In illustration, it is the subjects—people, animals, even objects—which are compelling.* They may be animate, show bend, scrunch, stretch, and twist, and may vary from depicted "moment" to "moment." These are the things on which we, as readers or as viewers, focus our attention. Yet, despite all these enticing features, subjects require context. And thus, I am forced to tackle that which gives me something akin to dread: backgrounds.
I have begun to realize that, in order to adequately tell my stories, I must learn to treat the setting as a component as important as character, no matter how much more involved I am in the unfolding lives of my characters. Some of my favorite comic/manga artists are so because of their ability to do just that: Amy Reeder Hadley can whisk us through myriad locations as fascinatingly as through time in Madame Xanadu; Sean Gordon Murphy's urban backgrounds are as gritty and interesting as the characters populating them. These artists, and others (M. Alice Legrow also leaps to mind) are able to create whole worlds, not just sets of characters.
