The Background artist in animation takes the script and along with the director and producer breaks down the key scenes that need to be designed so that the overseas studio will have enough to go on when putting together the whole film. It is usually specified as strictly a black and white image and sometimes has tonal shadows as well. There are two basic types of backgrounds in television animation. The first, is called a master shot and the second is called a background key.

A master shot is a drawing or schematic of an entire area where the specific angle might not be right for any particular scene but can be used to explain much of what is happening and where in the film. For example, if you had a cartoon that was set in a factory you might do a master shot that showed the entire floor of the factory and all of it’s details even thought you might not use that exact drawing as a scene in the film itself. This can save money and time and explain the motion that needs to happen without drawing 10 backgrounds. Usually these are done before storyboarding to help explain what an area looks like.

The second type of background for animation is called a background key and it is usually a specific angle taken from the storyboard and cleaned up. It is most often used in the film itself.

Here is an example of some backgrounds from my film Flavio which were done  by the very talented Maurice Morgan.

You can see more of television animation backgrounds from the film here.

A shot of the kitchen

A shot of the kitchen

Inside the refridgerator focusing on one of Flavio's inventions "Pasta On A Stick"