Free Introductory WORKSHOP
Layout & Background
with Katrina Darby
MEET YOUR MENTOR
ABOUT
Katrina Darby is an American layout & background artist living in Toronto, Canada. Her passion for art began when she realized she could bring images to life using crayons and finger painting.
Over time, she discovered that creating backgrounds became her favourite way to express emotion. She can manipulate elements like lighting and hidden details to convey her feelings and tell deeper stories.
She has always been inspired by the atmospheric backgrounds in productions such as Steven Universe and Into the Spider-Verse as well as the art of renowned concept artists.
These influences have significantly shaped her style and deepened her love for creating immersive, emotionally charged environments.
Art works by Katrina Darby
What are layouts?
Layouts are the structural component of any animated film, TV Show or web series, as it represent the overall background of a particular scene shown in any animated movie or show. A layout artist's role is to understand the concept of a film and to create layouts according to the whole idea of the film.
What is Background Paint?
Background paint is a step-up in painting the layouts, which the layout artist has drawn; this is a crucial process as the paint artist must have a good understanding of values and colours.
HOW THE WORKSHOP WILL LOOK LIKE
During the session, Katrina will walk you through one of her previously completed illustrations and give a concise overview of her process of creating the backgrounds from start to finish. This includes reviewing her,
Inspiration
explaining the process from sketch to colour, and reviewing the
general rules of perspective, scale, and composition.
Q&A
NOTE* This is an introductory workshop, post, this workshop there will be a full 4-week practical workshop on Layout & Background with Katrina Darby.