Now we are on to background drawing
Many artists consider this step less of a priority
People usually focus more on character drawing
And devote lots of time for the best depiction of human body
of the expressions and good portraits
But we often don't think much about the background
It might not be as important as character drawing
But I think background depiction is also a very important process in creating webtoons
As for me, I care a lot about creating realistic and
Visibly pleasing backgrounds for my work
In order to invite readers to the world I created
This world needs to look realistic and attractive
This is especially important for fantasies
Before we get started on our background
We need to research data on the world within the work
For my current work, Yuly
Has a concept of middle Asia
So I research backgrounds from
Tibet, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, etc.
To set as reference for my backgrounds
Since it is a fantasy, I can also add my own twists
Based on the research, to make the world more 'fantastic'
If the setting of the story is Busan 2024
You can go to Busan to take lots of pictures
And to research thoroughly about the setting of your story
The less knowledge you have about the setting
Means your story becomes more ambiguous and less realistic
The more data you have, the merrier
Try your best and collect a lot of references
There are multiple ways in depicting the background
First is drawing it yourself
Or you can use 3D programs like
SketchUp, Maya, Max, Blender, etc.
In addition, the background may be replaced with a
Pattern background, gradient background, or solid color
Let's talk about drawing your own backgrounds first
Drawing backgrounds is a very difficult task
It is definitely not easy to draw
All of these things that exist in our daily lives
Such as scenery, people, artifacts
Furniture and props
Meanwhile you have to draw them in a way that blends with the characters
That is why many artists find drawing backgrounds very difficult
Including myself
But now 5 years after my debut
Drawing backgrounds became fun
I felt that adding a well-drawn background
To an ordinary webtoon suddenly gives it realism
And the quality of the work improves significantly
So I feel really great after a good finished background
What I'm showing you now
is all 115 backgrounds used in the webtoon
Running after a Breakup
I will go through it very quickly
I have a tip
The secret is to recycle a single background file
You will see what I'm talking about
We have one background file here
I drew it very big
I intentionally drew the background large without perspective
When straight lines are parallel like in this image
Drawing without a vanishing point can be called a background without perspective
I drew a long one and used its pieces
If you look closely I've continued the one background into three cuts
If you look here
I drew a very long road in Han River Park
I drew a long cut like this
And used it here
Cropped and used it here as well
Here too
And I've used it many where else
Readers will not notice that I am reusing
One single background
Works like a charm
So this is a small tip
Draw many big backgrounds
You will need a lot of time to make one
But you can reuse it many times
Also it is good to do a lot of research
And have pictures handy while drawing
Do not rely on your memories
If possible, take the pictures yourself
Look at lots of different elements from different angles
And apply them to your work
I took many pictures at Han River Park
And used them as reference
Understanding perspectives comes in handy while drawing backgrounds
To draw your own backgrounds
I think it is certainly necessary to understand it
However, it is rarely the case with nature
But is mainly applicable while drawing artificial spaces
That is because there are almost zero straight lines in nature
Drawing is easy and enjoyable
I draw a lot of desserts on my current work
It is very easy to draw
And if you see here
This kind of nature space does not have perspective
So don't worry about getting it wrong drawing nature
The term 'perspective' might throw you off
Simply put, there are three different perspectives
1-point, 2-point, and 3-point perspectives
1-point perspective is the most simplest form
Where there is only one vanishing point
That occurs looking at one side of an object
I brought the most used background in Hwa Rang Kwan in SF
This is exactly a 1-point perspective
It is looking towards the gym
The vanishing point gathers to the very middle
And the lines spread like spokes of a wheel
There is a very simple way of drawing in perspective
It is by using a tool named Pers Ruler in Clip Studio
Let's make a 1-point perspective using that tool
Draw a line and another on top
Now without doing anything else
The lines stick to the ruler
And works like a guideline
To do this one more time
You can see the lines are gathering to a point
This is one easy way to apply the 1-point perspective
Same with the 2-point perspective
2-point perspective occurs when two sides of an object
That share one corner are viewed from the front
There are two vanishing points
When you are using the Perspective ruler
You can select the ruler tool and draw it yourself
But an easier way is to click the layer tab
Go to rulers and create perspective ruler
If you click this, you have options to choose from
1, 2, or 3 point perspectives
Click the 2
I turned off the ruler because it was getting in my way
