Don't Draw BACKGROUNDS Like This! 

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Finally in 6 hours I’ll know everything I ever did wrong in life- I mean backgrounds…

You know the deal everyone. Watch the video, check your entire file of art with backgrounds and despise it like we always do

Ok here are my dos and donts: DO - use reference - make thumbnail sketches - plan the background in conjunction with your character - color the background first to achieve more cohesive and believable colors and lighting - always check your values and keep the higher level of detail in your foreground - keep in mind your perspective grid, dont just eyeball objects DONT - overrender, especially on objects that sit farthest from the camera - just slap in a makeshift background you didnt plan in the original composition (srly, people can tell and at this points its often better to just leave things blank imo) - put in more effort then necessary, work smarter not harder

Right after I clicked this video I got a Reese's ad that said "No one likes to be told what to do." 😂

I swear to God this channel needs more acknowledgment. These tips have helped me so much. ❤

What I tend to do when drawing backgrounds is, instead of having no lineart at all, I'll have the lineart be a darker shade of whatever the main color of a given background piece is, and put it in with a textured brush, as I usually draw my characters with black lineart using a round brush. Then I use correction layers to lower the contrast of the background, and then add blur. The end result is that the lineart kind of blends into the colors while still giving the background enough definition that I and whoever else looks at the piece can tell what we're looking at.

i love the phrase "that's it. that's enough information." because art really is telling a story! very helpful

All the traditional artist watching this: 👁👄👁

you make my life as a self taught artist livable 😭😭✨✨

This reminds me of drawing crowds of people. The people in front are detailed, but towards the back the people’s eyes are just dots and they become as complex as stick figures. Lack of detail in the back really does add depth. I just didn’t realize how to exactly do it but this video has helped!

omg i cannot stress enough how i'm grateful for this advice i'm always afraid to draw backgrounds because of the details so hearing this gives me a HUGE sigh of relief. thank you

I've found it's really useful to paint your focal points first, while the motivation for detail is still pretty high and work toward the least focused points. By the time I get to the last ones, the amount of work I'm willing to put into the detail is just the amount of detail the area actually needs.

I've got a nice suggestion for you! Maybe you could explain how to draw antlers better or at least more anatomically correct. Especially since it's getting around the holidays and people are drawing reindeer. If you could that would be amazing, thanks ❤️

I'm someone who hates drawing backgrounds but I must do them to avoid my drawings of being too boring, great video btw!

As someone that has avoided drawing backgrounds for a long time, I find this all insanely helpful. Good video and now... I am going back to actually drawing backgrounds haha

I really liked the tip about zooming out and focusing on the bigger picture because I tend to get caught up with adding too much detail. I also draw very fast, so my art ends up looking crusty and unnatural. I think this will help me not suck so much at backgrounds in the future

This is way more helpful than what my actual art teacher taught when i used to go to school lol. They would always teach us stuff like drawing detailed patterns in backgrounds and nothing that really helped me.

You can tell when a tutorial is good when it explains the reasoning behind something I thought was obvious but see a lot of others struggle with. I could never put it into words as well as you did in just a few minutes!

I sometimes don’t use line art with my backgrounds but do for the character. It’s also good to have it rotate around the focus, like it works as little arrows pointing to where you want people to focus on. If it works have the background colors be more dull then the character. Another thing that works is to slightly blur the background like how when a camera focuses on something up close it blurs what’s around it. Those work for me quite well but the most important one is to not push off figuring out the background until after you finish the character, come up with it after you draw the initial sketch for the character. If you push it off you risk having the character looking out of place, so it’s not a good idea unless that’s what your going for

i’m about to draw the background for a big rendered piece and this is what i needed 😭🙏🏻

A tip for making sure your character's colours go with the background is to choose a color from the background, make a new layer over the character and set it to multiply. Change the opacity until you like it. If it is traditional art, then mix the corlour you want with a bit of the character's main corlour. For example, you have a green and blue background and your charter is pink so mixthem togetherr to make a pink tinted green and blue. Or you can wait for it to dry and and lighlty paint over the character or background with the other colour. I used to change the opacity of the charter down slightly to 90% or something, but this can make the background show through the charter. This trick works more for clothing or choosing colors in general. Another way to make a background is just to make some lines and blobs and then mess around with the filters. Or do a blob sketch and blur it. If extra lazy, take a photo or use a non copyright one for the background and then blur it. Hope this helps

The whole keeping a consistent zoom when drawing those little details back makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the video.

I cannot overstate how elegantly simple but useful the advice in this video for backgrounds is. One of the rules of thumb that I've learned to follow is to imagine your piece from the perspective of your viewer, and try to draw/ paint at that level of zoom. So, in other words, if the main focus of your piece is a character in the foreground, your background should serve to augment but never distract from that focus. Drawing zoomed out also helped simplify-trees become large geometric shapes rather than worrying about the composition of those shapes. Were the viewer standing closer.

