The owl and the pussycat went to sea…….well that’s maybe what they intended, but at the moment they seem to be stuck in some sort of backgroundless void…
Maybe the puss will pick up a pencil and the owl will grab some oil paints and together will create a background to go with their situation.
We’ll return to this pair later on.
In This article we’re going to look at creating some different backgrounds for cartoons, from using very simple lines to adding a lot more complexity.
Here’s what we’re going to cover.
Simple to complex
Complex to simple
Over to you - your turn to try!
We’ll start by looking at a cartoon and gradually adding complexity to the background. After than we’ll reverse the process and go from complex to simple with a different cartoon. Finally, there are a few characters for you to practice drawing backgrounds for.
I recommend pausing and answering the questions as you go along. You don’t have to try doodling all of the backgrounds, however, you could imagine how they might look.
Let’s start by taking a step ontodry land and quite a few steps back in time to see what Terence the T-Rex is getting up to.
Simple To Complex
Here Terrence is trying to scratch an annoying itch…made even more annoying by the fact that his arms can’t reach…Perhaps a passing Pterodactyl could pause and help him out…
You could use this image exactly as it is. However, let’s look at a simple background.
Before I show the one I drew, what do you think might work? Have a guess before you scroll down.
In a couple of seconds, I added a couple of lines to create a really simply background.
Now what could you add to the background to make it a little more complex?
It’s always good to throw a volcano into a Jurassic scene!
Could you add anything else?
I’ve added a few Jurassic trees, but to be honest I don’t think they’re really needed.
Here’s the colour version of the simple background. Colour instantly makes a background a bit more complex.
And the colour version of the detailed background. This is the one I ended up using.
As mentioned, I think that the Jurassic trees are a detail too much, which just goes to show that complex isn’t always the way to go.
Next we’re going to start off with a different cartoon with a complex background and progressively strip out some of the detail.
Complex To Simple
Rui here is doing a spot of fishing. She hasn’t brought her phone with her, so she’s relying. On eel mail to keep in touch.
It can be a very rewarding experience to create complex backgrounds. However, sometimes that background can be in danger of overwhelming the main idea of the cartoon.
I really enjoyed creating the lush forest background, but I wondered if all the detail distracted away from the primary idea of the gag.
Let’s take a look at stripping away some of the detail step-by-step.
What detail would you remove?
Now let’s look at how a simplified background could work with the same cartoon.
Here I’ve kept just the one tree and added a simple hedge to act as a background. It was completed with a blue wash for the sky.
How else could you simplify the background?
For this one I extended the hedge up to the top of the frame.
If you were to only use a simple lien background, what would you draw?
I thought I’d end by trying a simple line background. I’m not sure that it’s a good fit for this particular style of cartoon.
Over To You
Let’s return now to the owl and the pussycat. They’re still backgroundless, and it looks like the cat has broken out the paints to render a portrait of the owl or perhaps a sea view. What will be in the background of the sea view?
That part is up to you!
Have a go at doodling a background for the cartoon. You can even try three differnt ones, going from simple to intermediate to complex in terms of detail.
Summary:
Here’s what we covered:
Simple to complex
Complex to simple
Over to you - you get to try.
