Using Digitally Painted Backgrounds and Props

Animators normally think of characters, props, and backgrounds as separate elements. These distinctions are less formal in a sequential comic. But none the less, in the age of digital production, it is possible to composite comic strip panels similarly to the way we composite shots in an animated movie.  To apply this approach in my own comic, Bug Pudding, I have tried to do some of my props and backgrounds independently of the character drawings and then to composite my panels digitally. Here is an example of some background art which was created in SketchBook Pro and saved as a PNG with a transparent background then later placed into the actual strip in Photoshop.

Because the original painting was created in many individual layers, I am also able to extract and use just some of the picture elements from this painting, as seen below in this snippet from a Bug Pudding strip.

Even props like this old fashioned wash tub can be created as a digital painting and then merged with the characters in a finished strip panel. -JK