I usually do comics in traditional b/w so not quite the same, but my main tips are: make your backgrounds work for you. I like to plan the angles of my perspectives to line up with my composition/reading flow-- one of my favorite things is having them directly bring your eye to the next bubble or panel. I vary some important background lines for that, but otherwise a lot I use lighter or looser brush strokes. I took a comic scene class in college and it really opened my eyes to how many things backgrounds can do in, esp. as environmental storytelling, so don't always skimp on them, there's a time and a place for both!

I love when an art tutorial is not just "use my grass or bush brushes". Great video

I think this is great advice, particularly background and the level of detail. I'm working towards making a comic, and I did a test run on my first episode, oh my god it can take forever. I'll be thinking of this video as I go forward.

Ngl this whole video was just "stop trying so hard" and that's literally all I needed to hear. This actually helps a lot, thank you so much for sharing this!!

GREAT VIDEO! I actually have a few things to add that I think can help. Atmospheric perspective solves a big chunk of the background dilemma. Objects farther away appear to fade in both detail and richness of color. It's because of the atmosphere surrounding everything basically, the air particles get in the way the further you go away from something, same idea as to why fog blocks everything until you get closer, but more subtle. So combining the fundamentals of perspective (usually one or two point) and atmospheric perspective, you get the best backgrounds. Also her advice about foreground, midground, and background are how traditional painters approach pictures usually, background first, foreground last. It's all about thinking in layers. (A good analogy for this would be an overlay book, printed on cellophane pages so that images could be constructed using layers of transparent pictures so they became more than the sum of their parts. Most effective with anatomy books and architecture books so as to better illustrate the inner workings of something in tandem with it's outer layers. Also where the term animation cel or cel shading comes from; it's the same type of paper and meant to conserve animation resources by only having to redraw what's moving.) Also her advice about not putting in too much detail with plants applies to other textures, assuming you're not going for ultra photorealism. The mind can fill in the blanks when it sees a suggestion of pattern, like with wood or brick or even scales. Art, especially when it comes to concept art or detailed sketching, is all about choosing what to add and what not to add. Or as Edgar Degas put it, "Art is not what you see but what you make others see." ALSO don't underestimate the power of negative space, what's NOT there is usually as important because it help what is THERE seem grounded and more distinguishable. I Such as simply not adding any color to where the brightest highlights should be (with a white background) or adding no color to the darkest areas (with a black background). It's about creating contrast, which is also how you create lines outside of illustrative styles, the positive and negative spaces' meeting points. And it's also essential for creating resting points for the viewer in what would otherwise be a crowded or overly detailed composition.

I don't mind outside type backgrounds as much anymore, but I'm still a bit clueless about indoor backgrounds. They're so angular and precise it feels hard to just render them in singular brush strokes 😭

can you make a part 2 on making simple patterned backgrounds?? thank you!!

Thank you! I can already tell these tips will help a lot- I’ve been creating a comic and backgrounds are the bane of my existence. I really needed the reminder to stop being a perfectionist with such minuscule background details.

I've been creating pixel art for objects in a game I've been making, and have been struggling as someone who has never even tried to be an artist until about a month ago. This is actually great advice for any visual that's not the focus of your scene. Even though I can quite literally copy and paste my bush, having it be super simple just makes the scene come together nicer. I have made my bush, it is a simple bush, and there will be hundreds of them. Now I will go and make more simple foliage friends for my simple bush.

For those who still wants to show off background details, I personally do like, painterly somewhat realistic backgrounds that are (usually) contained in a shape behind the more stylized character. The busy background tends to push the more clear and simple character forward on the page:)

Now you've introduced me to Nadia Kim, I'm in love with her art!

This is actually very helpful! Goes straight to the point! I always struggle with backgrounds because they always tend to take attention away from the characters and other important things..so thank you for the helpful tips!

The way I got good at drawing backgrounds fairly quick was being really into impressionism and expressionism when I was taking Art History in high school. I've always liked making something that just registers as what I wanted to portray with everything I feel about it put into the brush strokes and colors

I love your more lively tone during this video. It’s like someone you’re comfortable with teaching you and it makes me want to learn more at my own pace.

Thank you all very much. That really helped! The world could use a lot of people like you. Keep on it, guys!

am i the only one that went back and paused to try to find waldo... (i failed by the way)

i love how you get straight to the point, i cant watch a video where they take forever to start but this is super helpful and nice visually

thank you for hammering the point home. i really needed that

I really needed to hear this as someone who constantly tries to make every little detail perfect. Thank you!

Your videos are so helpful, and yet so short! You are amazing. Thank you very very much.

I'm so glad I found your channel. ❤ wish I had you as an art teacher.

