I'm not sure if I've written a post about this already, but an interesting thing we have to think about sometimes with comics is how to make the characters, the foreground, stand out from the background.
Here are my notions on that:
- using human natural ability and instinct to picks out people from surroundings. The human eye focuses on humans automatically, so that helps!
- bolder lines on people, thinner lines on background. On the limited animation series Dr. Katz, a show I love, the characters were in color (and shaking and jittering slightly) while the background and most props were in black and white.
-muted colours on background
- characters more detailed and backgrounds less detailed
- the reverse: simplified characters with more detailed backgrounds. See the “painted background” entry below.
- the glow effect - a light border or glow around the character. When I was big into Marvel comics, Arthur Adams and Walt Simonson were both artists that used this effect regularly.
-the background blur. I'm very fond of this one. It's easy to do with a digital effect and it looks great. I find it works a lot better when there's actual detail put into the background first, before the blur. So to look great, it still takes a little preparation time. At least for me. Having a 3D background, once it's assembled, can save time there. Or I guess a photo works…but proceed with caution there. Sometimes it looks bad. I've done plenty of panels that looked bad!
- painted background and…drawn characters ala many old cartoons like Scooby Doo. Even as kids, I'm sure most of us watching could easily tell which part of the background castle wall would turn out to be a secret passage…only the unmoving, unanimated backgrounds would have that painted look.
-In 3D rendered comics, several creators I know will render characters and backgrounds separately. I usually do that as well. That lets you do a different effect on the two layers and then stick ‘em together.
-3D programs also have virtual lights, which can be used just like in a photograph or film - lighting the character a certain way makes them pop out from the background.
Well, that’s it for this week! Buh bye now!
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Banes at 12:00AM, Nov. 14, 2024
2 likes!
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bravo1102 at 8:38AM, Nov. 15, 2024
Yuck, literally blur drawings? Simplify the lines and detail, not blur. Just shapes, light and dark not actually blurred images. Many stage productions leave out all the furnishings except what matters to the story.
Ironscarf at 7:09AM, Nov. 15, 2024
I think blurred backgrounds can be effective if you're using photographic techniques, or 3D rendering, anything that resembles photo or film really, but please don't blur your drawings. Learn to direct the viewer by how you compose the panel, or by keeping the background simple when it's not essential. You don't need a background in every panel - have a fully rendered setting near or at the start of the scene and readers will hold that in their minds until you give them something else. Comics are not a passive medium like film - your readers are engaged by filling in the gaps for themselves. Sometimes two figures and a table lamp, or filing cabinet will give them all the clues they need but most of all, don't blur your drawings.
Ozoneocean at 6:58PM, Nov. 14, 2024
I use ALLLLL the techniques :)
Ozoneocean at 6:57PM, Nov. 14, 2024
@Marco- I contacted MoriComics just now :)
marcorossi at 6:01PM, Nov. 14, 2024
@MoriComics try to ask the user Ozoneocean, who is the admin. Use the option "personal quacks" on the sidebar to send messages directly to him.
MoriComics at 3:18PM, Nov. 14, 2024
Hi guys, im new here. Some time ago i created comic and i dont have any experience on this field yet. I wanted to upload this here for everyone and site says internal server error... Do you know solution to that ?
J_Scarbrough at 11:04AM, Nov. 14, 2024
Or Wally. Or Charlie. Or whatever his name is.
PaulEberhardt at 10:46AM, Nov. 14, 2024
Of course, if all else fails, you can still ask your readers to look for Waldo. 😉
bravo1102 at 9:50AM, Nov. 14, 2024
The drawn comics I've done I will put together the items in the panels and move them around the page to get a feeling for what I want and will crop or even remove backgrounds if the serve no purpose. You don't need to do more than suggest the setting. It's your story, what do you want the reader to notice and pay the most attention to?
JohnCelestri at 8:42AM, Nov. 14, 2024
Whatever approach you use, don't confuse your viewers. The important thing is to direct your viewers' eye to the important thing you want them to see.
J_Scarbrough at 8:39AM, Nov. 14, 2024
@bravo That's definitely the Charles Schulz approach, as he always said, "Only draw what you need." If it's not important, don't draw it.
J_Scarbrough at 8:38AM, Nov. 14, 2024
For me, I've always enjoyed textured backgrounds, and I think that goes back to when I watched COW AND CHICKEN in its first run on Cartoon Network as a kid, and starting in its second season, the backgrounds suddenly had this textured look to the painting, almost kind of like a marble effect, that I found interesting and eye-catching, after the previous season had such plain and solid background colors. Then of course, years later, COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG came along and took it a step further with photorealistic backgrounds, which absolutely blew my mind. I know other artists, such as my VAMPIRE GIRL collaborator Marie Kerns, also like to add a level of photo-surrealism to their backgrounds, specifically to give scenes an extra touch of life. All of this had a tremendous influence on how I do backgrounds in my comics and art, as you've probably noticed. Even now, Chris Savino often gives his backgrounds a newsprint texture to emulate the look and feel of old newspaper comic strips.
bravo1102 at 8:29AM, Nov. 14, 2024
One that works to really deemphasize the background-- leave it out. Have a plain color and focus on the characters. If action, just have the action and no frame. The action is the whole panel and there's no background at all.
dragonsong12 at 5:50AM, Nov. 14, 2024
I have a lot of trouble with this with my black and white comic. Without any variations to the shades, it can be hard to make the characters stand out against a busy background. (Funny enough, I was working on this comic last night and worrying about this very thing! XD) I try to up the contrast around where the characters and the background meet...don't know if it always works, though. Heh.
PaulEberhardt at 5:22AM, Nov. 14, 2024
The bolder lines on characters approach is my go-to technique when in doubt. With some of them it happens automatically as I like drawing fur as lots of short lines (with practice it takes only slightly longer than just a line, really), which kind of translates as one thick furry line. In some backgrounds I even just coloured my pencil, in effect leaving the lines out altogether, which is a great way of making it look more blurry and distant. Another successful experiment was colouring the characters but not the background. It's actually just a variation of muted background, since I might as well have made it monochrome with another colour theme than white. Drawn characters on a photographic background instead of a painted one works too, but it's a fickle thing that often looks kind of cheap to me, no matter how much effort actually has to go into it. I succeeded with that once or twice but probably failed just as often.
marcorossi at 4:54AM, Nov. 14, 2024
I discovered some time ago this tutorial https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/4643 and used this technique ever since (the last pages of my previous comics and all the pages of the current one). Among other things, it uses a color filter for the backgrounds and a different color filter for the foregrounds, that makes the images IMHO more readable (the couple of colours of the two filters is changed at every scene, for mood). The tutorial is for CSP but I think the logic can be applied to all computer coloring.
bravo1102 at 3:29AM, Nov. 14, 2024
You can also blur backgrounds specifically during close-ups. There's selective focus where unimportant things are blurred to draw attention to others. Two talking heads use the same panel but blur the one not speaking in one panel and then focus on them when they are speaking and blur out the non speaker. I picked up a lot of background techniques watching movies and paying attention to how the frame is set up. The same things do translate into comics. Different camera focal lengths and angles can create the illusion of an aura setting the foreground apart from the background, especially good to emphasize how isolated a character is, how they're apart from the background. I use a lot of the language but a lot of readers can't get past the nudity or dolls to get what I'm doing. It is what it is. Like Jesus Franco did great things with the camera in what was essentially soft core pornography horror.