As a generalist animator, I wanted to develop my backgrounds/concept art skills further. Following my somewhat successful background design for AfterLives in Level 5, I volunteered to help Cameron out with his backgrounds for his project, 'Stupid Question'. I knew my workload would become too stressful to manage if I took on the entire background design, so I decided to do just the concept art for the backgrounds (and give my input to Cameron on the final backgrounds if needed).
I started my process with quick, rough thumbnails, focusing on atmosphere and composition. Cameron wanted the interior to be warm and relaxing, and also reminiscent of animated TV series from the 2000s. I looked at shows like 'Ed, Edd and Eddy', 'Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy', 'Ren and Stimpy' etc. Colour and shape were important things to consider - lots of round edges made it more welcoming and homely - and bright, saturated colours both matched the characters and conveyed a light-hearted mood (that contrasted with the 'talking nonsense' theme of the story). We finally settled on this unified warm palette, that would contrast with the rainy exterior but also not hide the characters:
Cameron also created a (nostalgic) list of props to include, with photo reference too. I then decorated the set with props, and also outlined a few style "rules" to help guide him when he creates the final background.
Cameron then went on to create the
actual background (which looks GREAT!).
What went well:
- Cameron's clear vision and requirements made it very easy to come up with designs, so there wasn't much experimenting
- Knowing my limitations and time restrictions meant I didn't take on too much work but still allowed me to flex my generalist/background and concept artist muscles,
- Collaborating with Cameron went without a hitch as we have worked together previously too.
What could be improved:
- I could've explored more furniture designs and interior decorating but researching and using reference,
- The concept art is quite rough, though not a problem for Cameron, I would like to try to achieve a more finished look to my concept art just so it is more presentable.
