Fun fact, clip studio paint has a feature that literally lets you convert 3D models to line art. Considering CSP is pretty much the main art program of comic creators these days, all these creators could literally still save a ton of time drawing the backgrounds and still make them look good.
THIS! I will offer a mild olive branch in that this feature is locked behind the more expensive EX version, which might put some creators off, especially if they're not sure how seriously they intend to take this. But you know what else can do that with a little more effort? BLENDER. AND IT'S *FREE*.
Unfortunately, this depends on the version you are using. The more expensive one (I don't remember the name, is it Ex?) has the function of changing the 3d model into lines, but in the PRO version you have to mess around with applying a filter and tbh the effect is not so good at all 😭
I use csp and I've seen that option it's still a bit off looking tbh. It's best to just use the 3d model as is and blur it a little. Webtoon audiences are used it anyway
I don't think I'd ever draw horses into my comics willingly, because they'd probably just look like how I draw mlp characters lmao Bell bottom shaped legs with the teeniest hooves you've ever seen. But at least they'd be drawn, and not the gross 3D models xD
There's a webtoon which uses the shapeless grey background characters for an actual narrative purpose. It's called surviving romance. At first it seems like the MC just got isekaid into your typical romance comic but soon it turns into a zombie apocalypse. The big problem: she can't perceive any character as a normal person except for what would've been the main love interests. All of the others are those shapeless white background characters for her until she has interacted enough with them to establish an actual relationship with.
The “simple but complimentary” advice is really great! Backgrounds can be hard, but lots of artists are intimidated to the point where they don’t even bother trying, and it’s kinda sad Remember guys, we live in an age where we can look up tutorials and references any time we want, so don’t be afraid to use tutorials to learn and references to help!! And sure, sometimes a background can be boring, but try treating a background like you would a character. You draw a character because they’re interesting, so think of ways to make the background interesting (again, use references and find things that inspire you) Don’t let backgrounds prevent you from trying! And like BlackLightJack said, it’s okay to simplify your backgrounds (it helps with keeping the focus on the characters)
Exactly! It's especially irking when interior environments personal to the characters (e.g., their dwellings) often look really bland and not lived in. I think it'd really help if they added more environmental story telling and make these spaces feel more personalized and original, rather than just blank hotel room-looking slates.
As a webcomic artist myself, I do essentially the later thing you talked about. I trace over 3D models, outline them and then add my own shading, effects, color corrections, etc. It’s much faster than drawing them by hand and it still makes them fit well with my characters. I hate how jarring 3D models are, but I understand why they’re used so much. So I think a combination of both works well for me.
1). big fan of the new blacklightjack laughing png 2). a good webtoon i've found that somehow includes 3d models that look especially good is Swallow Knight's Tales. it only has about like, 7 episodes right now? so there's not much you need to dig around to find a nice background. mainly it balances shading and the practice of foreground / middleground / background with the models which manages to actually make it look nice 3). god castle swimmer is so fucking awesome 4). a comic on canvas with really good DRAWN backgrounds, like EXCELLENTLY drawn: interpretation of shadows. check it out genuinely it's so good 5). as someone looking to start a comic this has been really helpful! might look into drawing over 3d models like StarfishFace has recommended in her videos too
Yoooo if you like Marionetta’s backgrounds and art you gotta read the creator’s first comic Hooky that was based off an inktober doodle that they turned into a full fledged series. Both their comics are awesome
@@rosenmael9724 hey, I tried to read hooky but I kinda didn't like it (I didn't like the main character even though I tried really hard to) and then I gave up on it.
To be fair, I think your examples of good backgrounds are a bit unfair, as they are mainly outside environments, which are MUCH easier to create than indoor ones. Though I do agree with the message and think that lots of jarring 3d environments are bad.
I think some of the best backgrounds I've seen in a webtoon original (besides Castle Swimmer) are the ones in Nevermore! The backgrounds seem to be a mix of 3D assets and hand drawn pieces, but the way the artist uses textures and lighting makes everything fit together cohesively. I honestly don't know how to explain it but I think it's worth looking at. Nevermore is visually stunning and has one of the best stories on webtoon imo
i thin annarasumanara does a good job with using 3d models too to depict more whimsical and surrealist environments. the theme park, the home of one of the classes, the play on textures....just mwah.
Agree on Little Trashmaid! Another example is ‘The Dragon Tamer’ Seriously love how they do their background. You don’t need be THAT detail but enough you know they are at. Plus it focusing on the characters and with/front of them than anything.
I personally really like the backgrounds in The Kiss Bet, all the backgrounds are hand drawn by the creator herself, and it complements her art style. The backgrounds are simple, but they are pleasing to look at.
I don't think it's that bad. When your whole online career revolves around finding aggressively bad webtoons, of course you don't see good stuff. Not to mention how bad webtoon it at pushing good content. There are plenty of webtoons with good backgrounds and stories that don't get enough attention.
6:26 My brain is so unbelievably fried, I looked at that bit of what I assume is foreground branches or something and immediately thought of the pointing soyjack I swear to god
Seeing BlackLightJack talking about Spellward Bound's art as an example of what to do, after I started reading it because of the art: Cool. Glad I'm not the only person who thinks it looks really good.
"...i am hoping this video will help creators." it surely did! thank you very much, i needed this for my animated series! glad you went out of your way to give a great advice no one often talks about, so thank you and i hope you have a great day!
Another AMAZING webtoon original that has beautiful backgrounds is "The last dimension". It's sooooo underrated and the backgrounds fit in so nicely with the art.
One of my absolute FAVORITE webtoons of all time is Heir’s Game. The backgrounds in it are so detailed, you can tell just how much love the creator put into them. Aside from being such a well-done story, the art adds so much to it, and the background art really highlights that. I’ve reread it so many times to admire it.
