Table Of ContentThank you so much for purchasing this guide!
When I released “An Introduction to Background Art” last year I never expected such a positive response. The reason I wanted to
release the first guide was to communicate the things I’d learned since entering the industry, to those who hadn’t yet. After all,
going for your first job is stressful enough without the feeling that all the information you need to get your foot in the door is
behind said proverbial door.
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Background Artists hoping to eventually move into Location/Concept Design.
My experience in these areas is in the European + UK Animation industry, mostly in 2D.
Pipelines and protocols differ from project to project; what I’ve tried to do is find the common denominators
between the ones I have worked on, as well as apply my experience hiring artists across several studios.
I sincerely hope it helps.
Please feel free to share or give feedback at
@@mmeellmmaalloonneeaarrtt (twitter + instagram)
or write to me at [email protected]
THE BASICS...................................................................................................................4
PART 1: CREATING CONVINCING LOCATION DESIGNS
STORY! STORY! STORY!.............................................................................................6
STYLES AND METHODS............................................................................................7
PLANNING YOUR DESIGN......................................................................................8
SAMPLE EXERCISE......................................................................................................9
PART 2: PORTFOLIO
FINDING & DEFINING YOUR ARTISTIC VOICE.................................................16
ASSEMBLING YOUR PORTFOLIO.........................................................................18
PORTFOLIO DESIGN.................................................................................................21
PUBLISHING YOUR PORTFOLIO ONLINE........................................................22
PART 3: INTERVIEW & TESTING
TESTING FOR A JOB................................................................................................25
INTERVIEW ETIQUETTE..........................................................................................26
PART 4: INDUSTRY
2D ANIMATION PIPELINE.....................................................................................29
THE STRUCTURE OF A LOCATION DESIGN DEPT........................................30
USEFUL TIPS FOR SPEEDING UP........................................................................31
FAQ...............................................................................................................................33
FURTHER STUDY & LINKS.....................................................................................37
ABOUT ME..................................................................................................................40
WHAT IS LOCATION DESIGN?
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early in the process, where we develop the look and overall view
of the an environment where animation will take place. The
layout of the space is established with consideration for character
staging and often times it will give an impression of the style or
colour palette too.
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CONCEPT ART?
These can be interchangeable depending on which studio you’re
working at. The reason I’m not referring to them as “concept art”
in this guide is because “concept art” can be a catch-all term for
location, prop and character concept - not just location design.
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describe the person who designs the locations that go on to
become Backgrounds. Environment Design is also sometimes used
for Games or 3D pipelines.
HOW ARE LOCATION DESIGNS CREATED?
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Photoshop to create artwork. Some designers who specialise in a
more 3D pipeline will block an environment out in Blender,
Sketchup or Maya before painting over it in Photoshop. Others
will incorporate photographs into their work to make it feel more
realistic or to be more economic with time. There are so many
workflows that could potentially work for you, but I will be
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Part 1
Location Designers are visual storytellers. On a surface level, it’s our job to communicate the ideas of the writers and storyboarders but how we
use that information is what sets a good designer apart from a great one. For example, a script might introduce a character as being interested in
botany... And suddenly you need to design a greenhouse for them to work in. A great location designer won’t simply start painting a glass
rectangular building with plants inside; They will dig for more information about the character and their world in the script. Information that
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about the character inheriting their love of botany from their Grandfather could transform the tone of the piece... Or maybe they only grow
these plants to acquire ingredients for cooking or herbology, or any manner of things. It’s important to pay attention to the small details.
Whether you’re working from a script or coming up with the concept for the piece in your head, here are some questions you should ask yourself:
• If this location belongs to a character, consider their characteristics and motivations. What is their ultimate goal and what is driving them?
• Where in the world is this location? If it’s in a fictional place, like a sci-fi planet, ask yourself questions about the history of the environment;
What is the climate like? What is their power source? What kind of government do they have? If humans settled here a long time ago, what of
our original cultures have prevailed?
• What class systems are in place? Are the people who own the land wealthy or poor?
