The Background Question

Background pencil left dry

The other day I showed you the sketch I had made at the Starbucks Roastery. I don’t usually color in a dark background, but maybe sitting by David Hingtgen, who often uses dark colors effectively in his sketches, influenced me by osmosis, and I decided to try it. I had just finished coloring the background with a dark watercolor pencil, but I hadn’t yet decided whether to activate that color. Just then, our visiting sketcher Lee had to go, so we quickly gathered for a throwdown and group photo. By the time all that was done, I decided to leave, too.

Background color water-activated

When I got home and was about to put my sketch on the scanner, I remembered that I still hadn’t decided whether the color needed to be activated. I scanned it with the watercolor pencil left dry (at left). Then I activated the dark background and scanned it again (at right). I like it better activated because the higher contrast brings the roaster and other foreground elements forward. And though it’s messier than I like, I’m happy that I colored in the background in the first place. I usually avoid doing this because I prefer a simpler look, but often my sketches seem unfinished when I leave the background paper-white. I’m going to think about the background more consciously in future sketches and make a choice to darken or not instead of letting paper-white be the default.