Quite often, the best part of an animated short or feature is the backgrounds.
Since background images are onscreen for extended periods, and don’t need to change rapidly as do the characters, they are frequently the subject of intense design work and beautiful rendering.
For a demonstration of how wonderful animation backgrounds can be when isolated from the movie and empty of characters, visit the Animation Backgrounds blog.
Maintained by Rob Richards, this is a treasure trove of stills from animated shorts and full length features that showcase the background artist’s work.
There are lots of terrific scenes from animated gems, like the great Warner Brothers classic Hare-Raising Hare (top two images), the beautifully subtle lighting of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence from Disney’s Fantasia (above, third down) and the enchanted forest from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (4th down, designed by Eyvind Earle).
There are also backgrounds from more recent films, like Disney’s Atlantis, The Lost Empire (5th down) and Dreamworks’ The Prince of Egypt (bottom).
You can browse through the pages using the “Older Posts” link at the bottom of each page, or jump to individual topics using the links in the right side bar.
Either way, there is enough here to classify as a delightful time sink, and Richards seems to be adding posts on a regular basis.
[Via Cartoon Brew]
