How important are backgrounds to you? Readers and Creators! :sunrise_over_mountains:

[Yusuf]

Your backgrounds are gorgeous. Your art style in general is one of my favorites I've seen on here!

[Yusuf]

For me, it depends on how important the environment is in a certain moment in my episode.

In this short comic I wrote a while ago, the environment played a large role in the premise of the comic, and so I put a lot more time and effort into it.

In scenes of nothing more than conversation, I tend to use less detailed if not no backgrounds. I feel like it emphasizes the dialogue a bit

I generally keep the backgrounds simple using softer colors and simple drawings. I really enjoy drawing detailed scenes, and I'd like to include them more in my series, but I often don't due to time and I can't really say that I'm particularly good at them

From a reader standpoint, I'm enticed by detailed backgrounds (though they're lacking in my own work ha). I think they play an important role in comics, especially those that focus heavily on worldbuilding.

[animamundisoulworld]

Backgrounds have degrees of importance based on certain types of stories and in ways they can feel expressive as much as characters themselves.

[Lensing]

Backgrounds are very important for me as a reader. It can be very minimal like Charles Schultz (Peanuts / Charlie Brown)
Moody + detailed like Will Eisner. More detailed than the characters like in Tintin. Detailed like the characters and
in every panel like in Asterix etc.

I don´t read much comics which look like they are created in a rush with no backgrounds in the panels, just
the establishing shot and indictated backgrounds. I directly lose interest in those comics.

And the examples of your work / backgrounds are beautiful. This looks like something I´m interested in,
you are someone who loves their art and it shows in your work.

[Caya_Yama]

I like backgrounds very much. They give the comic it's own unique atmosphere and character. I personally like the very detailed and surreal ones from Little Nemo in Slumberland and the Rice Boy comics.

For my comics I try to have at least one background per page, though it's sometimes difficult to do that, without everything feeling cluttered. I like to keep backgrounds simple, yet it gets cluttered quite quickly.

Some backgrounds in my current comic:

As well as one very cluttered background of my upcoming comic...

[KevinReijnders]

I mean, I think the fact that I build an entire village in Blender as background reference says more than enough about how important backgrounds are to me

[kyupol]

Backgrounds are annoying and a pain in the ass to draw... though a "necessary evil"

Hate it when it took longer to draw the background vs the characters lol

[allenT]

Yeah it's important to me, I enjoy beautiful fantasy backgrounds.

The backgrounds have to look as/more realistic than the characters so readers can believe the characters are in the environments. (most mangas do that too)

I also care about the consistency of my story's locations. Because my story only covers a few places, therefore I can bring more care & attentions into the BGs especially recurring places. For consistency I made a psychical model of the story village for reference (even though it's not very nicely built it helped a lot for a few big panels I drew)

(currently working on many backgrounds on my upcoming chapter )

[susutaru]

Oh a good Background is essential to tell the story and to give the reader a point of view where the story plays.

I drew most of them myself in the past. (It took forever!) But since a lot of story plays in vatican and Zeros Castle I use a lot the 3D Assets of Clip Studio Paint and sometimes also Fotos which I revise (Also, I need to learn how I can create such a Background for myself, so that I can create there Zeros throne room.)

Also in little Panels I always try to put at least a Wall or some trees so that the reader knows exactly where the characters are.

[jmhenry]

I mean, I'm just plain obsessed with drawing them, lol But at least to me, they're very important for getting readers to get a feel of the world you're illustrating. For LOSTLAND, I put a lot of emphasis on getting backgrounds done cause I want people to explore this crazy, post apoc world in almost the same way my characters do: taking in the beauty and danger of the world, as we get to know more and more about it

Read LOSTLAND | Tapas Web Community

[Shanny8]

I feel like me learning to do backgrounds has improved my comic making work all around...you dont have to do backgrounds in every panel, but it does establish a certain continuity if you hit 3 panels out of a 6 panel page.

This is a few of my background pages from my webcomic, Ray Thunder

Read Ray Thunder | Tapas Web Community

[AmysGames]

I'll be the resident contrarian and say that I really don't enjoy drawing backgrounds all that much, lol. I've gotten a lot of mileage from keeping them minimalist enough to establish the scenery without having to draw all of the details, which I think is good enough for most cases.

Read Niji Chikara | Tapas Web Community

[rasteranime]

As reader I like looking at detailed backgrounds, I think it has own weightage in story telling... as creator I am still learning to draw in different perspectives... and I've drawn some simple backgrounds like these, for now ...

[ThunderChicken]

Backgrounds do not make or break a comic for me (I grew up reading newspaper comics, which had very little detail), but I certainly do appreciate good backgrounds when I see them, and whenever I draw something I tend to do detailed backgrounds. @jwabeasley's, @allenT's, and @SeniArseni's backgrounds impress the hell out of me

[Krysteena]

The first is me making the background this was a piece I really wanted to look a specific way.

Where as the other I am guilty of getting a free back ground a playing around with it...I hope that's okay lol, I it's free so far gave right?

• No Ai...!

[jwabeasley]

That's high praise! Thank you!

[jwabeasley]

Your backgrounds always inspire me, @allenT! Have you made a physical model for the pagoda, too?

I mean, I think the fact that I build an entire village in Blender as background reference says more than enough about how important backgrounds are to me

I like how you did yours! All the trees are so uniformly stylized! I use 3D renders in my process as well.

[wolflu66]

I love drawing scenery, natural landscapes like mountains and rivers. But I absolutely hate drawing man-made structures—they're a total hassle.

[skullforceagents]

I take my time with backgrounds, especially when establishing a scene. But I often also just use gradient and color effects depending on the situation. I wouldn’t say my backgrounds are particularly sophisticated though.

[allenT]

Right now for the exterior I don't find a need to make one yet, but I do hope to work on something for the interiors in the future, physical or just drawing references. Thank you!