Pixie Trix Comix & Hiveworks Community

Dreaded backgrounds. I think we all dislike them, and it seems to be something most of us need to work on. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks on making backgrounds easier?

I know basically how to do 1-point, 2-point and yes, even the dreaded 3-point perspective, but they still seem to lack something. I know I have trouble adding objects within places, such as decorations in a living room, or something. I have a book called Perspective! For Comicbook Artists. It is a very good book but it gets somewhat confusing at certain points.

Also what do you think of predrawn backgrounds, such as I.C Collection sets or Deleter Scenery? It's not stealing anything but you aren't drawing it yourself. For that matter, what are your feelings on taking pictures and converting it into a toned background?

I find backgrounds challenging myself, I think I haven't been as creative or detailed as I can on them. One exercise I try to do is sketching things around me without trying too hard just so I can get the basic shape of the object. Sometimes I just grab pictures from the internet and use them as reference.

I don't mind predrawn backgrounds and tbqh I use them myself on numerous occassions. Admittedly, it's lazy but sometimes you have to make use of the resources available to you. However I'm not a fan of taking pictures and converting them to toned backgrounds. I feel that most of the time it sticks out like a sore thumb and doesn't aid the comic.

I like pictures turned into tones if the artstyle permits it, the Persona 3 manga uses this everyonce in a while and fits perfectly, also pre-drawn cool too...lol I'm not really helping you here, but then again I really suck a backgrounds.... - -'
What I can say is that the window with the vase is a bit flat...

I can see that the image does look a little off (other than the vase), but not exactly sure what it is that's causing me to see it that way.

It might be the proximity with the vanishing point (end of the road at the top) and the electic pole. For me, I usually wouldn't draw them that close to each other until they're in a far far away distance. From this viewpoint of your drawing, they are still within our vision range and sitting nearly next to each other as if the edge of the picture is trying to force the pole to stay within the picture.

Hmmm.... Backgrounds are definitely not easy. I would second the suggestion of looking at some background photos as references.

(This is nicely colored, btw. ^^;)

I suck at backgrounds.

yeh I wasn't really asking for a critique on that picture. lol, I know I'm not skilled, I was just adding an image for the heck of it.

I just know that when I find photos turned toned in manga it feels cheap. Like how Clamp does sometimes: Tokyo Babylon and Gate 7. :<

I find that I learn a lot from having a photo reference in front of me and getting a sense of how streets, rooms, trees, etc. come together.

The more convincing ones, I find, have more detail in them. But, strangely enough, the more evocative ones seem to know which details to leave in and which bits to simplify.

I try to use backgrounds completely made by me...but not always drawn. I take a lot of photographs to use as stock, so sometimes they appear in manga. As long as the drawn quality matches the photo quality, it's fine. A bit harder to pull off the more fantastical a story is (yes, I just used the word 'fantastical'). If the style doesn't match the regular comic, then just a large exposition panel works :Y .

But honestly I'm trying to make stylized backgrounds lately, so drawing them myself. I like using Jing: King of Bandits as my reference. Although I'm not going for that drawing style, the layout and presentation are superb. Every other panel is exposition, it's amazing * w* . And the story telling is also great. Suddenly I was pimping out this series, i'llbequietnow.

I personally hate pre-drawn bgs or converting photos into bgs. I just feel like it's lazy and that there could be a lot more effort put in. Yeah it's hard work and sometimes you're strapped for time, but I think the effort is worth it.

But really, I don't draw background too much. I think it's because I AM a lazy artist, but I'm also too prideful to use pre-drawn bgs or photos so I end up not doing background at all, tahaha.

this person is super in learning how to make backgrounds (and other things) : http://fengzhudesign.blogspot.com/

I can relate, I've been looking into using google sketchup to make certain type of backgrounds since I can place simple objects in 3d space and adjust the camera according to what I want. I try not to rely on it too much still. Here's an example of what i mean:
I'm stil new to the software but it's come in handy a bit here and there.