While on the topic of webtoon backgrounds, I'd like to bring some attention to the beautiful backgrounds of The Blind Prince! That comic has all hand drawn backgrounds and no 3D assets. It's all very well done and really pulls you into the story and it's world^^
Clip Studio Paint assets should serve as a general reference or outline, I don't suggest just ripping the converted vectors and filling them in unless your art style looks exactly like the assets. And that's hard because the assets are made by different people.
Another way to do backgrounds is what "I'm the grim reaper" does where they use edited photographs to put in their backgrounds. It's detailed but doesn't extract from the artstyle
I'm glad this came out because it's perfect timing I'm in process of designing the backgrounds for my story and at first I was gonna just search for stuff on backgrounds but this video came out and it actually helped with some advice on what I should and shouldn't do (To be honest, I’ve been watching Jack's videos for the past few weeks to help with my story to improve and take notes on how to make a decent story) So thank you jack! This will help me out a lot
Tea for two is also really good at making the backgrounds simple and complimentary. I recommend anyone to read it. and thanks for this video. Struggle a lot w backgrounds myself :,) needed this video haha
3D Backgrounds are so tricky. They're super useful, but you do have to be willing to do at least a bit of post-processing on them to make them look even remotely good. I utilize them frequently in game development, but I also went out of my way to create a custom shader and compositing workflow to make them look at least *somewhat* cohesive. I've never been able to make a straight Blender render without any of those considerations look good, let alone CSP, which just flat lights all of its backgrounds, drawing attention to their weirdly flat yet realistic textures and making them look incredibly jarring. I would never recommend them as anything but reference to trace over. It can work! You just need to be willing to tweak the heck out of the output to make it compliment the art, which is something a lot of people forget.
I draw my backgrounds manually, sure they can look a bit awkward but it’s a hell of a lot faster than carefully tracing an image (I tend to try to balance time and quality to where my animations or comics don’t take literal years to complete) my first comic that I publicly released (which I uploaded to RUclips) took me 6 months, mainly because of my Autism and ADHD and all of my life’s many daily distractions.
One thing that should be taken advantage of more is how jarring 3d backgrounds are. Like a perfect way to show how a building is dystopian corporate it becomes the sole 3d element and jarring to represent how soulless the building is and what it stands for
I think having someone say ‘trace assets if you have to, mangaka do it all the time’ is so comforting, I mean sometimes tracing is helpful which I desperately needed to hear- cause I suck ass at backgrounds but I don’t have that kind of time to finish them. Still, a webtoon I personally love would be ‘The Little Trashmaid’, and I think that proves the point of this vid. The backgrounds clash into the art style rather than distract. Its actually really cute slice of life and the backgrounds are simple, I find that wonderful ❤️ (love your stuff by the way)
I'm really self conscious about my backgrounds (I think they look really bad tbh). But seeing you compliment spellward bound, whose style of backgrounds are similar to mine, it makes me feel a lot more confident in my work. So thanks for that
Echoing a few comments here because they are exactly what I was thinking: 1) I think you'd love the look of The Last Dimension! The art is gorgeous and the story is one of my favorites! I read it on Canvas before it became an original, and even as an Original, it still retains it's charm and beauty! 2) In regards to still using 3D models but making them into your own style/tracing them, StarfishFace's comic (crossposted onto Webtoon, Castoff) does a really good job of this, and she has videos showing how she does it! 3) someone mentioned Woven, which is another wonderful example of handdrawn backgrounds that feel elaborate but are still pretty simple! Another comic I highly recommend! I first got into webcomics years ago, before I even knew that Webtoon existed. It's very shocking and disappointing to see the prevalence of flat 3D models placed into a comic without any effort to make them fit the style. Some I shrug off because I'm invested enough in the characters or story, but other times, it really is so distracting to notice them.
For bad webtoon backgrounds, they could fix it by using story to justify the lack of it. Tite Kubo dislikes drawing backgounds so he made characters walk on air to justify it.
EYYY EARLY! Other than that, time to watch the video 💀another killer video, as always :) im prolly gon use this as ive been thinking about making comics for ages - idk where to make it tho.
I really enjoy these videos where you talk about ways we can improve webtoons. I found this extremely insightful and interesting to watch. Especially your explanation on TADC. I will make sure to keep this video in mind!
Yay a new video!! Talking about backgrounds is important, they can express so much about any piece of the storie, the colors and lineart have an amazing role! Maybe the message in the end is to express before impress (think what your background can mean and show before just putting a 3D model that makes bland all the scene) 3:29 I love this
SPELLWARD BOUND MENTIONED!!! I love this comic, and seeing its stylized, yet simple background art style reminds me of how I also do backgrounds by making them lineless (I actually got the inspiration from botw) So seeing it used as an example of how to draw backgrounds even for artists who dont normally draw them, is great!
Hello! If you don't mind, I'd love to see you review some underrated gems I've found. 1.) Strawberry Seafoam 2.) Evelyne and the Occult 3.) 66,666 Years: Advent of the Dark Mage 4.) Hooves of Death 5.) Muted 6.) Doombreaker
As someone who has just started making their comic and sucks with background art, this video is super helpful! I'm guilty of using blacked out silhouettes with eyes as background characters though 😅 I use Ibispaint so 3d assets are already a no-go for me so the most I do is trace over references for backgrounds while adding my own changes. Still got a long way to go obviously, so again, this video is very useful!
*Took You Long Enough!* I was waiting for this for so long! Edit: We need more Right and Wrongs Series, I can't be the only one who want more of these Informative Videos
I'm still experimenting with backgrounds right now, but this feedback helped me to stick to drawing them out and not to be over-the-top detailed. Landscapes come easy , don't get me wrong... but it's cityscapes/civilisation that gut punches me pretty good and I should practice that more. Thanks, man!
