I'll be the first to admit that I have a difficult time with backgrounds. John K. does a good job breaking down the key principles of composition and hierarchy—how you frame a shot and how you organize elements on a page. Like with everything else in image-making, it's always key to consider things like contrast, positive and negative space (you know the laundry list)...all the things you would consider as a designer of anything. Here are two "stylized" backgrounds that really excel (from Warner Brothers Cartoons of the 1950s):
Breathtaking! I can recall a recent film we did where we had a scene with a park bench —notice the frame of reference here. I know I fall into the trap of keeping the horizon at a flat 180 degrees. See how much more dynamic these compositions are because of the angling of forms? They still adhere to a system of perspective and logic. Here are poignant words from John K:
"Some modern layout artists see a license for anarchy in these stylized images. I see very slightly distorted perspectives and stylistic interpretations of reality, but with still great planning and organization of all the graphic elements into a quickly readable statement that has a purpose in the scene and story. Each element does not follow its own physics ; it is subservient to the overall composition. Every detail follows and helps define the larger object it is part of."
Check out this fire red background from 101 Dalmations:
Here's a random shot from The Jungle Book. You can tell right away where Mowgli is supposed to go, and the background is balanced as to not overwhelm you with jungle:
Or a house fit for a mouse! This is from "Jonann Mouse", a Tom and Jerry cartoon that won an Oscar. This is the full pan...low to the ground (notice the chair leg in the foreground):
Anyway, that's just a small sampling. Definitely check out this invaluable resource!
2 comments:
So, here is my question now...How do the characters come in to play? Do you think these background artists stuck specifically to the original storyboard - or did they elaborate at all?
I'd be intrigued to go back even a step further to the storyboard and see how the characters are worked into the scene in the sketch.
The backgrounds shown here stand alone as beautiful illustrations. I think the staircase is just amazing, I'd totally hang that framed on my wall.
Wow, really good question. I guess we wouldn't know for sure unless we got a peek in on the production art. You know, Michael Sporn does a good job of setting up the full picture on his blog. Check out the section just on storyboarding:
Story & Storyboards
You can compare it to your memory of the films, or cross reference with the art from the Animation Backgrounds blog. Actually, that might be a fun post to draw up.
My hunch is that the background artists stay VERY strict to the storyboard, considering character placement BIG time.
For a direct example, I noticed they have a clips of the movies on the blog when possible. You love that staircase, its from "Hyde and Hare", which you can watch here:
Hyde and Hare
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