Set the Action! Creating Backgrounds for Compelling Storytelling in Animation, Comics, and Games

Create the Gotham for your Batman, the African savannah for your Simba, or the bustling newsroom for your Clark Kent. Background, setting, environment.whatever you call it, it is the silent character in the visual story, and a dynamic and compelling setting can define and hone the action and drama of your story. If you're in the habit of creating disembodied characters or adding backgrounds as an afterthought, Set the Action! will help you understand and utilize the importance of the setting in your narrative. Understand perspective, blocking, and color-and focus your narrative by establishing and designing your setting to interact with characters and story. Author Elvin Hernandez carries you through this sometimes dry topic with ample visuals, including a comic book narrative, and an unyielding focus on how backgrounds affect your story Apply the fundamentals with examples from all genres-animation, comics, games, and live-action films Companion website gives you multimedia examples, tools for your own drawing, like perspective grids, additional artwork, and links to more resources