•• What year is it? This will greatly influence the amount of technology in your environments, as well as fashion, architecture and vehicle design.
• How much time do characters spend there? If the answer is a lot, this environment should have a lot of personality and human touches. If the
answer is no, it should be a little less considered.
•• If you’re designing a location that is more rural, try to embrace the chaos of nature. There is no order to the natural world. If extreme Nihilism
doesn’t trouble you, I recommend going on youtube and watching Werner Herzog talking about his experience living in the jungle while making
Fitzcarraldo (it’s called “There’s No Harmony in The Universe”). Take a *small* grain of Herzog’s sentiment and remember it the next time you’re
drawing a forest or a field or a jungle.
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should be considered, some which i’ve already mentioned above; Class, culture and climate being the main three.
• If you’re working with a studio or a group of people, figure out what their character needs to do in the environment. This will inform how many
doors you need to add, how much clear floor space you need or what object you need to include and where. In the industry, we refer to this as
“staging”. If your design doesn’t serve the needs of the characters, it’s not a successful design.
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There are countless ways to approach painting a Location which can seem Ia
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daunting to a beginner. An Art Director will be tasked with creating the “style” of
the show and establishing a method of painting that is achievable within the time
and budget of the project. Some productions will want the Location Designs to
accurately match this style, while others will want their Location Designers to focus
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The most obvious reason to stylise a show is to make the Layouts and
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the limitations of the project’s style.
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The images on the right show a spectrum of different styles.
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study the images or projects that you like and ask yourself why they appeal to :
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Different Art Directors will have different requirements for how they want the information passed down to other departments. This is largely
dependant on how tight the budget and schedule is. Here are some ways you can present your designs:
Shot View “Shoebox” or “Down 3/4” View Isometric View Turnarounds
An establishing shot of the location that This is a drawing that looks down into This is similar to a Down 3/4 view except Here we apply the same logic to
shows as much information as possible. the location from an angle. Often times, we don’t apply conventional buildings as we do prop turnarounds. If
This is often directly used by a one of these would be delivered with the perspective. In an isometric view, the you’re working on a project with a lot of
storyboarder to set the scene and then Shot View to communicate the normal perspective lines on each axis are buildings or street assets, it can be useful
translated into a key Background at a information that might not have been parallel to each other and the lines do to provide a turnaround sheet for each
later stage. included. That way, the storyboarders, not converge. The reason this is so one for other departments.
layout or background artists know that economic is because assets can be
might be seen when the angle changes. moved around in the space and they
Correct perspective, scale and staging is will always be in correct scale and
very important when making artwork perspective.
like this.
[ Included in this Guide you will find a 6K template with perspective grids and safe guide included, which should
make you design process a little easier if you haven’t worked this way before ]
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1. If you don’t have a fully fleshed original story, that’s okay! CHOOSE AN IP THAT YOU LOVE. It can be a book or a script from a film. You want
there to be some reading material you can reference. Perhaps consider what tone you want your portfolio to have - so if you would love to work
in preschool, pick a story that is written for young children. If you want to work in feature film or games on more aged-up projects, consider a
classic novel or film. I recommend looking at some of the portfolios listed on page 35 if you want inspiration (see especially: Celine Dahyeu Kim’s
“Phantom of the Opera” redesign)
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character is well established in the story as our antagonist, the man who plays God with Truman’s life.
2. Make notes of the defining characteristics. From that short paragraph and what we know about the character we can discern:
• Christoff is extremely wealthy.
• There is a large window with long, white silk drapes. Outside, we see the Hollywood hills.
• There is an enormous round bed.
• There is a television viewable from the bed.
• It is 1996.
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3. Gather reference! We’re not architects or interior designers, but we do need to think like them. Gather all the reference you can on the
architecture and furniture you want to include, as well as any extra bits such as props or things you think your character would collect.
You can also consider here what style you’d like to draw the location in, so it’s a good idea to save some work by artist’s you love and try to
replicate their design language.
For my sample exercise, I found these images:
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