I hate backgrounds

[scythe]

I never just sketch, ink, colour, highlight in order on a page. Too monotonous for me, I jump around doing bits and bobs over a bunch of pages, just whatever I feel like at the time. That way it never becomes a drag. To that end, I enjoy doing backgrounds. In fact, I enjoy everything about making a comic.

[Quinineer]

I think it's a common gripe for artists; you wither hate backgrounds, or you hate drawing characters...

I personally have difficulty with interior backgrounds. Outdoors are okay, but they're not as detailed as I'd like.

In the early chapters of my comic (which is actually what my readers are seeing now) I shied away from actually drawing anything for the setting (save a few large establishing panels) and just used a plain colour instead. Now I'm at a point in my buffer where I'm more confident with it. It's still a work in progress, though.

[MidZM]

I feel your pain @Kimoisempai I'm going to be hating myself when I start re-drawing an old Doujinshi and I have to draw the backgrounds in full anime color.... X_X_X

[edmourabarbosa]

Yeah, backgrounds are a pain. But it's really vital to the comic. It's important to notice that people don't really pay much attention to the details of the art, but INCONSISTENCY to the style can draw attention and get in the way of the narrative. If you have a very detailed style, but your backgrounds are simple or empty, it will appear visually ugly to the reader.
Notice how some manga styles (specially shoujo) use simple backgrounds. You don't usually notice it. That's because it's usually in resonance with the simple style of the lines. It definitely wouldn't work with other maga styles dense with detail like Vagabond, for example. The inverse is true. Sometimes you want to draw a scene so dense with details that it distracts the reader from the flow of the story.

[navyzerimar]

I HATE drawing backgrounds...

But I understand the importance of the former... it´s meant to show where the characters are at and everything, for me the characters are the most important thing out of what I am trying to do but but I also see the importance of backgrounds has much has I hate drawing them... It´s always the last thing I draw has a matter of fact

[Potoh]

I used to hate doing backgrounds too. Until I learned and accepted how vital they are for the comic (and that took a few years). It became fun for me when I started to drop little hints and references in them. For example when drawing a bookshelf I put my own favorite (comic-)booktitels in there, no matter if those books would even exist in the world my comic plays in. Or I mostly draw plants that remind me of my parents garden, posters of my favorite bands on the walls, my cats on rooftops... Just small things that make myself smile while drawing, and maybe others too who recognize certain references.

[dojo]

This might be good advice for a lot of artists, but when it comes to backgrounds, a way to make them easier to swallow is to treat them like another character rather than some necessary evil. Because the more you're thinking about it like "I'm not drawing a background, I'm drawing something that lives and breathes" the easier it will be to not only get yourself to draw them but also give them a new kind of life. Not saying it'll be easy to just immediately flip into that mindset (or that it will definitely work for you or anyone else who reads this), especially when you're drawing interiors, but when I was given this same advice it helped me turn them from something I dreaded getting to into something I actually like doing now, so I figured I'd pass it along. I hope this helps!

[genjiOtori]

I started to love drawing backgrounds when I really forced myself with a sci-fi story. Now it's part of my setting. My characters interact with the setting and it's getting vital for the story.
As @dojo said, backgrounds are like characters of your story. Care for them the same.
Luckily I found a style that really fits me and is some kind of meditation for me. As I see that the scene comes to life it's like magic. However I'm practicing backgrounds since 2014 and tried different techniques until I found something that's really fun for me. My advice: look what other artists do, ask them for tipps if you like their style and try to mimic as many different styles as possible to find yours

[UrMom]

I hate drawing urban and industrial backgrounds, so many effing straight lines, and I can never get the proportions right. Love drawing landscapes, though, going all Bob Ross with some happy trees and bushes is my thing. But that is entirely the reason why I set my comic in an urban area, I won't get better, and not hate it eventually if I don't do it. I used to put a background in every panel myself, but then I realized it was unnecessary... plus I got some criticism about how it clutters the page, and takes the focus away from the foreground.
Have to admit I've come a long way from when I first started, despite my interior scenes still sucking. Lmao!

[indagold]

...I love backgrounds. I can't draw people ;_;

[Delete]

Love drawing backgrounds. They really establish the setting of the story. They are really tiring to do (I also hand paint them) but they definitely are worth it. Of course sometimes you can get away with very little backgrounds. Sometimes having too much detail in the background can make the composition less readable. Finding the balance between intricate details while being easy to understand is one of the most important things to do with backgrounds.

[sarrowsmith10]

just ranting over having used the line tool abusively

I actually think your use of the line tool here is pretty good! It's the same pixel width as your character lineart, so it seems to fit the overall style really well. Just keep at it, you are doing great! And if you are planning on coloring it, I think its going to look very good.

[jurinova]

I used to hate drawing backgrounds when I was younger but it was mostly because I didn't know how to draw them. Then at one point I simply decided to draw them no matter how ugly they turn out and suddenly it wasn't so bad anymore. Of course they didn't look great in the beginning but I started to enjoy the process. Now, in my opinion, I do backgrounds pretty well and I really have fun doing them. I love the fact that my comic gives me the opportunity to draw all sorts of places and design different types of landscapes and architecture. (Although, drawing the same background over and over again can be a bit tiring at times, heh.)

I courage anyone who hates backgrounds to draw more of them because it can really change your view on the matter.

[Izanyan]

Me too . I hate drawing backgrounds and sometimes I don't know what kind of background I should put in my comic .

[matsuyacreative]

I'm right there with you! But I found that having one establishing shot of the environment at the beginning of a new scene is the minimum requirement. After establishing the setting in which the characters occupy, the reader's brain will fill in the gaps, so to speak.

[insomniascrawl]

I hate them too honestly. I want my characters to float in white space too... Doing comics has forced me to do backgrounds even though I rarely did before, and I have to say it helps with artistic improvement!...
That said, I still hate them.

[joannekwan]

I mean, yeah they're a chore to do, but they help so much with the cinematography of a story.
Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. :/

[Shiori_Saku]

One of the things that I work at constantly, as an artist, is complex backgrounds. Its easy to draw a character floating in space but making sure that they can interact in a "world" is much harder. I find drawing landscapes tedious but it's good practice for me.

I make myself do the things I don't like, ie drawing landscapes, because i cant progress as an artist if I dont. Talent will only get you so far, it's hard work and hundreds of pages of trash sketches that makes you great! As long as you learn from the trash sketches that is...

[tayo_rafferty]

Backgrounds and landscapes are my biggest weakness as an illustrator. Does anyone have any advice on improving that?

[scythe]

Not any real advice apart from studying what the masters have done before you, but I will say this: it seems that when it comes to comics, mastering backgrounds is as much mastering what not to draw as it is what to draw.

I'm in awe of artists who are able to portray vast, detailed landscapes and settings without actually wasting time in drawing all that much detail. It's something I'm constantly working and probably failing on. It must be something that comes with years of experience and practise, but when it works, I actually prefer it to a background that's just detail detail detail, which can be overwhelming to the eye.