So you can't see the ruler
But the 2-point perspective has been created
And to see how it works
You can see that these lines are automatically in perspective
Like magic
Everything is drawing out to perspective
Without me trying
So it is very convenient to use tolls like this
I use them very actively
And it made my background making much easier
So this is how to draw the 2-point perspective
Same with 3 point perspective
If you go here
And click 3 point perspective
Let's draw a first place podium viewed from the bottom
Or a building
Very nice
This is how you can draw in 3-point perspective
This is usually used when looking down from above or
Looking up from below
Shows up well in a bird's eye view or worm's eye view
Drawing as if a bird would see from the sky
Or drawing in perspective of a worm on the ground
3-point perspectives are not used much in webtoons
But it could be used for drawing building forests
Or drawing something grand
Then you can use this type of perspective from time to time
Composition-wise
We usually set drawings to
Standing eye-level
So watching from below
Or looking down from far up
Does not happen that often
So this perspective is not used as much
But it will be very handy at times
Like watching from a CCTV
Or looking up in the sky
You might already know a lot about
Point of views in theory
You learn this in high school art class
And also when you first learn drawing
But perspective is more difficult in practice than in theory
At first you will think it's hard
Even with the help of guidelines
So do study the perspective
If you don't have a lot of time
I recommend doing 1 and 2 point perspectives first
And save the 3 point for later
How to place backgrounds when you are done drawing them
Let's look at the story here
There is a pen layer
And a coloring layer
I make a folder below those
Name it backgrounds
And insert all the backgrounds here
Let's bring the premade backgrounds here
Here is a scene
I will bring out a background from the folder
This has two layers
One is of the beach
And the other is the trees
I purposely drew them separately
I will copy the beach and paste it inside the folder
It is here
So try moving it around
And use ctrl T if need to resize
Let's make it bigger
If you make it too big, the resolution might break
So enlarge it adequately
And the character is sitting on the tree
So I will click and drag the tree here
Now that the tree is set at the right place
We need the sky
Bring the pre-drawn sky and the background is finished
So make the backgrounds in another file
And use them accordingly
Instead of drawing it straight to the manuscript
This way is much more convenient
Try to separate them from the characters
While drawing
That way you can reuse the backgrounds
And it is much easier for editing
Of course you can draw the backgounds
But in many cases you can use solid colors
Patterns, or gradient backgrounds
Let's go into it
This is much more simple
Do the same steps as before
Make a new layer inside the background folder
And directly fill in that layer with a color
I will use a light blue color
And inset here like this
This is the easiest of all
Gradient is a bit harder to do, but it is still very easy
Select an area using the rectangle tool
And there is a gradient option
Choose that
Select a foreground color
And let's use the color of a sunset
Select the background color
So one foreground and background color each
Drag from top to bottom
And you have a gradient
Thirdly there is pattern backgrounds
I use them a lot
But there are people that don't use them at all
I'll show you what I use often
I use a lot of dots
Like this
What I really use often
is this water drop pattern
If you insert the pattern first, then
You can adjust from there
Also this paper like pattern
is very useful
This kind of texture is very useful
So I have them in many variety
You can see the subtle paper pattern here
I downloaded these
But you can also make them yourself
But downloading
Will save you more time
If you go into Clip Studio Assets
You can find a lot of textures, patterns
Or backgrounds there
So shop there often
Each writer has a go-to pattern
For me
It was the dot pattern
And paper pattern
Also
I made this myself
and I use them a lot
It's a pencil texture pattern
So if you make things like this
They will come in handy
When you go into asset market and search
You can type patterns
And you find all of these
Or you can type texture
And while browsing
For me I don't find what I like everyday
So I personally like to make my own
Instead of using time to eye-shop
So I make my own very often
This is quite cute the strawberries
But even so
When you download it
It usually doesn't go well with my work
So I like to make my own
Also artists depend a lot on
3D programs
Usually Sketch Up
Programs like Sketch Up, Blender, Maya, or Max
are very useful because
It does a good job of depicting artificial spaces
Without drawing them out
Things like buildings, interior, desks, chairs
They are difficult to draw because
They are directly affected by perspective
So make them in advance using 3D
And extracting the angle you need
Will be a very easy and accurate way
So many artist buy a pre-made background
To use in their works
There are a few sites where you can buy Sketch Up models
Let me go into ACON3D
If you see under categories, you can find 3D models of
Indoor and outdoor background, character, bodies, nature, artificial etc.
