Material Tests - Backgrounds

In continuation of my development of the visual style for my project, I carried on experimenting with brushes in Photoshop, except this time I need to consider which will be most suitable as a background. I want to keep it simple, and ideally not have to change it much throughout the film; so I have provided samples of various Photoshop brushes; this would mean not drawing any features in the background, but rather just keeping it a simple colour that suits the colours and textures of the moving lines.

A lot of the textured brushes on Photoshop have to be applied in at least 3 layers in order to reach the original colour you picked, which has shown various shades of blue and grey in the results below. However having to apply 3 layers could create an interesting way to have a shaded background, provided it doesn't look too strange next to the animated dancers.

Brush Samples

I like the texture of tests 1, 3 and 6 here, because they all look painted; if I use one of these textures in my final film I think it would bring the piece to life. I could also use the background as a way to reflect the characters emotions; for example test 1 looks slightly foggy (as if there is bad weather), which could represent the characters lost, overwhelming thoughts as they dance.

Test 1

Test 2

Tests 3, 4 and 5 turned out darker than the rest, which is true to the original colour I picked out. After evaluating test 3, I thought it looks slightly too textured, and that it needed another colour underneath it to keep it solid, which is how test 4 was created. 

I think having the dark undertones in test 4 make it look better, since the colour isn't completely solid, however the darker shades won't take the attention away from the animation. You can see the slight difference in this when comparing it to test 5, since that was just one solid colour.

Test 3

Test 4

Test 5

Test 6

The brush used for test 6 reminds me of a roller brush when decorating a wall in a house, which has created a natural painted texture here. In order to decide which texture I definitely want to use in the background, I want to test out the textures and colours of the lines against each background to see which is most visually appealing.

A potentially nice effect to have could be using a painted background, and having the moving lines look as if they are etched into the paint. I will experiment further and see if any brushes can create this effect digitally.