This is a really interesting topic and since this is about backgrounds, i would like to add some webtoons that really have a good backgrounds with details and care on them: The Last Dimension Sable Curse Lalin's Curse (i miss it so much) Nevermore Roots of the heart (fun fact: the author of this webtoon and the last dimension are latinoamerican, please support them!) Raven Saga I know there are some more, but those are some of the best examples that come in my mind, btw Jack it would be interesting that you could talk about what happened to Jupiter-men, it was recently cancelled and it was one of the best superheroes webtoons around, and it's case it's a really good example of webtoon policy with their authors.
I think what would also help the artists is whenever they draw say, a plant or something like that, save that plant in a file and reuse that, and of course use it in the same comic. That way the art style could match and what ever you put time into drawing at the start, can same you Tim in the long run.
My friend (not a comic artist but an artist) uses pictures that he takes, but the pictures he takes are always complimentary to his art style, and his style isn't that realistic either. While it can be jarring if you look at it long enough, it's not obvious at first glance
can i also give an example of great backgrounds?? Woven!! the painterly style of the characters also complements the painterly backgrounds. the backgrounds may look detailed and complicated but if u look closely at it, its just a bunch of squares and rectangles coloured and placed in a way that makes it look like, for example, a mountain!! like jack said u dont need an overly detailed background, just a background thats easily read as a shop or a forest
i've been stumbling my way through making a comic myself, and i absolutely agree with this. though i'm not skilled in making comics, and i've only really gotten through the first like nine pages (it's a side project), one thing i will praise myself for doing is making backgrounds simple but also using the backgrounds to compliment the story and world.
There's a comic I've been following for a little bit though about the Legend of Zelda, all the heroes from the different timelines of the games are thrusted into different eras of Hyrule to try and catch a shadow to get back home. The backgrounds are all drawn by the artist Jojo, the characters are complex while also paying homage to the original source material and making it their own. Its surprisingly really good in my opinon and you could see the artist improving throughout the length of the comic
oh! as someone who published on canvas to a low-moderate acclaim (rinne tensei: into the abyss) i like to share my little experience-- i have no idea how to turn sketchup so i use magicavoxel for a rough lighting and dimension guide then... crudely paint over it until the pixel disappears?! it gives me something of a lighting guide for my panels and i can patch things up with anually drawing over it- Also, another tip i have learned is that interesting shapes are far more time-effective than detailed backgrounds, especially if the character’s position in the background does not really matter!
I just checked out your comic and I have to say that your use of color is awesome! The pallete is controlled very well. Maybe when I have more time later I'll read through it!
@@hireathecho4 thank you!! too bad it's on an indefinite hiatus since me and the author were a bit unhappy on how the story was turning so we're working on a new one right now >,
I’m a webcomic artist (I mainly post to tapas but I’ve been posting my series to webtoon starting last year), and I’ve always cringed whenever I would see people disregard drawing backgrounds for generic cgi assets. It’s not there aren’t any valid reasons for doing it, and I would be lying if I said I’ve seen artist Intergrate the cgi in a way that doesn’t look too distracting, but sometimes I feel like some artists just don’t care about backgrounds and see them nothing more than literally that, a background. For me, the environment I place my characters in aren’t just interchangeable areas with no character. There places where people live, work, interact and other things. Getting them right is just as important as getting a character’s design right. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent visualizing reoccurring locations and building them in Minecraft to get a better idea of how they would look like inside and out, scrutinizing every detail even if said detail won’t be shown. This even applies for non reoccurring locations as well, since I like to have an idea of where my characters are in the area. This mostly comes from the fact that my comic is set in a specific area of Queens that I spent a lot of my childhood in and thus, feel a lot of nostalgia for it; so getting the look of the houses, storefronts, and apartments right is crucial to making it feel as authentic to how it would look in real life. This, and because of my cartoony art style, prevents me from using 3D assets especially for vehicles like cars and planes. I’m very autistic about these things I know 😂
you should take a look at the webtoon Omniscient readers viewpoint its backrounds are handrawn, colored and shaded as well and it doesnt look ass. (This sounds like an ad that wasnt intentional)
Check out "When Jasy Whistles" and "Ellin's Solhwa", it's by favorite webtoon creator right now!! The creator is excellent at story-telling and draws all the OC and background with some colorists that helps her.
I remember there was canvas comic - a dagger to hear - and every piece of artwork was top tier in it. Backgrounds, characters - everything! Now it's moving to orginals and I just hope Oori, the artist, will mangae to keep the artwork as good. Also if it comes to 3d I believe it shouldn't be so hard to make it look better. Like color grading, blurs, noises of all kinds anf ilters are there - you just have to find a good way to apply those. Not to mention many of those are so poorly rendered that even getting free assets into Blender and rendering with simple hdri sphere would look better. And would cost less xD
One webtoon that constantly blows me away with how beautiful and detailed both the characters and the backgrounds are is The Red King by Heylenne. Totally recommend it for a breath of fresh air in the trash-riddled world of webtoon
While I agree with some of your points, like how it would be better if some backgrounds were actually drawn out I disagree with you on most of the other points I’ve read several of the webtoons you brought up and what made me like them is the characters themselves I never payed much attention to the background because I care more about dialogue and interactions
This is definitely a standard I wanna keep up when I start drawing the Webcomic I'm currently working on. It's just a natural part of the comic making skill for me and I have just recently figured out how to use 3d assets in clip studio. But apart from figuring out perspectives I don't think I'm gonna use them much. I am actually practising painterly styles and how to draw nature and how to blend the backgrounds with my Charakters, just to make something that has quality!
