I used to be lazy about backgrounds, then I just became more interested in the world my characters inhabited. I think my interest in detailed backgrounds comes from the adventure videogames I play...because they are all about exploring a fictional world. In a videogame it is not always the characters that entice you, but the cool next level and what it could look like. Now I like to put a lot of detail into my backgrounds...trying to imagine the world these characters inhabit and how people or creatures live there.

I don't mind doing backgrounds in my comics really. It sets a mood, but it's not something I focus on. I suppose I should give a little more attention to the backgrounds... I love doing snowy backgrounds though. :D

I love it. It makes the difference in Nadya, I think.

If you're good, your background can draw in readers, make them feel what you want them to, and give your characters life and substance.

I think it's best to experiment and go with what you're comfy with in the end.

I love doing backgrounds. :3
I just hate coloring and inking them. : D

I hate them...but they are needed.

I second Midge. They are essential to a solid, well-told story, but they're often a bloody pain in the arse to research & illustrate.

Later,
Chip

I think backgrounds are a part of the story. I love using subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) backgrounds for humor or emphasis, intensity or chill. They're there, whether you like them or not. You may as well get your creativity's worth!

If you read Due East , you will notice lots of humor or intriguing little things related to the plot kindly hidden in the background. It's fairly random, whenever the urge hits me, but it's consistent from Book One (even from Page 1 of Book One).

If you think of backgrounds as your friend and as a tool, they turn from a dreaded menace to an unexplored canvas with lots of funky textures and/or colors just waiting to be unleashed upon your unsuspecting readers. (Gosh, I loved writing that!)

The more interested I get in the world Superchum inhabits, I think the better the comic gets. The concept has long been linked to a specific look and feel. I think I've got the color scheme coming along nicely. But lately I've also started to really get into the backgrounds as well. Superchum lives in a mythical town called Suburbs. Since the bright happy "facade" of suburban America is so key to the look and feel of the Superchum book (because you know, the suburbs aren't really all that bright or happy) ... I've been trying my best to get that looking as good as I can.

To put it more succinctly: I've been enjoying working on my backgrounds for the past few years now. I used to not like them all that much. But now that I've grown as an artist and found some shortcuts and tools to help, I've really taken a liking to drawing them.

I really get into backgrounds when they are not of earth, but some mythical world. I did illustrate a three issue comic for a guy set in New Orleans and it was really fun doing research on that city to get the look of the book. Still in mythical world I can really let my imagination run wild with the look and feel of the backgrounds.

Nnnot particularly. They have their moments of fun I suppose.

Background definitly enhance the quality of my strip and to an extent they are actually pretty fun to draw. But then you have to carefully ink everything in and then clean i up on the computer and add shading and it eats up a lot of time. But it still looks nice.

I find them as fun to draw as everything else, I find everything else fun, so it's a source of enjoyment, aka. 'fun'.

I hate making backgrounds. I just like drawing characters. I wish I had practiced backgrounds more now in the past cause it is really reflected in my work that I didn't.

They take too long as well and with as much detail that I put into the characters it would be next to impossible for me to update daily drawing super duper backgrounds.

I second EmilyTheStrange. I like doing the pencils, but the inking gets tedious and by the time coloring comes around I don't really like them so much.

They are satisfying, though. A fully colored page with a background looks ten times better than without. At least the work is worth the result.

It depends what's in them for me. I like drawing more natural backgrounds, especially skies. Buildings, inside and out, I have much less patience for.

Well, I don't hate drawing backgrounds. Sometimes I can't decide what kind of background to draw. But drawing backgrounds is essential to knowing the physical atmosphere of the comic.

BGs definitely make a pic take longer to draw. The latest page I made had a dust storm for a BG and it only took me half a day to draw, (longer to colour).

But then I'm getting faster generally and it depends on how I feel when I make a page. But without a BG their wouldn't be much point to a lot of it. In pages like this the BG IS the image. The painted part in the top panel etc is easy, but the last panel was fully drawn and researched, that took too long!


This and this took quite a long time because I had to do more research... I had to know what public buildings in Tunisia looked like inside and out before I could attempt them. It pays off though!
-Man... I should've used more refs for the horses...

Anyway, you should never stint in backgrounds, they're as much a part of the image as the rest of the elements.

I stopped hating backgrounds when I stopped thinking of them as just backgrounds. Because really, they're the enviornment your character lives and navigates through. (Unless your character lives in a mythical white void)-- and making that environment pop and become believable to your audience can go a long way in gainign yourself an audience, and have people be more receptive to your story, and make it more memorable. (Why do I feel like Scott McCloud all of a sudden? D:)

That isn't to say I always enjoy sitting and meticulously researching buildings, streets, trolleycars, and I do my share of rushed little backdrops here and there when time isn't on my side -- but I know that the payoff is bigger when I can devote more time to a particular scene. They aren't my favorite thing ever, but they're essential.

