My backgrounds were once barren, but I've been working on that.

In a photocomic, backgrounds are a blessing and a curse. Like a 3D rendered comic you can reuse backgrounds once you've made them. Being a photocomic; you have to edit out the foreground and insert the background. How much do I detail it? I have extras and stuff going on because it's a busy world. That's the style I've chosen. Though the background always reflects the foreground and at time I'll use it to explain something in the foreground. It's like a movie. Some directors were obsessive about having property in the scene that would never be used or even seen, but helped make the scene.

Then there's blurring. If I want a background to not matter; I can't just draw a line. I have to choose how much to blur it. I also know because of the style I've chosen I have to put in a lot of things that the reader will never realize were there. I've chosen to make my world look lived in.

It's a lot harder than it looks. ;)

As others have written here, the depiction of backgrounds should depend on the nature of the work overall and how well it jives with whatever action occurs in the foreground. However, little to NO background is suspect. If a set of characters are living in a total void at all the times, they're not going to be cracking jokes, being dramatic or fist-fighting after a week; they're going to be bat-crap crazy or likely catatonic. More importantly, it's boring.

I tend to deeply respect hyper-detailed backgrounds when I see them simply because it takes so much skill, tenacity and observation to produce one. Figures are the fun part. They can dance all around a panel. However, when striving for accuracy you literally can't be moving mountains. If the penciler is a cartoonist, that's cool but give us a cartoon tree to let us know they're in the woods. I think most artists start with their stars, the protagonists, and finish with what's in the distance when penciling. A panel without a background often reads to me as though the individual stopped and said "good enough."

I find myself far more forgiving when there is at least one shot per page, which serves to establish environment.

repoman

ttyler
I love cityscapes. I try to tap into George Perez's mind when doing them.

Right on. And George Perez draws really cool rock backgrounds that seem alive.

Oh, I love cityscapes too! Since my story is in New York City, I love having the opportunity to draw them. :D

Honestly, I think I can improve on a lot of things concerning my art, but I love to do backgrounds because I don't want my panels to look stark, and I love to challenge myself. The only time I don't have a real background is when something dramatic is going on, then I'll just put a sort of design or gradient-type thing in the background.

Backgrounds are necessary, and I had to learn this the hard way. I tend to use some defining background panels and then just signal where the characters are by drawing some part of the original defining panel background to indicate where the characters stand.

However somehow for fight scenes, I ALWAYS need backgrounds. Talking scenes don't require as much. Maybe because in the first case the characters move around a lot, whereas in the other case they are more or less static or more attention should be paid to their gesturing and body language.

Backgrounds are something that a lot of comics wimp out on. I consider them pretty important though. At the very least one should use them to establish a setting. A simple landscape in a wide opening panel is almost always a good idea for an opening page or a scene change.

That being said, I think I can work on my backgrounds a little more. My most recent post doesn't actually have one, but then again I decided to place emphasis on the featured character's bow and arrow.

Still, that last sentence sounds like a cop-out.

There are a myriad of comics artists who draw great backgrounds. Osamu Tezuka leaps out at me. The lush, gorgeous landscapes he injects into Buddha are something else.

Will Eisner's buildings and cityscapes are pretty much characters in his stories themselves. The same thing definitely goes for Marshall Rogers' Batman comics.

I also really dig the splash panels done by Sergio Aragones in Groo. I always go through them and pick out the little facets and details he injects into them.

Dave Sim's backgrounds in Cerebus were always well thought out and impressively rendered.

And, as you can tell from my avatar, I'm very fond of Bill Watterson's art. His backgrounds were always exceptional. This is something to say considering that he worked in the stifling space restrictions of newspaper comics. Hal Foster, Milton Caniff, and Alex Raymond were also capable of pulling off miracles in this avenue.

I'm sure I can think of more, but that should be enough for a forum post.

I do tend to get lazy on the backgrounds.

I just do shortcuts like just putting up a texture that was based on a photograph.

I have a collection of textures. When I see carpets, walls, grass, ceilings, I photograph them for use as patterns/textures.

kyupol
I do tend to get lazy on the backgrounds.

I just do shortcuts like just putting up a texture that was based on a photograph.

I have a collection of textures. When I see carpets, walls, grass, ceilings, I photograph them for use as patterns/textures.

I wanted to say this in a nicer way, but flat coloured characters against real textures just flat out looks bad.

Drawing detailed backgrounds is a pain, but it's worth it in the long run.

darkwaterfrey's background for this is just...wow...

That's a cool watercolour :)

Hyena H_ll
So I'm wonderin' what you guys think- how do you approach creating an environment for your characters? Do you use perspective, or fake it? Super-detailed, or generalized? Backgrounds in every panel, or just enough to establish the scene?

