Rendering; Background choice

[Slncapri]

When you get done with a drawing, how do you choose what kind of background to use. I have seen different styles among all the artists here, just wondering if there is a method for choosing. I know this seems like a wierd question. Any help is appreciated.

I am "hand rendering" using pen and marker, haven't braved the PC yet.

[asaenz]

What's up

Well as of late I'm going super large of one of my car angles for the background and changing the color to a contrasting color of the body.

I also use an abstract grunge background of the engine if possible. My latest project I was given original engine shots and I photoshoped it to create some kind of crazy background. A real easy thing is using the brush tool in Adobe Illustrator and just making some strokes and change the colors and duplicate layers.

[Hdesign]

Don't let the background dominate the image, keep it simple and make sure the colors (if any) accent the car color.

[mlomaka]

For me, the background should work with the subject. I know that seams vague, but it can be done several different ways. You also never(at least when you can) want it to doninate the picture. I say that because I just did one that I did a close up of a detail showing stripe colors since you couldn't really see it in the rendering. It can also be a personal thing also as different people have different styles.

[city_ofthe_south]

Yeah i second the "make sure the colors ... if any" part personally. Just as a personally preference, I like grays or extremely desaturated colors in the BG. The background makes a complete piece but it's dictated by the purpose of the drawing. If you're making art that tells a story, then the background is probably part of it and helps to tell it. When the drawing's purpose is to not just show mods, but also how they effect the mood, appearance and/or theme of the vehicle - then the background plays a less significant role and as already said, can't be allowed to take away from that concept. It can play into the car neatly though. Some pretty cool artists put some kind of color into the background and then reflect it in the car's paint. That can make the "paint" more impressive on paper.

[G-Body]

Good ? I just finished a black and white of my hot rod and its a drawing for myself personally and left it black and white to make some copys of to help in my color selection, but with that said i also try and do a design that dosent fight the overall car design and flows pretty well!,
And that is a great point made about the color choices keep them subtle and not to over power the design!
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/Proofs066.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/Proofs063.jpg