Sure, it's more fun to draw your characters. And sure, you can take the easy way out that people are borrowing from manga, and use those pre-drawn background screentones if you don't care about your world looking extemely generic, or having the same apartment building or clouds that every other lazy bum of a cartoonist has discovered will save them a bit of time. (I'm not anti screentone -- I use them often for my comics, but only to accentuate what I've already drawn. Not to do all of my work for me.)

Backgrounds are always a challenge- too detailed and they take attention away from the characters, too simplistic and the setting doesn't look real. I like drawing them, most of the times, because they present a lot of challenges. It improves the artwork if you are dedicated in making backgrounds and it gives the readers a certain idea of where the characters are.

However, I tend to like drawing them in large 'reference' panels, and then focus on the expressions and reactions of the characters with little background. I also depend a lot on gradients to signal emotions and emotional fluctuations as the characters speak, which so far seems to be working quite well :)

@ Ozoneocean:

I would never be caught DEAD in a situation where I'd have to draw backgrounds to THAT degree. I mean... detailed decorative patterns on every tile of the building... drawn by hand? Are you crazy?

If my plot required a situation like that, I'd always try to take the Mignola shortcut... that is, artistic swaths of solid black, with details at a few accentuated areas. The reader's imagination can draw the rest. And it works too.

It so happens that my stories always end up occuring in organic settings, which makes BGs much more liberating and relaxing to draw. I despise drawing buildings, cities, basically anything that needs a ruler, etc.

Well Mlai, my background (not the comic backgrounds hahaha) is more artistic and less comicy so it's more natural for me to focus on complicated imagery than drawing panels to tell the story... That said, the kinds of comics that always appealed to me most of all were those ones that were more detailed. So I love a lot of Shirrow Masumune, Modesty Blaise etc.

The thing with my comic drawing is that I'd always just thought that if the scene calls for it I'll draw anything that's needed. But even then I used to chicken out sometimes. But now I've resolved to just stick to that: whatever it takes. It's my "thing" :)
The downside is that the good work on my BG elements shows up the fact that my figures aren't always at the same level.

I love drawing backgrounds, actually - except when they don't work out. A good setting can really say a lot - but screw it up, and you have an ugly page.

Still, it's the challenge that makes it fun. There's no point in only drawing things you know you're already good at.

I'm getting better at putting in effort for environments. I've said before in comments on my comic pages that I have incredibly poor spacial awareness, but I think a good background adds a lot. I'm very particular about colours. I always want the colours I use to put across the emotion or atmosphere of a page.

i like to really convey the world my characters are in, but i also find drawing magnificent backgrounds takes a TON of time and effort. That only irritates me when i'm really wanting to start on the next page :P Plus, i've always loved drawing the actual characters more than the backgrounds.

Sadly, they are a necessary things for a properly drawn comic. :/

I dont draw, but I typically tell my artist to draw a lot of specific details and send him photographs. heh. He doesnt complain but sometimes the details dont get all in there. He's currently painting the backgrounds to our new story and he is really excited about it. I can't wait to see it.

I adore drawing backgrounds. For me, backgrounds are as important as the characters because backgrounds give the setting, the mood, and give a subtle definition to the comic page that characters can't give. Backgrounds are an artist's perception of the real world around it, so it's fun to manipulate. It's my favorite thing to do.

I'm a bit obseesive when drawing them. Whenever I have to draw a real city street, I have this certain drive to draw it exactly how it looks. No details skimpt out on. From the smallest cracks on the floor to the exact number of windows on a buliding. As seen in this page which features Market Street .

Sometimes, I have fun. It's fun to create an enviroment as you want it to be. Wherein you can create everything and have it exist exactly how you want it to be.

I like drawing backgrounds. Aside from being important for establishing the world of the story, they can also turn a good page into a great one and a great page into a classic. I tend to go a bit overboard when thinking about my backgrounds. The munitions factory that is the setting for the current Frank Baron, NSO episodes (www.drunkduck.com/Frank_Baron_NSO ) has been laid out in my head for a while now, and all of the doors and walkways in the background actually lead somewhere.

I used to hate them until I realized how much better my pages looked when I spent a long time on them. Even at that point, they were kind of a thorn in my side, but the more I worked on them, the more I actually learned to enjoy creating different settings. It's a more complete experience for the reader when the artist takes the time to create a good setting. That doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be detailed down to every last pebble on the ground; like Mlai mentioned, there are effective ways to create believeable settings without going into insane detail.

..But insane detail is fun. lol!

I also prefer to concentrate on my characters and sometimes slack off on the backgrounds. I agree that they are important at times to help round out a story but damn they can be a pain!
For Drewbot I recently used real pics to make the background when he is in space. Some might call that cheating but I think it had a cool effect and definitely saved me the trouble.

I think I do OK with outside city scenes, I sometimes find them fun to draw even. Indoor scenes are when things seem to fall apart for me and things start to look sloppy. Those who have read my comic know about my "cop-out" backgrounds where I just put in abstract shadows. They work OK for scenes indoors and night time but they make no sense for outside scenes in broad daylight.