I would recommend Bugtopia for webtoons that have good background art, which makes sense since the writer hired people to help with the art lol. Also I want to put another example which is just not using backgrounds a webtoon I really like is friends with solitude which it can in my opinion get away with not really doing backgrounds since the art style is super simple which if anything adds to it since the webtoon is just meant to be a comedy webtoon that sometimes talks about deeper issues but very rarely.
3:15 in my comic I do something similar but it’s to show how characters view others, characters who use others as pawns and don’t value the lives of others will see crowds as faceless shapes while characters who unite for a goal will be more diverse and detailed.
What I do with 3d backgrounds, is that I copy past it into two layers, then blur the top layer slightly and lower the opacity so it has some sort of vibe to it, and add details to it like grass lighting, and just an over all *vibe* to it. It helps save me some time, and it also doesn’t clash with the characters that I draw. I think the issue with some webtoon artist who use 3d backgrounds is that they don’t make their character blend in too well with the lightings and shadows. It just looks like stickers on a background and they look flat. Maybe if they took just an extra minute or two to do that, it’d look much better in my opinion.
The only webtune I like is " Return of the blossoming blade" 1) because the characters are hilarious and the plot is simple and fun 2) the art style is beautiful 3) the backgrounds are beautiful and most of all they are NOT 3D assets I recommend this comic and the original novel
Imo the best webtoon is Secrets Of Soulford, it has some absolutely beautiful backgrounds. Pretty sure they are hand drawn, maybe traced over 3d models. I just think its worth mentioning as a webtoon that does some stuff really well
Honestly I don't mind 3d backgrounds if they're not focused on, most of the time my brain just skims over it. But I think the worst offender is people using 3D models for PROPS. I once read a webtoon and there was a frame where a 2D girl was holding a 3D cup and it looked so jarring and awful 😭 Like just draw the cup, it's just a fucking cup.
I’m working on a webcomic (Febus the giraffe creature and it’s on webtoon already) and yeah I have to say I have been trying to learn how to do backgrounds (I hate to admit I had to use some of the procreate assets for the grass because I thought it looked very cool since I’m still new to the app) but I hope to improve on backgrounds
It’s honestly sad how lazy today’s artists are when it comes to backgrounds. The setting is another character in the story and it gives the work style/ tone and originality. I think of old Disney movies’ hand painted backgrounds. You were able to distinguish the Beast’s castle from Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella’s castles.
i think you should read A stepmother's marchen since the artist know how to blend 3d model accessories and their shading togther. They uploaded one of their wip on yt but i forgot their name :(
Some examples of good backgrounds is: Paperteeth, Pixie and Brutus, I'm The Grim Reaper. For the first two, the backgrounds fit into the characters, the dark and harsh enviroments blends in with the gloomy, panicked and etc characters of Paperteeth, I really love how good Wulvert's artstyle is, this standards also go to Pixie and Brutus. For the last one, just check for yourself, it really bothers me whenever there are blatant 3D assets in 2D enviroments that look out of touch with everything else.
I just realized that people don't relied on blending modes. like come on guys! There is a reason why it is called blending mode. It is used to blend not just colors with shadow and light , but also objects as well. you can use all these models and use them as part of the texture in the art. There are so many tools to experiment with. use it well.
As a “Webtoon creator”…. (I use this: “” bcs I’ve been almost a year drawing a Webtoon and having posted it yet) I draw all of my backgrounds but what I do is that by every setting I make around 3-4 different drawings and re use them to save time…….
Fun fact, clip studio paint has a feature that literally lets you convert 3D models to line art. Considering CSP is pretty much the main art program of comic creators these days, all these creators could literally still save a ton of time drawing the backgrounds and still make them look good.
Omg the fact that they have that feature and these creators aren't even utilizing it?? They're just digging their own graves at this point
I am not a csp user, I am a krita main, but if krita had that option I wouldnt use it, it looks awful, like really awful.
THIS! I will offer a mild olive branch in that this feature is locked behind the more expensive EX version, which might put some creators off, especially if they're not sure how seriously they intend to take this.
But you know what else can do that with a little more effort?
BLENDER. AND IT'S *FREE*.
Unfortunately, this depends on the version you are using. The more expensive one (I don't remember the name, is it Ex?) has the function of changing the 3d model into lines, but in the PRO version you have to mess around with applying a filter and tbh the effect is not so good at all 😭
I use csp and I've seen that option it's still a bit off looking tbh. It's best to just use the 3d model as is and blur it a little. Webtoon audiences are used it anyway
the biggest asset use i seen that irks me like no tomorrow is the horses i see they use.
I’ve seen some people call those horses “horrorses”
Ngl, it’s made me really appreciate the few artists who actually make an effort to draw horses
YES
I have Otome Isekai horrorses PSTD right now D-:
I don't think I'd ever draw horses into my comics willingly, because they'd probably just look like how I draw mlp characters lmao
Bell bottom shaped legs with the teeniest hooves you've ever seen.
But at least they'd be drawn, and not the gross 3D models xD
i think another really good example of super simple but good backgrounds would be from The Little Trashmaid
I love that comic so much
Ava's Demon(s?) has really nice colors and backgrounds too ✨✨
and Zom Com too
@@kasomosi7145 yeah but Ava's demon has several artist working on it now and is controversial.
Marionetta's backgrounds are amazing too :00
There's a webtoon which uses the shapeless grey background characters for an actual narrative purpose. It's called surviving romance.
At first it seems like the MC just got isekaid into your typical romance comic but soon it turns into a zombie apocalypse. The big problem: she can't perceive any character as a normal person except for what would've been the main love interests. All of the others are those shapeless white background characters for her until she has interacted enough with them to establish an actual relationship with.
oo, interesting! im checking it out right now, thanks for mentioning it 😄
I loved that webtoon. So sad that we didn't get an ending
@@floraspond666 what 🥺 nooo
The “simple but complimentary” advice is really great! Backgrounds can be hard, but lots of artists are intimidated to the point where they don’t even bother trying, and it’s kinda sad
Remember guys, we live in an age where we can look up tutorials and references any time we want, so don’t be afraid to use tutorials to learn and references to help!!
