Oct 2016
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Oct 2016
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Potoh
Oct '16

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
Oct '16

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
Oct '16

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 smile

UrMom
Oct '16

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!

Delete
Oct '16


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
Oct '16

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. smile

jurinova
Oct '16

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 comic5 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
Oct '16

Me too . I hate drawing backgrounds and sometimes I don't know what kind of background I should put in my comic1 .

matsuyacreative
Oct '16

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
Oct '16

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.

Shiori_Saku
Oct '16

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
Oct '16

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

scythe
Oct '16

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.

niinasalmelin
Oct '16

Fake it till you make it.
I'm grinding my way through perspective training and boxes. This will take a long time but it'll be worth it.

NickRowler
Oct '16

I don't drawing backgrounds because they usually don't look that good and I am so worried about over cluttering the BG. Most of the time, I just wing it and hope it will come out OK. I also try to avoid straight line tools due to it not fitting with the aesthetics of the drawn characters.

However, when I see good BGs in comics, I LOVE them. I also get so jealous. I also really like landscape paintings.

@Kimoisempai I think your third panels looks nice.
The BG on the first panel looks a bit high. Maybe lower it a bit.
I'm not too crazy about the composition of the 2nd panel....but whatever, that is just me.

tayo_rafferty
Oct '16

I know what you mean. There's a really fantastic artist on youtube called Mark Crilley, the only thing that bothers me about his style is how dense the backgrounds are,

MidZM
Oct '16

Have you considered working with 3D programs like Sketchup for your basic backgrounds?

This is actually a very good idea in terms of speed and ease, doing backgrounds with a program like Blender, Sketchup, 3DS Max, Maya, etc. Would really help when trying to make pages, especially if you're trying to get them to look proportionally correct and get them done in a timely manner. My comic uses 3D modeling in Blender for both characters and backgrounds (Although the characters have to be tweaked due to my style), which allows me to correct proportions, distance, and create awesome suits of armor that are the basis of the story wink