Backgrounds design is really important it sets the mood, atmosphere of the scene. It guides the viewers gaze and it gives visual subtext to viewer.

Background artists work from the animation storyboard and guides from the art director, which they use to create detailed backgrounds that convey the feelings and emotions defined by the script and direction. In addition to color, shape, and light, they consider texture, movement, contrast, lines, and the rule of thirds. —- Being a background artist (background painter or layout artist) wasn’t something I had properly considered but it sound really cool and something i might enjoy

I just really love the painted backgrounds here the texture and the lighting

What Skills are Required?

• Advanced illustration skills to allow them to create a variety of styles.
• Extreme attention to detail.
• Mastery of color theory and its related concepts.
• Mastery of light, shape, and texture.
• Understanding of 3D composition, proportion, and stage design.
• Creativity to create and experiment.
• The ability to turn abstract concepts into images and settings.

Colour Theory

Mood is set by the dominant and secondary colours.

Saturation – the measure of how pure the colour is. reduce the saturation by adding gray or a colour on the opposite side of the colour wheel.

Hue – Often used as a simile for colour. It refers to the dominate wavelength of colour out of the 12 colours on the colour wheel e.g The hue of burgundy is red

Tone – Used in to ways. one to describe the color. Two used to describe a feeling of an image

Value – how light or dark the color is, on a scale of black to white. Value is One of the most important variables to the success of a painting.

Make a painting or photograph greyscale (B&W) to see the value. It is vital as it sets the structure of your painting and can help guide the eye. – I find this super useful when figuring out colours, it is the first thing i do when I get stuck.

High Key vs Low Key

A high key painting has a high-value scale (light). A low key painting has a low-value scale (dark)

Usually paintings balance both lights and darks – the way we balance them to reduce or increase contrast and brightness enables us to change the mood of the image.

I tried to make high key value painting, as much as i love it i do think i stick to my mid tone a little to much. .

Colour Temperature
Warm colours usually indicate activity and light, and cool colours tend to be used for calm, distance and soothing environments. White, black and grey are usually considered neutral colours. Adding them to our colours gives us a wider range of tones. A colour’s temperature is affected by the surrounding colours: a blue can look warm or cool depending on context.

Complementary They have an extremely strong contrasting, vibrant effect when used together. Overuse can create a painting that is uncomfortable to look at. Use one as the dominant colour and the other as an accent. eg red and green

Analogous – the one I think I’m going to use A relaxing combination, created by colours next to each other on the wheel. Famously used by impressionists to create harmonious paintings.
Usually choose one dominant colour, a secondary colour, and an accent colour eg light blue, green and light green

Triadic – another one i was thinking of using Uses three colours which are evenly placed around the colour wheel. Results in a vibrant scheme, even with low saturation. One colour is usually dominant with the other two as accents. Balance with this colour scheme is key. eg green, orange and purple

Split Complementary Opposite each other on the colour wheel. They have an extremely strong contrasting, vibrant effect when used together. Overuse can create a painting that is uncomfortable to look at. Use one as the dominant colour and the other as an accent. eg light green, light orange, purple

My Backgrounds –

I was really inspired by Slawek Fedorczuk. He has a wonderful use of colour. I would also like to study the way ha paints light. It just shows his understanding of form.

https://www.instagram.com/slawekfedorczuk?igsh=MWMwZmI1ZTk4N2w5cg%3D%3D

At first thought it would faster to paint like this cause a lot of his work is quite gestural instead of my normal approach but I was sorely mistaken.

lighting and form is something i would like to study more