And sure, sometimes a background can be boring, but try treating a background like you would a character. You draw a character because they’re interesting, so think of ways to make the background interesting (again, use references and find things that inspire you)
Don’t let backgrounds prevent you from trying! And like BlackLightJack said, it’s okay to simplify your backgrounds (it helps with keeping the focus on the characters)
Exactly! It's especially irking when interior environments personal to the characters (e.g., their dwellings) often look really bland and not lived in. I think it'd really help if they added more environmental story telling and make these spaces feel more personalized and original, rather than just blank hotel room-looking slates.
As a webcomic artist myself, I do essentially the later thing you talked about. I trace over 3D models, outline them and then add my own shading, effects, color corrections, etc. It’s much faster than drawing them by hand and it still makes them fit well with my characters. I hate how jarring 3D models are, but I understand why they’re used so much. So I think a combination of both works well for me.
1). big fan of the new blacklightjack laughing png
2). a good webtoon i've found that somehow includes 3d models that look especially good is Swallow Knight's Tales. it only has about like, 7 episodes right now? so there's not much you need to dig around to find a nice background. mainly it balances shading and the practice of foreground / middleground / background with the models which manages to actually make it look nice
3). god castle swimmer is so fucking awesome
4). a comic on canvas with really good DRAWN backgrounds, like EXCELLENTLY drawn: interpretation of shadows. check it out genuinely it's so good
5). as someone looking to start a comic this has been really helpful! might look into drawing over 3d models like StarfishFace has recommended in her videos too
Interpretation Of Shadows mentioned!!!
REAL ASF I LOVE INTERPRETATION OF SHADOWS
Yo interpretation of shadows:0!!
Jack should totally check out interpretation of the shadows. it’s such a good comic already
Marionetta probably has my favorite backgrounds, they’re beautiful.
Omg that one has great art!
So true I could stare at the backgrounds in Marionetta for hours, they're so pretty 🥰
They feel so alive and comfy
Yoooo if you like Marionetta’s backgrounds and art you gotta read the creator’s first comic Hooky that was based off an inktober doodle that they turned into a full fledged series. Both their comics are awesome
@@rosenmael9724 hey, I tried to read hooky but I kinda didn't like it (I didn't like the main character even though I tried really hard to) and then I gave up on it.
To be fair, I think your examples of good backgrounds are a bit unfair, as they are mainly outside environments, which are MUCH easier to create than indoor ones. Though I do agree with the message and think that lots of jarring 3d environments are bad.
I think some of the best backgrounds I've seen in a webtoon original (besides Castle Swimmer) are the ones in Nevermore! The backgrounds seem to be a mix of 3D assets and hand drawn pieces, but the way the artist uses textures and lighting makes everything fit together cohesively. I honestly don't know how to explain it but I think it's worth looking at. Nevermore is visually stunning and has one of the best stories on webtoon imo
YESS I LOVE NEVERMORE
YESSSS
ARGHYH YES I LOVE NEVERMORE ITS GENUINELY AMAZINGGGG one of my faves
What about viral hit?
Yes! And there's also Marionnetta for these that prefer 100% handmade backgrounds! The quality is there if you are willing to dig a little
i thin annarasumanara does a good job with using 3d models too to depict more whimsical and surrealist environments. the theme park, the home of one of the classes, the play on textures....just mwah.
I remember this comic! It's very good I loved it
Agree on Little Trashmaid!
Another example is ‘The Dragon Tamer’ Seriously love how they do their background.
You don’t need be THAT detail but enough you know they are at. Plus it focusing on the characters and with/front of them than anything.
I personally really like the backgrounds in The Kiss Bet, all the backgrounds are hand drawn by the creator herself, and it complements her art style. The backgrounds are simple, but they are pleasing to look at.
Marionetta is a great example of beautifully drawn backgrounds
real !!! I love the colors and detail that are hand drawn in them ❗️❗️
I don't think it's that bad. When your whole online career revolves around finding aggressively bad webtoons, of course you don't see good stuff. Not to mention how bad webtoon it at pushing good content. There are plenty of webtoons with good backgrounds and stories that don't get enough attention.
100% agree
6:26 My brain is so unbelievably fried, I looked at that bit of what I assume is foreground branches or something and immediately thought of the pointing soyjack I swear to god
OH GOD I SEE IT TOO-
Seeing BlackLightJack talking about Spellward Bound's art as an example of what to do, after I started reading it because of the art:
Cool. Glad I'm not the only person who thinks it looks really good.
"...i am hoping this video will help creators."
it surely did! thank you very much, i needed this for my animated series! glad you went out of your way to give a great advice no one often talks about, so thank you and i hope you have a great day!
zamn im earyl!!!!! im gon be using this for my webcomic thanks for this banger
Same!! We’re both early yipee
@@SamSandwichs yayay!!!!
I really like the “webtoon thing: right and wrong” format of your videos
The Blind Prince has some gorgeous backgrounds and scenery
Another AMAZING webtoon original that has beautiful backgrounds is "The last dimension".
It's sooooo underrated and the backgrounds fit in so nicely with the art.
One of my absolute FAVORITE webtoons of all time is Heir’s Game. The backgrounds in it are so detailed, you can tell just how much love the creator put into them. Aside from being such a well-done story, the art adds so much to it, and the background art really highlights that. I’ve reread it so many times to admire it.
Ooh thank you for reminding me how good heirs game is, i should reread it!
