much when I try to think of buildings. I love art history, but every time we had to cover architecture I'd fall asleep XD. I wish there were more cool structures where I live, but everything is so flat here :V. I do look for neat architecture online and in magazines sometimes, but like trying to find multiple angels of a building on a picture is rough. Hmnnnn, focus on increasing my artist-library for backgrounds huh? It seems so obvious, but I really don't pay nearly enough attention to studying setting elements as I do with say characters lol. That's pretty solid advice that I will try and be more conscious of, thanks <3.

[Lady_T_Musings]

~Ohhhhh, I haven't heard of Urban Sketchers, but I am looking them up now and color me intrigued! Very solid advice as well. That's probably the one thing I have started to do more since it's kinda fun and shows personality and that's drawing characters in there rooms/homes.

[Lady_T_Musings]

That setup in the Power of Coffee is wild!! I know that had to take a long time, but it looks real good in all it's destroyed glory. I'm loving that treasure chest Guild Hall too. Like the only time I can somewhat deal with architecture is when it doesn't look like a straight up building. I totally see what you are talking about for the textural differences too, really brings the place to life. Rendering also helps me feel a bit better about my backgrounds too. since in my line work for the comic, there isn't much variation in line width, so color to the rescue haha.

[Gleamiarts]

I found these really helpful tutorials and they really broke down perspective and made it understandble:

(This one you have to put the English subtitles on)

both these channels are really helpful too!

Edit:
one thing i forgot to add is that some comic artists use a programme called Sketchup to make sets and backgrounds.
I found this tutorial on it.

In my comic I made a quick dining room set in The Sims 3 so that everything was consistent in the many shots, but I'm going to use both The Sims and Sketchup for my comic backgrounds.

I also have a whole playlist that I filled with different comic videos I found if you want to see that:

[Lady_T_Musings]

I'll take your word on it bc architecture in perspective makes me sweat haha. Yasss I love it! Keep it simple, but still has a clear point. I totally dig convenience brushes and need to try making a few of my own, I color my comic pretty flatly, so I need to try making my own to be honest so that the style matches. Though I definitely think painterly landscapes are the bees knees and a lot more fun to do over straight up line art illustrated ones.

Fantastic job filling your vertical space! I haven't tried making a vertical scroll comic yet, but I'm sure I will eventually.

[Lady_T_Musings]

Good to know the dread lessened over time haha.

Thinking of backgrounds like characters speaks to me on a personal level. Like I can do characters all night and day bc I love how unique and individual I can go with them, but I tend to not think of much when I think of making buildings. I love that and want to put this on my inspo board in my studio to help motivate me when I have to tackle the parts of making comics that gives me big sigh energy lol.

Also your dragons are gorgeous!!

[Lady_T_Musings]

My word these setting paintings are baller A-F <3! Yasss show them off!! I decided to go a more graphic style for my comic since I LOVE painterly but it takes me 5-ever to finish XD. I do love Clip Studio Paint on a desktop, but I mostly draw on my Ipad not and the Clip Studio app is so cramped on it, and I'm using the largest size ipad. I've been using Procreate (what an awkwardly hilarious name I know) and love it, but do miss all of them quality of life bits that Clip Studio has specifically for comic creators.

[Lady_T_Musings]

If it's in the background it's a background ha!

[Lady_T_Musings]

I feel you there. organic stuff is my jam. Even though I don't like drawing backgrounds as scene elements, just doing some natural environment studies is way more doable to me. Drawing trees is kinda relaxing BUT CITYSCAPES and technical places ohhhh chile', makes my eyes cross. I too am not the best at scaling since I want all the focus on my characters, I draw them bigger than they need to be in most scenes and the background is an after thought (working on that).

I actually still hand draw my thumbnails and most of my setting shots since trying to just draw them on my tablet from scratch just results in way to much undo tapping. on paper it's there, even when erased, so it gives me something concreate to work with and build upon.

Also. your comic looks lovely. your traditional colors and linework have this eerie ambiance to your comic and I dig it <3.

[Lady_T_Musings]

Honestly this is where I am right now. I do my establishing shot and then I'm like... "Ya'll get where they are now".

[Lady_T_Musings]

I want 3d models of every scene I do, but making them... maybe if I had a hyperbolic time chamber lol. I can't really look at your comic atm, but It looks Fly A-F and I'm loving the neon colors against darkness. From what I can see and them 3D models being put to work. Noice!

[Puck]

Drawing backgrounds and drawing hands are 2 things I really enjoy. I use all cheats & tricks that are available to make my life easier and I got a better understanding for it since I understood perspective better and since I practiced perspective daily

[montrasimartina]

Hi! I think that the most importand thing in backgrounds is learning the perspective. I know It can be really boring, but without it We'll never be able to insert characters in a place in a right way. I personally handraw them, but using a program it's a good idea! ^^
With the perspective You can easly locate your characters and draw them following the right point of view!
It's a method that You learn one time and improves your art forever! ^_^
Here some backgrounds from my webcomic "An Intern's Tale":

[Lady_T_Musings]

Thanks for that tip. I think you're doing a fab job at using backgrounds when they need to be shown and when there isn't one, it doesn't look out of place or detract from what's going on. Yeah, I wanna get to that state of natural flow that you got going on <3.

[Lady_T_Musings]

THANK YOU FOR THE LINKS and YES I DO want to see them <3!!

[pilot-obvious]

I actually use photographs I take to create my backgrounds! It helps that I live in the city my comic takes place in! I'll play around a lot with the colors/levels/contrast to make it look more stylized, and go through a process of adding a variety of filters (such as posterize, cutout, poster edges, etc.). Then I'll touch it up by painting over spots I think could look better. That way I can get super detailed and accurate cityscapes with minimal effort.

If it's something other than a city scape, then I'll use Sketchup to create the background. Any interiors, buildings that aren't location specific, etc. are all done that way.

If I were to do all this by hand, I would never have a comic to publish!