Creating the Scene

Here's one thing I most likely won't ever be doing in the animation business. Designing backgrounds is not really my forte, which is depressing because I admire the art that comes out of it. I mean, look at the image above for example. It's gorgeous! There's so much to say about it that you don't even need the characters inserted to tell a story. The background tells a story of its own. The cobblestone, the awning, the wooden signs hanging above entrances, and the baskets stacked together is enough to let me know what could take place here. I actually imagine a chase happening through this scene or perhaps a horse and carriage making its way down the narrow street.
People who are skilled in background design are people who really know how to succeed in the business. Backgrounds are hard enough on their own and a talented background artist is someone that animation studios will want to have. I don't know a lot of artists who specialize in backgrounds so they may be hard to come by. I could be wrong, but I'm just magnifying how hard it is to do the job since I have so much difficulty doing it myself.
Those who actually do know how to draw backgrounds have to have a clear understanding of perspective. Perspective can be a pain in the ass if someone didn't know how to use it properly. Knowing how to make objects appear closer or farther away in a scene is really essential in background designing. The drawing needs to look alive so that the characters can fit in more properly to the background. TV animation backgrounds can go from simple to complex depending on the show. Each show has a different style so the background style will be different with each show. Movie backgrounds, traditional or computer animated, are a lot more intricate because having a detailed background allows the audience to be dragged further into the film. Also because they're pouring their heart and souls into it and want it to look impressive.
I have a lot of respect for these guys and hope to actually become mediocre in it. Aha. Yeah, I'm actually terrible with backgrounds. Next topic: Lighting and Color!