A background artist is the unsung hero of visual storytelling, creating immersive environments that set the tone and atmosphere for animation, video games, films, and more. From vibrant landscapes to gritty urban scenes, their work frames the narrative and enhances the overall mood of the project. In this article, we take a quick dive into the world of background artists and see what they do and how to become one ourselves.
A background artist plays a crucial role in creating immersive and visually appealing environments for various mediums, including animation, video games, film, and other forms of media. Their primary focus is on designing and rendering the environments or settings in which characters and action are placed. Some of a background artist’s responsibilities can include:
Background artists use tools like Adobe Photoshop, Blender (software), and Autodesk Maya to create detailed, visually appealing environments. They bring concept art to life by imagining and designing landscapes, cityscapes, and interiors that match the project’s narrative and visual style.
Background artists work closely with layout artists, storyboard artists, and animators to ensure the backgrounds align seamlessly with the animated elements. This collaboration involves fine-tuning the backgrounds for effective depth perception, smooth parallax scrolling, and lighting that complements the characters and action.
Backgrounds are essential in setting the mood of a scene, whether it’s a vibrant forest, a gritty cityscape, or a serene beach. They contribute to the narrative storytelling process, ensuring the environment enhances the story and provides a sense of immersion.
While formal education is helpful, it’s not always a requirement. Many successful background artists enter the industry by building a strong portfolio that showcases their work. This can be far more critical than having a degree in this field. The animation and entertainment industries especially value skill, creativity, and practical experience above all else.
However, there are several degrees, certificates, or training that one can do to become a background artist or have further knowledge and connections for background art:
This is one of the most common paths to becoming a background artist. Students typically learn the basics of background art and can further build upon their skills through their classes. It can also serve as a good way to find industry connections. Some bachelor programs that can prepare someone to be a background artist are Fine Arts (BFA), Animation, Graphic Design, Illustration, and Game Design.
These are short-term or specialized programs that can help you build specific skills for background art. These certificates or diplomas can be done both in person or online, depending on what a student gets. Some notable platforms for online certificates or diplomas include EdX, Udemy, and Coursera. Related programs are quite similar to the one’s mentioned in bachelor’s degrees, but can be more specialized such as having a focus on concept art, landscape digital painting, or environment design for a specific industry such as games or film.
For those unable to commit to a four-year degree, an associate degree can be a great stepping stone. Associate of Arts (AA) and Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees typically take two years to complete and offer foundational knowledge in art and design. They are also more affordable and can provide transfer credits toward a bachelor’s degree later on. Common programs include Art and Design, Multimedia Arts, and Animation, giving students the skills necessary for entry-level positions in background artistry.
For artists looking to deepen their expertise and pursue higher-level positions such as art director, a master’s degree can be beneficial. Programs like a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) or an MA in Animation focus on advanced artistic concepts, team leadership, and project management. These degrees also provide opportunities for research, experimentation, and specialized portfolio development, making candidates more competitive in the industry.
To succeed as a background artist, you’ll need a combination of artistic, technical, and professional skills to create visually compelling environments for animation, video games, or films. Below is a breakdown of the key skills and knowledge areas required for this role:
Artistic skills are especially important in becoming a background artist as the job will mostly cover - you guessed it - art! Some artistic skills that one needs would be drawing, digital illustration, or 3D modeling. A strong drawing ability is essential for creating concept art, sketches, and detailed environment designs. Check out this video below by Marc Brunet on how backgrounds can be created:
Artistic fundamentals are also important, most especially having an understanding of values, colors, and composition. Knowledge of how light interacts with objects to create depth, atmosphere, and mood (e.g., hard and soft lighting, shadow casting) would be greatly beneficial in creating scenes, including color theory and knowing how to balance highlights and shadows to create contrast and clarity. Composition is also an important skill to learn so one can design backgrounds that complement and enhance the camera angles and action.
Proficiency in software like Adobe Photoshop or Procreate hold importance in crafting polished digital backgrounds. 3D modeling softwares such as Blender, Autodesk Maya, or ZBrush can also help in creating virtual environments, and experimenting with camera perspectives. If one is using 3D, technical skills and knowledge in lighting set up can also help create mood and depth in 3D environments.
However, an artist not only has to learn how to use these tools and technical skills: they should also know how to integrate them into the industry. Thus, industry knowledge would also be important to learn. Understanding the animation pipeline, from storyboarding to rendering, will prove useful on the job as background artists will be typically working in a team. It is also important to know about your role and workflow as background artists’ responsibilities sometimes overlap with concept artists, layout artists, and background stylists.
Being a background artist isn’t just about creating a beautiful scene or knowing all the technical processes. The job is also about creativity, conceptualization, and storytelling. Backgrounds should support the narrative storytelling process and match the overall tone of the project, as well as enhance the characters' journeys and actions. It is also important to design environments that convey mood, time of day, or historical context.
Background design plays a vital role in the animation pipeline, particularly in the pre-production, production, and post-production stages. Each stage has their own unique tasks and responsibilities, but overall help with establishing the mood, setting, and overall visual identity of a project:
One of the first stages in the animation pipeline that background design can come in is pre-production, namely in storyboarding, style development, and rough layouts. The initial context for what environments or settings are usually needed before background artists can begin. Background artists will collaborate with art directors to develop a unified visual style for the settings, ensuring they align with the story's aesthetic. With the information they receive, they are then able to create rough sketches of environments based on storyboard scenes to block out spatial relationships and camera angles.
