Inspiring examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations

Real-world examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations

Let’s start with what you actually want to see: concrete, real examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations that you can steal, remix, and make your own. I’ll walk through different styles and workflows, from quick social-media-ready art to more polished portfolio pieces.

Example of a quick gradient + shape background for character art

One of the best examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations that don’t eat your entire weekend is the gradient-plus-shapes approach. You’ve seen this everywhere in 2024: character portraits on Instagram, VTuber avatars, stylized fan art.

Here’s how it usually works in practice:

You drop a soft vertical or radial gradient behind your character—maybe a warm orange fading to pink. On a new layer, you add a few abstract shapes: circles, triangles, or rounded rectangles that echo the character’s color palette. Set some of them to Overlay or Soft Light, blur a couple, and suddenly you have a polished, modern background.

This example of a background is perfect when:

• You want the focus on the character.
• You’re working on commissions with tight deadlines.
• The illustration will mostly live on small screens where subtle details get lost.

It’s a great reminder that not all examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations have to be complex environments. Sometimes, clean graphic design does the job.

Stylized cityscape: examples include flat shapes with bold lighting

If you scroll through concept artists’ portfolios on sites like ArtStation, some of the best examples of digital backgrounds are stylized cityscapes: simplified buildings, clear perspective, dramatic lighting.

A popular 2024 trend is to skip tiny window details and instead use big shape language. Imagine a twilight city:

• The buildings are just stacked rectangles and trapezoids.
• Windows are suggested with a few horizontal lines.
• The sky is a saturated gradient from deep blue to purple.
• A rim of neon pink light wraps around the building edges.

This example of a city background is efficient to create but still feels rich because of lighting and color choices. You can:

• Block in perspective with a simple grid.
• Use lasso selections to carve out building silhouettes.
• Add a few glow layers for streetlights or billboards.

If you’re studying perspective, resources from art and design programs at universities (for instance, digital art syllabi from schools like MIT OpenCourseWare or other .edu art departments) can help you understand the fundamentals you’ll then stylize in your own illustrations.

Cozy interior room: layered props as storytelling tools

Another set of powerful examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations comes from slice-of-life scenes: bedrooms, studios, coffee shops. These backgrounds carry a lot of character.

Picture a character sitting on their bed:

• The wall behind them is a muted teal.
• Posters are just rectangles with simple graphic shapes.
• A bookshelf is a few vertical and horizontal blocks.
• Light from a window hits the floor in a big, soft rectangle.

Nothing is hyper-rendered, but everything tells you who this person is. When artists share process breakdowns, examples include:

• Starting with big furniture shapes on separate layers.
• Adding mid-size props (plants, lamps, stacks of books).
• Finishing with a handful of tiny details (phone cable, mug, sticky notes).

This is one of the best examples of how to build a background like a stage set: you place only what matters to the story. If you’re new to this, look up interior design basics from design or architecture programs at universities (for example, guides from Cornell’s College of Human Ecology or similar .edu design resources) to understand how real rooms are organized.

Fantasy landscape: silhouettes first, details later

Now let’s move into more ambitious territory: fantasy or sci‑fi landscapes. Many professional environment artists recommend starting with simple silhouettes before getting lost in details.

Here’s an example of a workflow you’ll see in concept art breakdowns:

You start with a mid-tone background. Then you paint three big value groups:

• Dark foreground cliffs or trees.
• Mid-tone middle ground (a village, a spaceship, a castle).
• Light background sky and distant mountains.

Once those silhouettes read clearly, you slowly carve in details: roof shapes, rock cracks, tree branches, distant lights. The best examples of this approach emphasize atmosphere—fog, light rays, color shifts—over micro-detail.

This approach lines up with how people perceive depth and contrast, something cognitive science and vision research has explored for decades. If you’re curious about how our eyes read value and contrast, organizations like the National Eye Institute (NEI) share accessible explanations of how we process visual information.

Photo-texture hybrid: real examples from modern illustration workflows

In 2024–2025, a lot of digital illustrators quietly use photo textures to speed up background creation. You’ll see real examples of this in YouTube process videos and online classes: artists mix painted elements with lightly edited photos.

A common example of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations with this hybrid method:

• You block in a simple painted alleyway: walls, ground, sky.
• You drop in a desaturated photo of a brick wall on a new layer.
• Set it to Overlay or Multiply, adjust opacity, and erase parts that don’t fit.
• You paint on top to unify the style and fix perspective.

Examples include using textures for:

• Concrete, brick, and metal.
• Grass and foliage.
• Paper, fabric, or worn surfaces in interiors.

The key is to keep control. The photo supports your painting; it doesn’t replace your design choices. Some of the best examples show heavy paint-over so the final piece still looks like your illustration, not a collage.

Minimalist flat-color backgrounds for editorial and web

Not every project needs a cinematic environment. Many editorial illustrations, infographics, and website hero images use very simple, flat-color backgrounds.

Picture an article illustration about remote work:

• A character sits at a desk.
• The background is just a flat, warm beige with one darker rectangle suggesting a wall.
• A few floating icons or shapes hint at apps and notifications.

This example of a background is intentionally quiet. It keeps the message clear and reads instantly when printed small or viewed on phones. In real-world examples from magazines and news sites, artists often:

• Limit themselves to 3–5 background colors.
• Use subtle overlapping shapes instead of detailed environments.
• Focus on strong silhouettes and clear gestures.

