So freaking stunning, especially with the little pieces of subtle droplets of rain presented here! You're always illustrating these sensational character works that I've ever seen from you, and I'm hyped to seeing more of your brilliantly hand drawn artworks in the future! Keep doing great!

Hey VT, may I ask what your process for this background was? I often get overwhelmed by backgrounds in general, and yours are fantastic! Do you have any tips/tricks/shortcuts to make the process simpler & faster? :0

I'm so sad that I didn't record a timelapse for this specific piece AUGH I coulda just shown you

My process for THIS background was pretty much just 'I understand the basic rules of backgrounds/middleground/foreground, let me apply that and test all these premade brushes and see if I can make it look nice.' Everything except the character and the blades of grass at her base were unmodified brushes! As I went along applying foreground/middleground/background, I adjusted colors and blurring to make the background as strong as I could despite it being almost no hand-made shapes. Composition and rhythm is also important in laying down your assets in an appealing way [even if the flower brushes are premade, still gotta know how to space them out so they look nice!
So unfortunately there's not TOO much advice I can give on this specific bg, as it was p much just 'here's me applying my pre-existing knowledge of how to form a bg to these premade brushes so I can make a really detailed bg quickly.'

HOWEVER.
That's almost entirely unhelpful so here's some more general advice on how to get better at backgrounds overall!

My best advice for backgrounds are as follows:

Terms to look up/learn backwards and forwards, even if you think you know them:

- Atmospheric Perspective [the effect of things getting lighter/bluer the further back they are, and the rules of foreground/middleground/background values]

- Selective blurring / depth of field [blurring specific elements to imply the focus of a camera lens, which forces our eyes to focus on where we want them to in the picture. Can also create movement in a piece!]
Some of my pieces that use depth of field/selective blurring:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45466820/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/49125700/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/43187875/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/54391773/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/51902912/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/48745852/

- Composition [huge subject, but something to explore and learn the rules of!] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur37AAQDsb8

- Color harmony [ https://youtu.be/E4YiKLOgGRo ]

- You need a lot less detail than you think! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgDYlmRwXF8 [   akitamonster is my fave bg artist for this aspect! Take a close look at their work, it's gorgeous and very simple! They just have a strong knowledge of lighting, color theory, values, and how to do more with less! Check out their ONE HOUR pieces, like, I cannot believe how effective these backgrounds are while being SUCH simple brush strokes: https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....35089/One-Hour ]
My fave pieces that use the 'less is more' method that actually have VERY simple backgrounds when you look closer:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45302735/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47799340/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50080831/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61410136/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47913239/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/60468776/

- Study reference! Unfortunately you can't skip this step. You gotta learn to really /see/ what's actually in front of you, instead of the brain making assumptions that it knows what you're looking at [that's really nebulous but it starts to make sense over time. Your brain tries to trick you into thinking you're 'seeing' what's actually in front of you, but man... when you start learning about color/lighting, you realize you really DON'T actually understand what you're looking at on a day to day basis.] This helps you make believable backgrounds, even with simplified forms!


Summary: You can 'cheat' a LOT more than you think with backgrounds.... but just like with any other art, it requires you to know the fundamental rules inside and out /first/. You can draw breathtaking very simple bg's, but you gotta know values, lighting, shadows, atmospheric perspective, selective blurring, where to put detail and where to imply it, etc.
Making bg's is SUPER overwhelming at first, but it gets a lot easier with time and experience, and I hope these specific starting points can give you a more specific spring-board to start with!
Overall good video to check out that I didn't have a specific spot for:
10 tips for environment art [covers a lot of bg basics like framing, rhythm, rule of odds, etc https://youtu.be/46wPyZ1LOwM ]

ALSO I am still v much in my fledgeling stages of learning backgrounds, so take all of these pieces with a grain of salt! There's SO much that goes into BG making that I couldn't possibly explain, so def something to research! I also suggest Lighting for the Visual Artist, it made me start understanding lighting a bit more!