🌆 [Cherry Waves] Background talk time! 🌆

Heyo heyooo!! 🌈
While taking a lil' break from the episodes I wanted to share a bit of the background process with you. This has been on my mind for a while, but there's so much to tell I got a bit paralyzed here deciding where to start 🥲

✨ It's gonna be a long one, be warned!✨

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The image you see above is just one of the tests I've been doing lately to see what vibe to go with for the backgrounds: what process to follow, and how viable it is in terms of time. I put Matt and Ryan from another episode just to see how it would look like, this is not an actual scene (you will see this background in a future episode though, just in a different context!).

Let me share some steps below that got me to this "final" image!

I first open my 3D model (an .skp file) in the software and set everything up, including lights. In this case I'm using a free program called Snaptoon. You can also use SketchUp but it's a bit... way too pricey. 🥲 *Snaptoon is not very stable atm but I would recommend giving it a go if you're making comics, really cool to play around with it! 

Then I will either make a screenshot, or export the image to work with it on the panel. If it's a background that could be handy for more than one panel, I will work on the full image, so it's fully reusable if I need it :D

I really wanted to give it an "anime" vibe, and I also washed out the colors a bit so the characters would stand out more. It's not perfect but I think it's on a good track! 🎉🎉

Using 3D definitely helps and saves time, but it's also tricky to find a good balance and it takes a while if you want to make it look pretty and coherent with the characters.

There are dozens of more steps, tweaks, filters and extra paint layers to make this look the way it does. After I find a system that works for me, I'll be able to automate some of the post-processing and save more time! :D ✨

It's hard to give you a real idea of everything that's involved here, but I thought it might be interesting for some of you to see some separate layers that work together as an example:

I'd gladly paint the BGs from scratch if it was just one, since I really enjoy it and I have experience with it. Problem is... for every scene you need more views, all while keeping all the details consistent. It's just not viable for me.

When you're making comics every second counts and you have to choose your battles (even though I'm TERRIBLE at that and spend way more time than I should... I'm trying ok (。_ 。) Don't be me).

My *difficult* choice here was to use 3D backgrounds. And some extras to fill up the space. But hey not too bad for the sacrifice! 🥹

Here's the comparison with the before and after for you:

So yeah instead of painting everything a million times, I make my research and look for resources that best match the idea I have in mind. I get mine from ACON and the CSP (Clip Studio Paint) Asset Store.

I'll talk more about this in the future and show the workspace so you can see a bit more of process behind it. No sexy boyos for you today, but I hope you enjoy this glimpse at the work that goes unnoticed! ;D

🖼️I also attached the step images with a higher resolution in case you want to see the difference more clearly!🖼️

Talk to you very soon with some juice. For you. With love. 🌈