A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation

layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obj ...

artist. The methods used can either be through traditional

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

or by

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

such as

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...

. Traditional methods involved painting entire production scenes for a

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Current methods may involve painting primarily background keys or the

establishing shot An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes, the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long or extreme-long shot at the beginning of ...

while production background artists paint the corresponding background paintings. Some fields in which a Background Artist may work: *

Motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

Video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

The Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

Other

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

s who contribute to

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

s, but who are not Background Artists, are layout artists (who design the backgrounds, lighting, and camera angles),

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

artists (who draw panels of the action from the script), character designers (who create the style and personality of each character). In

Japanese animation is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening ...

, the cast member credited as the

Art Director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

(美術監督, bijutsu kantoku) usually refers to the sole background artist (for smaller productions) or director in charge of background art creation.

Background Artists

List of some famous background artists: *

Toby Bluth Frederick L. "Toby" Bluth (July 11, 1940 – October 31, 2013) was a Texas-born American illustrator who worked on many Disney films and others as animator, background artist, and production designer. He had a long career writing and illustrating ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

* James Coleman -

Eyvind Earle Eyvind Earle (April 26, 1916 – July 20, 2000) was an American artist, author and illustrator, noted for his contribution to the background illustration and styling of Disney's animated films in the 1950s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yo ...

* Paul Julian -

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Barry Kooser Barry R. Kooser is an American artist, painter, and educator who worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios between 1992 and 2003 as a background artist on films such as ''The Lion King'', ''Pocahontas'', '' Mulan'', ''Lilo & Stitch'', and ...

Worker Studio Worker Studio is an American animation and visual effects company based in Centennial, Colorado, founded in 2009 by Michael "Ffish" Hemschoot. The company has provided visual effects for a number of short films including Angela Bettis, Angela Bet ...

Brice Mack Brice Harvey Mack (June 2, 1917 – January 2, 2008) was a background painter and director, known for his extensive work at Disney in the 1940s and 1950s as a background painter. He was hired for story writing at Disney in the 1950s, and worked on ...

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand m ...

MGM Animation Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation (or MGM Animation for short) was the animation division of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture studio in Hollywood, California, that specializes in animated productions for theatrical features and television. It ...

Kazuo Oga is an art director and background artist for many Madhouse Studio and Studio Ghibli anime films. Oga has worked with major directors Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Osamu Dezaki. He also published two artbooks and directed a sh ...

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...

, Madhouse * Walter Peregoy -

Format Films Format Films was a television animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators. It was most active during the 1960s, producing episodes o ...

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

Tyrus Wong Tyrus Wong (October 25, 1910 – December 30, 2016) was a Chinese-born American artist. He was a painter, animator, calligrapher, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer and kite maker, as well as a set designer and storyboard artist. One of the mo ...

Kōji Yamamura is a Japanese independent animator who, after leaving a career as a background artist at an animation studio, directs, writes, edits, animates, creates the model sheets and background art for and sometimes produces his own short films and ha ...

- Independent * Yale Gracey - Disney * Ed Starr - Disney * Thelma Witmer- Disney * Art Riley -Disney * Bi Wei Tronolone - Disney * Shinji Kimura - Kobayashi Production

References

Animation techniques Visual arts occupations Background artists {{animation-stub

Background Artists

See also

References