And what are some comics you like that you think have especially good backgrounds?

Great googly-moogly, I'm terrible at backgrounds, but I love 'em anyway! Right now, I'm just testing out backgrounds in the hope that I'll get better at them as I go along. The detail usually depends on whether I was lazy on a page or not.

If it's one thing I like, it's good backgrounds. One thing that I can't stand in comics, though is when there are no backgrounds whatsoever. Like, the author doesn't even bother to put in an effort. They just draw some line, or something resembling a desk. Does their whole comic just take place in an empty void that conjures up ambiguous furniture and strange lines?

I fail at backgrounds. Like...epicly. I try to avoid them when I can, but they're a necessary evil, as they give the readers a better sense of the environment and where a scene's taking place. Even when I draw backgrounds, they're not terribly detailed. :/

I love a well-detailed background. To me, it shows that the artist *cares* about the comic enough to inject as much realism into their world as possible, to try to get those of us on the outside to SEE the world that they see inside their minds.

On the other hand, though, backgrounds are not 100% necessary for EVERY comic page. Opening scenes, chapter/title pages, battle scenes and the like, yes... but two people having a conversation? Not necessarily.

Yes, I'd like to see background on every page, but if you've got a page or two of Fred talking to Barney... it's not 100% necessary.

Michelle, TTG's artist, does a bang-up job on her backgrounds. I lurve them so. :D

>Net

Backgrounds are definitely one of the top things I suck at drawing, and while I like the look of some architecture, I don't have much fun atempting to draw it. =/ All those damn little lines, AUGH. Though in my recent work I've been trying to draw them more and add in more details.

And why do I STILL suck at grass and trees? XO Heck, even my snow and deserts look terrible.

backgrounds are a pretty weak spot for me, but lately I've been working on drawing them more. I hope I can improve...

I think especially for fantasy and scifi comics, where the world setting is as important as the characters, the background is ESSENTIAL to telling the story. It gives hints as to how the world is different from our own and it demonstrates how different concepts that don't exist in our world come together. This is definitely one of the things I try to do with Anatta.

Another fantastic usage of backgrounds is juxtaposition. As Hyena_Hell has mentioned, The Watchmen is probably the current epidomy of this. The background can contrast, make irony of or support what the characters' actions are or what the dialogue is. If done well, juxtaposition has amazing potential for adding dimensions and depth to a comic that other mediums cannot. This is definitely something I am trying to master.

I HATE doing backgrounds! but I have to admit they can make or break a page... I always try really hard to incorporate at least 1 panel per page with a background. It was the biggest and I mean BIGGEST critique I ever got on my comic

I LOVE backgrounds. They're my favourite thing to draw, and when I'm reading comics, I tend to stop at some panel, and just 'examine' the background. That being said, I think I need to improve my backgrounds.

Making simple backgrounds is easy, and with a little effort, it can make a comic look a lot better, and more finished.

Net
I love a well-detailed background. To me, it shows that the artist *cares* about the comic enough to inject as much realism into their world as possible, to try to get those of us on the outside to SEE the world that they see inside their minds.

My thoughts exactly.

Backgrounds were never hard for me (I just got them off google), but perspective is key to me in any comic I make. After I set up the background, I have to place the sprites (well, I used to) according to perspective. One panel would focus on one character, so it should be closer to the front, while others should be made smaller to remain as 'background fodder.'

I used to be extremely hardworking at producing backgrounds. But when I start pushing quantity over quality, I become lazy at producing backgrounds...

... Ah, I miss posting comics here.

the hardest thing for me is getting a room in perspective. Outdoor scenes are much easier. (any tips?)

A room's just a box. A lot of the time you can get away with one point perspective!

Lay down some guide lines snd you should be fine. Personally I like to draw out my perspective lines on a seperate sheet of paper then trace, but I'm blessed with a massive lightbox.

Personally I find outdoor sceenes much trickier than indoors.

Phillby
Personally I find outdoor sceenes much trickier than indoors.

Me too. I have a hell of a time getting any depth into an outdoor scene unless it involves buildings. It's easy to use perspective to show depth in boxy places, but not outdoors.

I try not to sweat perspective. After all, the seeds for modern comics are a mix of political comics from the 1700-1800's and Japanese woodcuts. Both looked great, but unlike Classical painting, the style/message was considered much more important than making the images accurate to the real world.

If I ever decide to do a photo realistic comic, then I'll worry about getting my backgrounds to look realistic. Until then, I use them to establish the atmosphere and location. Sometimes the background is quite detailed, but if there's a lot of action going on, I want my readers' attention to be focused on the action rather than all the pretty things in the background.