You are also able to download and use 3D models of
Shoes and food or cups and plates
Let's go to dontdraw.com
This site also has various of backgrounds and props
There is plant pot
Thanksgiving dinner set
If it says industrial use like this
It seems to be sold so that it can be included in many works
You can purchase these to incorporate in your work
But there is something to be careful of while using 3D backgrounds
When you purchased a 3D model and want to install a camera
Then the camera uses 3-point perspective just like our eyes see
So the straight lines will inevitably be distorted via perspective
This is a background I made using Blender
The straight lines are a bit distorted
This is a top to bottom view
So a 3-point perspective is applied
I wanted lines that are straight
In 90 degrees angle
If this happens, I will have to edit these one by one
If a big view is applied, it is not too pleasant to see
And the straight lines go crooked
So you have to keep these in mind
Using 3D backgounds
Allow you to get a good quality vs. the effort put in
So it is many artists' staple
Downside of 3D background 1 But the downside is the unnecessarily realistic camera view
3 or 4 point perspectives are applied to scenes that don't need them
Also there are more simple models in the Clip Studio
If you select 3D here there are glasses
Motorbikes and even cats
You can also purchase and use these simple 3D models
There are also free models so use them accordingly
Also when the angle of a character is difficult
Bring out the 3D model
This is very useful
So I use the 3D model not only for backgrounds but also for characters
Get all the help and assistance you need
If you are new to background drawing
I will give you a tip I use
I already went over using 3D backgounds
But one downside of using them is
Downside of 3D background 2 They might not blend in with my style of work
So I purchase the 3D model
And redraw it
So I use the 3D model
That I bought as reference
and make another layer on top to draw
Why would I go through this when I can just
Use what I bought?
The reason is that
The one I bought doesn't suit my style
The top one was from Sketch Up
And the bottom is what I remade using photoshop
I really couldn't use the top image on my work
So I retouched it with Photoshop
This will take your money and time
But you will have a background that is perfect in
Perspective and style
So this basically saves you time compared to drawing them from scatch
So if you see here
This is a 3D background from Sketch Up
I used this to make pen lines
Colored them again
And this is the competed product
Side by side, you can clearly see the right image fits my style
Place your character on top and this is the finished work
This was much better to my eyes and my heart
I believe that
Backgrounds should not be the main character
It is indeed importatant
But that is because it helps the characters inside of them
If a character is main part of the scene, the background should help it stand out
It could be done by drawing it yourself, using a 3D model
It could be a solid color or patterns
A background is good if it helps the characters
Today we went over backgrounds: solid, pattern, gradient backgrounds
Drawing them youself or using 3D models
Drawing the background is very important in creating a work of art
And I actually think it is a very enjoyable process
So don't be too scared and start drawing
If it doesn't work, then you can get help from 3D
Thank you
Drawing the Background The need for background depiction Use raster layer for coloring
Use one large background without perspective to incorporate in pieces You must understand perspective to draw artificial spaces
Recommended to open pre-drawn backgrounds Separate characters and backgrounds while drawing Use solid color, patterns and gradients
Using 3D Programs 3D Graphic Program Sketch Up, Blender, Maya, Max, etc Provides high-quality artifacts without having to draw hem yourself
Use 3D as reference to redraw or retouch into your style
Cons of 3D Backgrounds Distorted straight lines need to be edited Overly realistic camera view Does not blend with current drawing style