This style works especially well when illustrations accompany text-heavy content, like articles on health, education, or public information from organizations such as MedlinePlus or Mayo Clinic, where clarity matters more than decorative detail.

Atmospheric color-wash backgrounds for mood pieces

Some of the best examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations are barely “things” at all—they’re atmosphere. No clear buildings, no defined trees, just color, texture, and light.

Imagine a moody portrait:

• The background is a loose wash of indigo and dark green.
• A soft, lighter patch behind the head suggests a light source.
• Faint vertical brush strokes hint at rain or a window.

These examples include a lot of experimentation with custom brushes and blending modes. Artists might:

• Use textured brushes at low opacity to build up soft gradients.
• Add color noise or grain for a more organic feel.
• Glaze warm and cool tones to make the subject pop.

This approach is perfect for album covers, concept art mood pieces, or any illustration where emotion is more important than literal setting.

UI-inspired and graphic design backgrounds in 2024–2025

A newer trend among younger illustrators is mixing UI design and illustration. Real examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations in this style look like a blend of app screens and poster design.

You might see:

• Panels that look like chat bubbles or notification cards behind a character.
• Rounded rectangles stacked like phone screens.
• Thin lines and icons floating in the background.

An example of this could be a character surrounded by overlapping app-window shapes, each slightly transparent and tinted a different color. The background feels like a digital space without needing a literal room or city.

These examples include:

• Strong use of grids and alignment.
• Repeated shapes for rhythm.
• Limited but punchy color palettes.

If you’re into this direction, it’s worth skimming design resources from universities and design organizations that teach layout, hierarchy, and color theory. You can adapt those same principles to your illustration backgrounds.

How to build your own background using these examples

Looking at examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations is great, but you want a repeatable way to apply them. Here’s a simple, flexible approach you can adapt to almost any style above.

Start by deciding the job of your background:

• Is it mood-first (atmospheric color wash)?
• Story-first (cozy bedroom, fantasy village)?
• Design-first (gradient plus shapes, UI-inspired)?

Once you know the job, pick an example of a background style that matches. Then:

1. Block big shapes. Use 2–4 values to separate foreground, midground, and background. Don’t zoom in yet.
2. Lock in perspective or alignment. For cityscapes and interiors, a simple perspective grid saves you hours of fixing later.
3. Choose a color story. Warm vs cool, saturated vs muted. Look at your character’s colors and either complement or contrast them.
4. Add mid-level props or elements. Furniture, buildings, trees, panels, shapes—whatever defines the environment.
5. Finish with small accents. Light spots, texture, tiny objects, or graphic details.

Every one of the best examples we talked about follows some variation of that structure, even if the final look is wildly different.

Common mistakes when copying examples of backgrounds

When artists study examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations, a few predictable problems pop up:

• Over-detailing everything. You copy every window and brick from a reference example, and suddenly the background competes with the character. Try grouping details: one “busy” area, lots of calm space.
• Ignoring value contrast. The colors look fine, but the character blends into the background in grayscale. Check a black-and-white version to see if they separate clearly.
• Random perspective. A common issue in city and interior examples: windows slant one way, floor another. Even a rough vanishing point sketch helps.
• Clashing styles. A heavily textured photo-based background under a flat, cartoony character can feel mismatched. Either paint over the textures more or simplify the background.

Studying real examples is helpful, but the trick is to understand why they work—shape, value, color, and focus—then recreate those principles, not just the surface look.

FAQ: examples of background creation for digital art

Q: Can you give a simple example of a beginner-friendly digital background?
A: Yes. One of the easiest examples of a beginner-friendly background is a soft gradient sky with a simple horizon line. Pick two or three sky colors, blend them vertically, then add a flat darker band at the bottom to suggest ground. You can drop a few silhouette trees or buildings on top and call it done. This teaches you color, value, and layering without overwhelming detail.

Q: What are some good examples of practice exercises for backgrounds?
A: Real examples of practice exercises include: painting ten tiny (thumbnail) landscapes in grayscale, designing three different room layouts for the same character, or recreating a city block using only basic shapes and no textures. Each example of an exercise targets a skill: value, composition, or perspective.

Q: How do I use photo references without copying them exactly?
A: Treat references as raw material, not a blueprint. Look at several photos, then design your own layout. Many of the best examples of professional workflows use photo references for lighting, texture, or architecture, but the final background is a remix. Change the angle, rearrange props, and simplify details.

Q: Are flat backgrounds “lazy” compared to detailed environments?
A: Not at all. In many editorial and character-focused pieces, a flat or minimal background is a deliberate design choice. Some of the strongest modern examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations are just bold color blocks and simple shapes that frame the subject beautifully.

Q: Where can I find more real examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations?
A: Look at online portfolios and process posts from working illustrators and concept artists. Many art schools and organizations share student galleries and tutorials on their .edu or .org sites, and you can learn a lot by studying how they simplify shapes, control values, and use color. Combine that with your favorite artists’ social feeds, and you’ll have a steady stream of examples to learn from.

If you keep a folder of your favorite real examples of creating backgrounds for digital illustrations—and regularly try to recreate the ideas behind them—you’ll see your own backgrounds improve faster than you expect. Start small, stay curious, and treat every new piece as another experiment in how much story you can pack into the space behind your characters.