I'm not the best at drawing backgrounds admittedly, as my drawing style is relatively simple, but I do try to have one every once in a while just to give a sense of space. At the very least, what I try to do with every scene is show the floor the characters are standing on just to show they are not trapped in some void.

I have no issues with outside scenes. Inside the perspective is tighter so mistakes are way easier to spot. T_T
Outdoor scenes are so loose. You can get away with anything.

Yeah, yet another person here who suffers with indoors scenes! My trick is simple. Pick up a few wallpaper textures and then USE THEM EVERYWHERE. If that doesn't work, draw plants or windows. I built one room by making three walls, and a floor, plus a couple closeups of things--the back of the bed and a thing on the wall--and then I asked other artists if they would borrow me their art so I could post posters on the wall. Now, when I need this room, I have these walls covered in posters of other people's art and I can copy and paste them neatly in.

A room is just a box. If you need that room a lot, you can probably get away with doing detailed shots of a couple walls and pasting those walls in repeatedly, plus it helps with consistancy. It's outdoors where you need things to change, like leaves falling and sun and whatever.

Granted, I'm a digital artist. That's my secret to detailed backgrounds--I just draw larger matte paintings for every background I repeatedly use and then I paste them in and crop where needed, and draw people and effects over it.

But yeah, I do massive, detailed backgrounds. And I love detailed backgrounds. I don't read comics fast. I stop and look.

Metruis
Yeah, yet another person here who suffers with indoors scenes! My trick is simple. Pick up a few wallpaper textures and then USE THEM EVERYWHERE. If that doesn't work, draw plants or windows. I built one room by making three walls, and a floor, plus a couple closeups of things--the back of the bed and a thing on the wall--and then I asked other artists if they would borrow me their art so I could post posters on the wall. Now, when I need this room, I have these walls covered in posters of other people's art and I can copy and paste them neatly in.

A room is just a box. If you need that room a lot, you can probably get away with doing detailed shots of a couple walls and pasting those walls in repeatedly, plus it helps with consistancy. It's outdoors where you need things to change, like leaves falling and sun and whatever.

Granted, I'm a digital artist. That's my secret to detailed backgrounds--I just draw larger matte paintings for every background I repeatedly use and then I paste them in and crop where needed, and draw people and effects over it.

But yeah, I do massive, detailed backgrounds. And I love detailed backgrounds. I don't read comics fast. I stop and look.

I'm similar in a couple of ways!

I hate, hate, hate drawing indoor scenes, especially because rooms are like boxes. I can't just add things where I like, it has to make a lot more "sense" than in outdoor scenes. (I've got a pretty complicated set of indoor scenes on my next few pages and I'm dreading it x_x).

I never thought of the cut and past thing mostly because I draw my pages by hand then finish 'em on the computer, but that is a pretty good idea.

I don't read comics fast either! I look at evvvverything from the colors to, of course, the background. I'm a little obsessive about detail so I try to do it as much as I can in my backgrounds, and I love when people pay attention to details as well. :D

Backgrounds are the ONLY time I will recommend copying and pasting. Backgrounds don't change. Especially indoors, unless people move things, it's advantageous for consistancy. Don't take me as an advocate of copy-pasta. Only for things that don't change. Mountains, walls, all good.

I can see you're obsessive about details in your comic, yeah. :)

For me backgrounds are essential as they depict the world in which the characters interact, very important in a comic with a world setting like Wyrden, which as Doctor Shadow describes it as is "steampunk renaissance fantasy" and has visual elements such as the Mist Reaver that really have no frame of reference in real life.

One thing my art teachers taught me in still life drawing was that the space around the pose was as important as the pose itself as it gave a frame of reference. I try to incorporate that in the comic art.

As I draw the comic totally freehand as my computer art skills are a nice fat zero, I cannot use repeat backgrounds etc, I have to draw to stuff over again for each frame. What I try to be aware of is what the space the reader cannot see is like so when I shift the position of the characters I know what I should be drawing and where! This means I have nice juicy maps of Sullivale Port etc in my head as I do like making sure I get things right when there is a return to the same setting!

I do draw detailed backgrounds, Wyrden is a detailed world, although I admit I am just as bad when I am drawing art for rpg games etc! I like adding elements such as the cats, owls, people on rooftops or doing unspeakable things in dark alleys or Nightshades "artwork" on the walls in Sullivale as I feel it brings life to the comic as well as giving the readers amusing things to spot and comment on;)

I will admit to being very flattered about Wyrden being in the final selection for the background art. Thankyou to everyone who voted:)