How to improve YOUR backgrounds for animation

Backgrounds in most media are important for multiple reasons. They inform the world, the characters and the story, even if you’re using them for commercial work. Having good backgrounds can take your project from being ‘okay’ to ‘exceptional’; whilst I’m no expert, I do think I’ve learnt a lot in my years in the industry. 

First, what makes a good background? 

There are areas that get tossed about a lot, like composition and layout. However, ‘practice’ may be the most common area, which is true but as a blanket statement, it’s kind of unhelpful. I would like to raise the term 'conscious practice’. 

It’s easy to practice but be unfocused and loose with it, which is fine, but I personally prefer to consciously pick an area and focus on that one thing rather than thinking too broadly. I may pick one or two areas and go from there. I know that as I gain confidence in my process I can add more areas and see how they work together and affect each other. Generally, I go into practice with an idea of what area I would like to improve.

In short, it’s practice but with direction. No drawing for fun here. 

Here are three methods of practice that I like to experiment with to develop my skills:

• Colour studies

• Style studies

• Composition experiments

  
  

Aylsham (2019)

Ashes (2024)

Whilst working at Cut the Mustard I’ve made many backgrounds, some more successful than others. I think the most immediate difference is how dynamic they are. The first example (Aylsham) is quite flat, generally feels like it's on one plane and the colour palette feels simple.

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Colour Studies

For me, this is such an integral part of practice, even for commercial work. Understanding how colour theory works has boosted my background skills massively. 

Time lapse of a colour study by Amy

I recently recorded a time lapse of my process for this blog post and there are a few things that I do to encourage me to consciously think about my actions and choices whilst completing it. First, I have a reference. I’m a big believer in everyone using references and, in my opinion, using them during practice is integral. For something like a study, you need one to do it in the first place but everyone can benefit from using them at any point. 

Another thing that I do in my colour studies is limit my supplies early on. In either digital practice or traditional. I find that too many options can confuse the piece when you use them early on. In the same vein, I normally begin with a large brush to fill the canvas quickly, rather than starting with something small that I usually use to refine details. 

Lastly, I try to have some kind of time limit. I normally overshoot this but the aim is to finish it in one sitting to remain focused and aware of what I'm doing. 

Colour study based on reference

Reference found on Pinterest

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Style Studies

This may not be something everyone needs or wants to do, but I find it helpful for Cut the Mustard. A style study is similar to a colour study but, as you may guess, focuses largely on the overall style rather than the colours. As a company that is often style hopping, this is so important. However, I do find that it is worthwhile in my personal practice as well. 

Whilst I never want to work exactly in someone else's style, I do think it's helpful to consider why a client may like a specific look and try to apply that for reasoning to any experiments that I do. A great example would be some work we completed for Cancer Community Links.

When I was designing the style, I knew it needed to be closer to traditional motion graphics (2nd photo) but that there was flexibility for it to be similar to some of Mustard's previous work (3rd photo). Ultimately, the team decided to try and push for a more mixed media style. Both as a way to push the teams creativity and also to make it stand out a bit more.

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Composition experiments

The last thing that I think is largely important is composition experiments. I’m going to bunch layout and composition together for this, but it's just the action of considering why I have drawn a shot at the angle I have. Considering if I can move the camera position or if my set pieces could be changed.

I do this to move a background from ‘functional’ to informing and supporting the overall piece. 

In the ‘Ashes’ background, I was purposefully trying to push the viewer's attention to the center of the screen and the cave entrance in the distance. I used the pillars and spears to frame the piece and have them point in the direction that I’d like the viewer to look.

Whilst the general layout didn't change loads from the storyboard example that you can see, the colours, lines and some set pieces did. As a cumulative piece, I believe each version got a bit stronger and played a more deliberate role as the animations main establishing shot.

There are loads of other ways that you could practice composition, I find that the easiest method is to look at film shots that I like and consider why that is. Why do they feel impactful and what is their purpose?

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Conclusion

In short, if you do nothing else, remain inquisitive and conscious about what and why you are practicing. Pick an area and try to stick to it for a while. You don’t need to know everything to make backgrounds or even animations but putting thought behind your choices will help.