I love castle swimmer artwork ! :D
While on the topic of webtoon backgrounds, I'd like to bring some attention to the beautiful backgrounds of The Blind Prince! That comic has all hand drawn backgrounds and no 3D assets. It's all very well done and really pulls you into the story and it's world^^
Clip Studio Paint assets should serve as a general reference or outline, I don't suggest just ripping the converted vectors and filling them in unless your art style looks exactly like the assets. And that's hard because the assets are made by different people.
Another way to do backgrounds is what "I'm the grim reaper" does where they use edited photographs to put in their backgrounds. It's detailed but doesn't extract from the artstyle
I think that something similar was done in "Goodnight Punpun"
I'm glad this came out because it's perfect timing
I'm in process of designing the backgrounds for my story and at first I was gonna just search for stuff on backgrounds but this video came out and it actually helped with some advice on what I should and shouldn't do
(To be honest, I’ve been watching Jack's videos for the past few weeks to help with my story to improve and take notes on how to make a decent story)
So thank you jack! This will help me out a lot
Tea for two is also really good at making the backgrounds simple and complimentary. I recommend anyone to read it. and thanks for this video. Struggle a lot w backgrounds myself :,) needed this video haha
3D Backgrounds are so tricky. They're super useful, but you do have to be willing to do at least a bit of post-processing on them to make them look even remotely good. I utilize them frequently in game development, but I also went out of my way to create a custom shader and compositing workflow to make them look at least *somewhat* cohesive.
I've never been able to make a straight Blender render without any of those considerations look good, let alone CSP, which just flat lights all of its backgrounds, drawing attention to their weirdly flat yet realistic textures and making them look incredibly jarring. I would never recommend them as anything but reference to trace over.
It can work! You just need to be willing to tweak the heck out of the output to make it compliment the art, which is something a lot of people forget.
Backgrounds and environments are just as much of characters as the main OCs.
I draw my backgrounds manually, sure they can look a bit awkward but it’s a hell of a lot faster than carefully tracing an image (I tend to try to balance time and quality to where my animations or comics don’t take literal years to complete) my first comic that I publicly released (which I uploaded to RUclips) took me 6 months, mainly because of my Autism and ADHD and all of my life’s many daily distractions.
Heir's Game is a good original with hand drawn backgrounds!
One thing that should be taken advantage of more is how jarring 3d backgrounds are. Like a perfect way to show how a building is dystopian corporate it becomes the sole 3d element and jarring to represent how soulless the building is and what it stands for
I think having someone say ‘trace assets if you have to, mangaka do it all the time’ is so comforting, I mean sometimes tracing is helpful which I desperately needed to hear- cause I suck ass at backgrounds but I don’t have that kind of time to finish them. Still, a webtoon I personally love would be ‘The Little Trashmaid’, and I think that proves the point of this vid. The backgrounds clash into the art style rather than distract. Its actually really cute slice of life and the backgrounds are simple, I find that wonderful ❤️ (love your stuff by the way)
I think “the novel’s extra” does a pretty good job with using 3D assets for background
I'm really self conscious about my backgrounds (I think they look really bad tbh). But seeing you compliment spellward bound, whose style of backgrounds are similar to mine, it makes me feel a lot more confident in my work. So thanks for that
As someone who draw landscapes for years, I don't put heavy lines and fine details if the purpose of the piece was for background.
Echoing a few comments here because they are exactly what I was thinking:
1) I think you'd love the look of The Last Dimension! The art is gorgeous and the story is one of my favorites! I read it on Canvas before it became an original, and even as an Original, it still retains it's charm and beauty!
2) In regards to still using 3D models but making them into your own style/tracing them, StarfishFace's comic (crossposted onto Webtoon, Castoff) does a really good job of this, and she has videos showing how she does it!
3) someone mentioned Woven, which is another wonderful example of handdrawn backgrounds that feel elaborate but are still pretty simple! Another comic I highly recommend!
I first got into webcomics years ago, before I even knew that Webtoon existed. It's very shocking and disappointing to see the prevalence of flat 3D models placed into a comic without any effort to make them fit the style. Some I shrug off because I'm invested enough in the characters or story, but other times, it really is so distracting to notice them.
For bad webtoon backgrounds, they could fix it by using story to justify the lack of it.
Tite Kubo dislikes drawing backgounds so he made characters walk on air to justify it.
EYYY EARLY! Other than that, time to watch the video 💀another killer video, as always :) im prolly gon use this as ive been thinking about making comics for ages - idk where to make it tho.
I usually render 3D backgrounds add a new lager and more or less trace them, adding and taking away or adding things to match my style.
I really enjoy these videos where you talk about ways we can improve webtoons. I found this extremely insightful and interesting to watch. Especially your explanation on TADC. I will make sure to keep this video in mind!
Yay a new video!! Talking about backgrounds is important, they can express so much about any piece of the storie, the colors and lineart have an amazing role! Maybe the message in the end is to express before impress (think what your background can mean and show before just putting a 3D model that makes bland all the scene)
3:29 I love this
SPELLWARD BOUND MENTIONED!!! I love this comic, and seeing its stylized, yet simple background art style reminds me of how I also do backgrounds by making them lineless (I actually got the inspiration from botw) So seeing it used as an example of how to draw backgrounds even for artists who dont normally draw them, is great!
gonna use this if i ever make a weboon (never)
also im early!1!1!1
Hello! If you don't mind, I'd love to see you review some underrated gems I've found.
1.) Strawberry Seafoam
2.) Evelyne and the Occult
3.) 66,666 Years: Advent of the Dark Mage
4.) Hooves of Death
5.) Muted
6.) Doombreaker
As someone who has just started making their comic and sucks with background art, this video is super helpful! I'm guilty of using blacked out silhouettes with eyes as background characters though 😅
I use Ibispaint so 3d assets are already a no-go for me so the most I do is trace over references for backgrounds while adding my own changes. Still got a long way to go obviously, so again, this video is very useful!