This channel is honestly so underrated I’m so glad you exist

i’m currently working on a piece with a background!!! i use a thinner brush for the lineart because i’ve heard thick lines make something stand out more! it’s a small difference but i think i should drop this tip here for anyone who wants to emphasise this idea more in their own artwork

So glad you uploaded another helpful video!

hello Winged canvas! you have been my saviour when it comes to improving my art skills! I watched your wing videos and instantly new how to draw wings better! I just want to say your an amazing artist and if you ever need any break or anything than you deserve it because you put alot of effort into helping others!! Keep doing amazing art and I hope you and anyone else have an amazing day!

That's actualy what I needed the most RIGHT NOW

Thank you so incredibly much for sharing this! 💖👏

I've been taking inspiration from Hilda when I've been drawing backgrounds lately. My art is relatively lineart heavy, so I've been using thinner lines for my backgrounds and adding tiny little bits where the lines are disconnected.

This was so incredibly helpful! I'm notorious for overdoing the details. Thank you!!

this actually helped quite a bit thank you :)

OMG thank you. I honestly needed this...

thanks for information its realy help me in my art works

0:33 I normally make my backgrounds contrast dark (if possible while still keeping it looking good) or whenever possible I have the backgrounds be grey or blueish grey (for my more recent work) helps the fact that I like to go with a fantasy or sci fi aesthetic (or both at the same time really)

Thank you for the video. I like how you explain things so I'm subbing.

this is very helpful! amazing video🧡

Cute characters, clear voice, informative and good video.

WOW. This was like JUST the video I needed. Thank you, this was beyond helpful.

This really help thanks

Thank you so much I've been staring at my art for hours

Thanks for the tips. Really helpful and concise.

This is super helpful! Thank you!

YOU CAME JUST WHEN I NEEDED U 😭 THANK YOU

Thanks for the tips, Jessie! Hope you're having a good day :)

This helped out so much, thank you ❤

Even though I do illustration and not digital paining, I always listen to these vids because there's always going to be some good advice that I can apply for myself. Pull back when making a background? Never would have thought of that. GREAT idea.

Your videos are wonderful ❤ you’re raising the quality of art across the community by helping so many artists take their art to new levels ❤❤❤

this is incredibly helpful info! I've always hated doing backgrounds because I always put so much work into them, not knowing these basic principles. Thank you so much for this video

I like to watch a couple videos over time of a channel then subscribe usually and I can definitely say I've subscribed to this one. jessie is one of the bes recorded instructors on youtube and finds the way to describe how people actually do what they do to create something

Thank you for saving me time on an AP piece, you peeps are heroes istg. XD

Thx so much for this tips :)

this helped me for my game

Thank you so much for making this video 🥺! Now I can draw backgrounds without having a hard time.

Thank you this will be helpful

This is so helpful

Omg this was so helpful 😭😭

I learned more in a 7 minute video then I ever have in the 9 years of me doing any art at all

I learn from this channel more than art school. Love your channel 😍🔥🥰😘❤️❤️❤️

Great video, I was sweating over a background. Now I think I can make the scene look like a scene without draining the attention away from the characters

This is the videos I've been looking thank you

The Blur Depth thing really helps me

5:40 and then you re-enable the foreground layer and it *_completely and entirely covers the bush_*

I’ve seen with like super well rendered game art, the layers for the background and foreground elements will literally be like them testing out brushes and effects they’ve never used and just getting texture in few strokes. So if not specific things, let it be something to just try and mess around loosely. Could also be a good way to warm up if you scared to start to not have too much expectation

I just draw a background some days ago... I don't know what to feel about this :v

I come from drawing mostly characters so this is new territory. But I want to get into illustrations. And thanks to you I don’t feel too intimidated!! Wow I’ve learned a lot more in a few mins than I did in college 😅THANK YOU!!

thanks! I've been working on an hfjone-style object show and just started on the main backgrounds, this helped a lot!

Thank you, i really needed this words

Beautiful 😍

Thank you for all the winderful tips!! I progressed so much thanks to you!! So thank you for taking all the time of this free educatuon!

OK THIS ACTUALLY REALLY HELPED-

You our here saving my life I've been fitting over my webcomic background soooo bad

Hey, this video is neat ♡

I am starting with didgitial art rn and this channle helps me a lot! Thank you!

YOURE A LIFE SAVER I'm working on a Christmas present with a large background as the focus, and I was totally at a loss as to how to make it detailed but not too crowded Now if only I could go back in time and watch this before I started dedicating 8 hours of my life for each drawing i made with overcrowded backgrounds

Saved to Watch Later to remind myself of this. I'm scared of doing the background art and I try to avoid it as much as possible. But this video gave me enough confidence to try. Thanks a lot

Needed this video heaaaaaaaavvvvyyyyyyyyyy

God i just found your channel and wanted to say that im in love with your style 🥺🥺