After the pre-production phase and once approved, rough sketches are turned into polished, detailed background illustrations. For 2D animation, backgrounds are painted or digitally created as static assets. For 3D animation, background artists collaborate with modelers and texture artists to create 3D environments. Backgrounds can also be designed with the movement of characters in mind, ensuring proper composition and visual flow. Artists often add placeholders or reference objects to ensure scale consistency.
The last step in the animation pipeline for background artists is post-production. Backgrounds are combined with animated characters and visual effects in the compositing stage. Artists may collaborate with compositors to ensure the final scene looks cohesive. If any inconsistencies arise during compositing or editing, background artists may make adjustments to ensure it fits the vision of the overall project. This video by RCAnime goes into what goes on for background artists in the popular animation medium, anime:
Becoming a background artist involves developing specific skills, building a portfolio, and understanding the animation industry's requirements:
Background artists are responsible for creating the settings in animation or games. Their work includes designing environments that match the story's tone and style, collaborating with art directors, animators, and other team members, and creating both rough layouts and detailed final designs.
To excel as a background artist, focus on art fundamentals, digital tools, and industry knowledge. It is important to learn and start with fundamentals, especially perspective, composition, color theory, and lighting. All of these go hand in hand on how to create visually stunning backgrounds while keeping visual elements balanced and drawing direct attention to the intended areas. Digital tools including 2D and 3D software are also important to create background and to familiarize yourself further on the different workflows a company can have or are looking for. With those workflows, industry knowledge will be especially useful as well for integrating into the team more seamlessly and doing your work with great quality.
Your portfolio is your most important asset as a background artist. It should include your specialization, if any, or a variety of work showcasing diverse environments (urban, natural, futuristic, etc.) and multiple moods (e.g., daytime, nighttime, stormy weather). In each piece, it’s also important to show your process such as your concepts, sketches, and rough layouts. Remember to include works that match styles seen in animated films, TV shows, or games too if you’re after a particular job or style.
While formal education isn’t always required, it can help you build skills and connections. Like we have discussed earlier, degrees or certifications, online courses and even workshops can all help strengthen your skills and improve your craft as a background artist.
This isn’t an exact requirement, but it’s something that can greatly help with your journey as a background artist. Join art communities online (e.g., ArtStation, DeviantArt, or Behance) and participate in social media art challenges like #Inktober to get to know other artists. Don’t be shy in attending industry events as well, such as animation festivals or expos, to meet professionals. You never know who’ll be your next employer or art collaborator.
Funny to say, but one obvious way to become a background artist is to work as one! But it’s not all just working in a famous company or studio. For those starting out, freelance work can be a great option to finally dip your feet in the world of background design. You can start by working on indie projects or collaborating with other artists to build experience. Internships are also a good choice, such as at animation studios or game companies. Not only do you gain experience, but it’s also possible to become part of the company itself as an employee after being an intern. Finally, studio positions are the most sought after. If this is what you’re after, look for entry-level roles, such as junior background artist or layout artist, to break into the industry.
You can learn a variety of tools depending on your chosen medium. For the 2D medium, 2D Tools include Photoshop, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint. For the 3D medium (or for layout and blocking) , 3D Tools include Blender, Maya, SketchUp. If you’re interested in the game industry, some background artists are familiar with some game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine.
Background artists are tasked with designing environments that align with the animation’s narrative and style. They create layouts and concepts based on storyboards, design immersive environments for mood and storytelling, and work collaboratively with animators, lighting artists, and art directors.
A strong portfolio for a background artist demonstrates diversity, including environments across different themes (natural, urban, fantasy, etc.). It also showcases technical skills that show an understanding of perspective, color theory, and lighting (make sure to show your process!). Companies or studios also sometimes look for individuals that can do or suit their current art style, so having a range of work in your portfolio with their art style will be sure to raise points. Finally, something that a lot of background artists can forget is storytelling. Don’t just create a background and call it a day; use your designs to convey mood and narrative. Your pieces should tell a story.
Although being a background artist can be fun, it also comes with its own challenges. Balancing creativity with the project’s technical requirements can be a struggle, as the two can often clash. Meeting tight deadlines in a fast-paced production environment is also a challenge, with this also being known as crunch. For newbies, one possible challenge can also be adapting to different styles and feedback from directors or clients.
For aspiring background artists, some tips are to study, practice, learn, and stay inspired. Study master artists and observe their use of perspective, color, and mood to have a better grasp on how things are done. It’s also important to practice regularly by sketching real-life environments or imagining new ones: this can also activate some muscle memory and it gets easier to make certain pieces (and quicker). Learning can go into two directions: learning to increase your knowledge and skills and learning to critique your work and improve based on feedback. Both are equally important to stay afloat in this profession. Finally, stay inspired by watching animated films and analyzing their background designs. Sometimes when life is too hectic, we need to take a breather and appreciate what we do and why we do it.