*Took You Long Enough!*
I was waiting for this for so long!
Edit: We need more Right and Wrongs Series, I can't be the only one who want more of these Informative Videos
Bros thanks again for the advice, it helped me to draw!!
Under an hour gang
👇
real
Frrrr
Meow
I'm still experimenting with backgrounds right now, but this feedback helped me to stick to drawing them out and not to be over-the-top detailed. Landscapes come easy , don't get me wrong... but it's cityscapes/civilisation that gut punches me pretty good and I should practice that more. Thanks, man!
Honestly I prefer handrawn backgrounds over 3d. Even if their mimal or sketched.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BRINGING UP SPELLWARD BOUND
IVE BEEN READING IT SINCE CANVAS ITS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
This is a really interesting topic and since this is about backgrounds, i would like to add some webtoons that really have a good backgrounds with details and care on them:
The Last Dimension
Sable Curse
Lalin's Curse (i miss it so much)
Nevermore
Roots of the heart (fun fact: the author of this webtoon and the last dimension are latinoamerican, please support them!)
Raven Saga
I know there are some more, but those are some of the best examples that come in my mind, btw Jack it would be interesting that you could talk about what happened to Jupiter-men, it was recently cancelled and it was one of the best superheroes webtoons around, and it's case it's a really good example of webtoon policy with their authors.
This video is great finally someone adressing this issue
literally had to stop reading lore olympus the 3d backgrounds made me PUKE
I think what would also help the artists is whenever they draw say, a plant or something like that, save that plant in a file and reuse that, and of course use it in the same comic. That way the art style could match and what ever you put time into drawing at the start, can same you Tim in the long run.
My friend (not a comic artist but an artist) uses pictures that he takes, but the pictures he takes are always complimentary to his art style, and his style isn't that realistic either. While it can be jarring if you look at it long enough, it's not obvious at first glance
can i also give an example of great backgrounds?? Woven!! the painterly style of the characters also complements the painterly backgrounds. the backgrounds may look detailed and complicated but if u look closely at it, its just a bunch of squares and rectangles coloured and placed in a way that makes it look like, for example, a mountain!! like jack said u dont need an overly detailed background, just a background thats easily read as a shop or a forest
i've been stumbling my way through making a comic myself, and i absolutely agree with this. though i'm not skilled in making comics, and i've only really gotten through the first like nine pages (it's a side project), one thing i will praise myself for doing is making backgrounds simple but also using the backgrounds to compliment the story and world.
There's a comic I've been following for a little bit though about the Legend of Zelda, all the heroes from the different timelines of the games are thrusted into different eras of Hyrule to try and catch a shadow to get back home. The backgrounds are all drawn by the artist Jojo, the characters are complex while also paying homage to the original source material and making it their own. Its surprisingly really good in my opinon and you could see the artist improving throughout the length of the comic
Bro actually said 'I have a pretty PASSIONATE DISLIKE", that is so real coming from BlackLightJack, lol
SOELLWARD BOUND MENTIONED🗣🗣
SPELLWARD BOUNDDDD!!!!! 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣
The backgrounds in Spellward Bound kinda reminds me of Twisted Wonderland backgrounds style in a way.
oh! as someone who published on canvas to a low-moderate acclaim (rinne tensei: into the abyss) i like to share my little experience-- i have no idea how to turn sketchup so i use magicavoxel for a rough lighting and dimension guide then... crudely paint over it until the pixel disappears?! it gives me something of a lighting guide for my panels and i can patch things up with anually drawing over it-
Also, another tip i have learned is that interesting shapes are far more time-effective than detailed backgrounds, especially if the character’s position in the background does not really matter!
I just checked out your comic and I have to say that your use of color is awesome! The pallete is controlled very well. Maybe when I have more time later I'll read through it!
@@hireathecho4 thank you!! too bad it's on an indefinite hiatus since me and the author were a bit unhappy on how the story was turning so we're working on a new one right now >,
@@miriripunchie Good luck on your new story!
Artifisouls has beautiful environments
I’m a webcomic artist (I mainly post to tapas but I’ve been posting my series to webtoon starting last year), and I’ve always cringed whenever I would see people disregard drawing backgrounds for generic cgi assets. It’s not there aren’t any valid reasons for doing it, and I would be lying if I said I’ve seen artist Intergrate the cgi in a way that doesn’t look too distracting, but sometimes I feel like some artists just don’t care about backgrounds and see them nothing more than literally that, a background. For me, the environment I place my characters in aren’t just interchangeable areas with no character. There places where people live, work, interact and other things. Getting them right is just as important as getting a character’s design right. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent visualizing reoccurring locations and building them in Minecraft to get a better idea of how they would look like inside and out, scrutinizing every detail even if said detail won’t be shown. This even applies for non reoccurring locations as well, since I like to have an idea of where my characters are in the area. This mostly comes from the fact that my comic is set in a specific area of Queens that I spent a lot of my childhood in and thus, feel a lot of nostalgia for it; so getting the look of the houses, storefronts, and apartments right is crucial to making it feel as authentic to how it would look in real life. This, and because of my cartoony art style, prevents me from using 3D assets especially for vehicles like cars and planes. I’m very autistic about these things I know 😂
you should take a look at the webtoon Omniscient readers viewpoint its backrounds are handrawn, colored and shaded as well and it doesnt look ass. (This sounds like an ad that wasnt intentional)
Check out "When Jasy Whistles" and "Ellin's Solhwa", it's by favorite webtoon creator right now!! The creator is excellent at story-telling and draws all the OC and background with some colorists that helps her.
I remember there was canvas comic - a dagger to hear - and every piece of artwork was top tier in it. Backgrounds, characters - everything! Now it's moving to orginals and I just hope Oori, the artist, will mangae to keep the artwork as good. Also if it comes to 3d I believe it shouldn't be so hard to make it look better. Like color grading, blurs, noises of all kinds anf ilters are there - you just have to find a good way to apply those. Not to mention many of those are so poorly rendered that even getting free assets into Blender and rendering with simple hdri sphere would look better. And would cost less xD
As someone who wants to draw BGs thanks for the vid ❤️
Those 3D horses that apparently every fantasy webcomic has been using make me lose my mind
Non-Korean ones are a lot more likely to be hand drawn. Like a Spell for a Smith or Dungeons and Dentists.
Remember:
Backgrounds are characters too.
One webtoon that constantly blows me away with how beautiful and detailed both the characters and the backgrounds are is The Red King by Heylenne. Totally recommend it for a breath of fresh air in the trash-riddled world of webtoon
While I agree with some of your points, like how it would be better if some backgrounds were actually drawn out I disagree with you on most of the other points
I’ve read several of the webtoons you brought up and what made me like them is the characters themselves I never payed much attention to the background because I care more about dialogue and interactions
One of the first comics I read was the last dimension and it made me have probably to high of standers for backgrounds
This is definitely a standard I wanna keep up when I start drawing the Webcomic I'm currently working on. It's just a natural part of the comic making skill for me and I have just recently figured out how to use 3d assets in clip studio. But apart from figuring out perspectives I don't think I'm gonna use them much. I am actually practising painterly styles and how to draw nature and how to blend the backgrounds with my Charakters, just to make something that has quality!
I would recommend Bugtopia for webtoons that have good background art, which makes sense since the writer hired people to help with the art lol. Also I want to put another example which is just not using backgrounds a webtoon I really like is friends with solitude which it can in my opinion get away with not really doing backgrounds since the art style is super simple which if anything adds to it since the webtoon is just meant to be a comedy webtoon that sometimes talks about deeper issues but very rarely.
3D assets can be good, IF used correctly. I mainly use 3D models to figure out what goes where.
3:15 in my comic I do something similar but it’s to show how characters view others, characters who use others as pawns and don’t value the lives of others will see crowds as faceless shapes while characters who unite for a goal will be more diverse and detailed.
Your videos are very helpful. Thank you.
What I do with 3d backgrounds, is that I copy past it into two layers, then blur the top layer slightly and lower the opacity so it has some sort of vibe to it, and add details to it like grass lighting, and just an over all *vibe* to it. It helps save me some time, and it also doesn’t clash with the characters that I draw. I think the issue with some webtoon artist who use 3d backgrounds is that they don’t make their character blend in too well with the lightings and shadows. It just looks like stickers on a background and they look flat. Maybe if they took just an extra minute or two to do that, it’d look much better in my opinion.
The only webtune I like is " Return of the blossoming blade"
1) because the characters are hilarious and the plot is simple and fun
2) the art style is beautiful
3) the backgrounds are beautiful and most of all they are NOT 3D assets
I recommend this comic and the original novel
Imo the best webtoon is Secrets Of Soulford, it has some absolutely beautiful backgrounds. Pretty sure they are hand drawn, maybe traced over 3d models. I just think its worth mentioning as a webtoon that does some stuff really well
Spell ward is so fun bri
Honestly I don't mind 3d backgrounds if they're not focused on, most of the time my brain just skims over it. But I think the worst offender is people using 3D models for PROPS. I once read a webtoon and there was a frame where a 2D girl was holding a 3D cup and it looked so jarring and awful 😭 Like just draw the cup, it's just a fucking cup.
Is this gonna be a series? Like "character design: right and wrong" etc?
You should totally read the return of mount hua, it has mostly art by hand and has beautiful storytelling
I’m working on a webcomic (Febus the giraffe creature and it’s on webtoon already) and yeah I have to say I have been trying to learn how to do backgrounds (I hate to admit I had to use some of the procreate assets for the grass because I thought it looked very cool since I’m still new to the app) but I hope to improve on backgrounds
It’s honestly sad how lazy today’s artists are when it comes to backgrounds. The setting is another character in the story and it gives the work style/ tone and originality. I think of old Disney movies’ hand painted backgrounds. You were able to distinguish the Beast’s castle from Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella’s castles.
another one with amazing backgrounds and nice action is Misadventures of Misfit and Mieko! it has cats lol
GOOD VIDEO, you could criticize a manhwa called Rooftop Sword Master
i think you should read A stepmother's marchen since the artist know how to blend 3d model accessories and their shading togther.
They uploaded one of their wip on yt but i forgot their name :(
Some examples of good backgrounds is: Paperteeth, Pixie and Brutus, I'm The Grim Reaper.
For the first two, the backgrounds fit into the characters, the dark and harsh enviroments blends in with the gloomy, panicked and etc characters of Paperteeth, I really love how good Wulvert's artstyle is, this standards also go to Pixie and Brutus.
For the last one, just check for yourself, it really bothers me whenever there are blatant 3D assets in 2D enviroments that look out of touch with everything else.
I just realized that people don't relied on blending modes. like come on guys! There is a reason why it is called blending mode. It is used to blend not just colors with shadow and light , but also objects as well. you can use all these models and use them as part of the texture in the art. There are so many tools to experiment with. use it well.
I FORGOT ABOUT SPELLWARD BOUND! I LOVED THAT WEBTOON YEARS AGO
As a “Webtoon creator”…. (I use this: “” bcs I’ve been almost a year drawing a Webtoon and having posted it yet) I draw all of my backgrounds but what I do is that by every setting I make around 3-4 different drawings and re use them to save time…….
Hey Jack, you should make a vid on “Love or Sex” It’s on number 1 trending for webtoon 😨 I haven’t read it but the title alone is 🤨